I read a heartrending story today on Yahoo News today: it was an interview with one of the Fukushima Fifty, as they have been dubbed by the media–the Japanese workers who are voluntarily working at the Fukushima nuclear power reactors damaged in the recent devastating earthquake and tsunami.

According to 44-year-old Hiroyuki Kohno, the Japanese man interviewed for the story, the Japanese volunteers are perfectly aware that they will likely absorb lethal levels of radiation.

“There’s a Japanese expression,” Kohno said. ‘We eat from the same bowl.’ These are friends I shared pain and laughter with. That’s why I’m going.”

Reading the interview with Hiroyuki Kohno literally brought tears to my eyes. The kind of heroism that these volunteers are showing is akin to what we often see in the movies. The stuff that we watch, then say to ourselves that no one could really be that selfless… yet here they are, doing just that.

Of course, there really are lots of real-life heroes around us. Firemen, law enforcement, FBI agents, the Peace Corps, members of all branches of the military–and don’t forget about mothers who do whatever is necessary to keep their children safe and well cared for.

Some heroes know they are taking a risk in what they do–firemen and police fall into this category, as do members of the military: they may end up getting hurt or killed, or they may not. Mothers may take risks without giving their actions a second thought, acting to protect their children out of instinct. But the volunteers in Japan know that by working on the damaged Fukushima power plants will almost certainly kill them. All of these people are heroes–but there are obvious differences. These differences by no means disparage one group compared to another. But there is clearly an additional aspect of heroism–of pure courage–when it comes to the Japanese volunteers at Fukushima, when they know that by doing what must be done to protect the rest of Japan, they go to their dooms.

There are places all over the Internet where you can donate to help the Japanese people. Right now at Amazon.com, they’re offering a special 2-disc music CD set, the proceeds of which are being donated to help the Japanese people. The CD set is called Songs for Japan, and includes 36 songs by popular artists. For the amount of music being offered, it seems quite a good value–even if the proceeds weren’t going to help such a worthy cause.