It Feels Like Forever

As some of you may know, I lived in Japan for over two years; I left last October to travel the world for a little while.

It’s difficult to put into words what I’ve been experiencing while on the road, seeing what is happening to that country I so cherish, that country I called home for longer than anything but Canada. I found out about the earthquake/tsunami in a horrible fashion, stuck in traffic on a hot day in Jaipur, India, with no access to the internet and no way to know if my friends were all right. Thankfully, everyone I know is indeed okay, but that doesn’t mean that my heart hasn’t been filled with a sadness I have not been able to adequately express on this blog or to anyone, for that matter. It’s a strange feeling, to be so unable to help when Japan is so in need of help; I feel that I owe it something. I barely have access to the news, so I feel even more disconnected than I might if I were in Canada or in a country with reliable and readily available internet.

And so, in quiet moments such as last night, after a jovial evening drinking millet wine and eating dried buffalo meat while staying in a homestay deep in the Himalayas, perhaps all I can do is reflect on all of the great memories I have of Japan. Every day I think of Japan, and every day I pray that the situation will get better, that the situation is getting better. I hope that you are doing the same.