People in Shanghai are writing encouraging messages for people in the central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa, which was badly affected by a New Year's Day earthquake.

Tomioka Hitomi, who is from Ishikawa and lives in Shanghai, is hosting an exhibition about quake damage at a supermarket in the city. The event, which started on Friday and lasts until May 5, was organized in cooperation with Ishikawa government employees.

The exhibition displays photos of devastated townscapes, including the residential area of Suzu City and a baseball ground in Noto Town that was hit by tsunami.

Products from the prefecture are also on sale. They include Japanese sake and "urushi" lacquer ware.

Shoppers are free to write messages for people in Ishikawa. Some wrote wishes for early recovery and others gave words of encouragement and sympathy in Japanese or Chinese.

The organizers plan to send the messages as early as May to aid groups that support the affected areas.

A Chinese woman in her 40s who traveled to Ishikawa four years ago expressed her support from Shanghai.

Tomioka said her relatives in Wajima City are still evacuated. She said that so many messages from Chinese people will encourage the people in Ishikawa in a great deal.