In 2003 I finished my graduate work for a Master's degree in Educational Administration. The lessons I carried could not compare to those garnered on my trip to Tokyo, the subsequent graduation gift that prompted my need for a passport. Never in a million years would I have imagined traveling to The Land of the Rising Sun...but that was before. I knew little about this island nation beyond what geography classes had taught me. And there were glimpses of the culture gleaned from Japanese language coursework, studied years before while a student at the University of Missouri. My instructors were the real deal; they were Japanese ~ and my window to the Pacific.
My dear friends, the Jones-Ma family, have been impacted by the recent natural disasters. Fortunately they are safe, yet so many of their adopted countrymen are anything but. This family lives in a highrise complex on a beautiful canal in Tokyo. (How well I remember standing on their balcony, overlooking that canal while the evening lights shone on the water. It was peaceful.) They had prepared an Emergency Tsunami Kit in anticipation of fleeing to higher ground. Since then, the suitcase has been reorganized and ventured to Guam, to safety, with Jamee and her two children. Soon they will return and [hopefully] resume to life as they knew it ~ or something like that.
When I am asked about my trip to Japan, my first inclination is to reference my impression of its people. They are a humble lot, genteel, respectful beyond compare. I remember being dropped off in the middle of Tokyo with my traveling companion. We were "so American" and I am nowhere near fluent in the Japanese language...yet I needed to exchange currency. I sat in a bank...doing official bank business...with a language barrier between me and them. As I look back, I marvel that the transaction proceeded so smoothly. There is an international language between friends, allies, that requires no words. There is a heavenly language too...It's called prayer. Japan needs ours.
継続は力なり。
Keizoku wa chikara nari.
Perseverance is strength.
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