At Kennedy, anxious wait for Japan flights

Anxious relatives waited at Kennedy Airport Saturday for the first flights from Japan to ferry their loved ones out of the earthquake-ravaged country.

Takashi Shimizu, 40, an engineer working in Fishkill, was among them, standing on tiptoe to look for his wife, Keiko, 36, who took a Japan Airlines flight for an unscheduled visit. Normally, the two see each other only four times a year.

He ran to her as she walked through the gate. She buried her head in his chest and clutched him, sobbing.

Keiko said she was working on the eighth floor of an office building when the earthquake hit, throwing her and co-workers to the floor. "My sister's family, his brother's family, live near the power plant," she told a reporter. "I'm so worried."

Masa Takahashi, 30, of Manhattan, said that right after the quake, he couldn't get in touch with his wife, who lives in Chiba, just east of Tokyo. They finally connected via Skype, the Internet telephone service. Kuni Takahashi, 33, told him she had been shopping and was on a train heading home when the quake happened.

"She didn't fear the big shake, but when she saw people outside in the streets on the floor, she freaked out," said Takahashi, who moved to New York a month ago to work as a system analyst. He said he was happy that Kuni made it to New York on a flight Saturday, "but we still remain concerned for the people back home."

Marie Fukuda Varfolomeyev, 28, of Manhattan, waited more than two hours for her mother to arrive on Japan Airlines Flight 006, one of the first to leave Tokyo after the quake. The flight was due to arrive Friday. As her mother rolled two suitcases into the terminal, Varfolomeyev ran past security to give her a big hug.

Miyuki Fukuda, 52, said most of her family lives in Nagasaki, far from the epicenter. But she said the plane from Tokyo was filled with sadness. "So many people lost lives, and I feel a little guilty that I am here -- so fortunate to have my daughter waiting for me and happiness that others do not have right now," Fukuda said.

Other worried relatives and friends were trying to catch flights out Saturday.

Ryuichi Tokuda, 27, of Tokyo, was visiting friends in New York City when he got the news that his father had narrowly escaped death when a ceiling collapsed at a technical school in Tokyo. Two others were killed.

"I want to go back there as soon as possible. Even though I know my family is all right, I want to see the situation for myself," said Tokuda, whose 4 p.m. All Nippon Airways flight was delayed.

Shigenori Matsumoto, of Manhattan, who was taking an American Airlines flight, said he had been unable to reach his elderly parents, who fish for a living, and didn't know what he would find when he got to their home in northern Japan. "I am going to stay for two weeks," he said. "I hope I can reach them."

Kanae Chiba, 23, and her friend Kiyoka Tsukuda, 22, spent the night in the arrival lounge after their Friday flight home to Japan was rescheduled for Wednesday.

She said they finally got a text message at 4 a.m. Friday saying their families were safe. Chiba said her mother, Junko, 62, lives alone in northern Japan and had to boil water to keep warm because there was no electricity.

"I can't imagine what they went through," said Chiba, a student at Hosei University in Tokyo.