Hello October Sun and Clouds

Another week in this all-surrounding place with the sky above me to remind me of the continuity of its dome. But in the office I have the white squares of foam above me to remind me of America and beyond the tree covered hills of my village I have some peaks and valleys that could also remind me a bit of home (wherever that really is).

Two thoughts have been circulating my mind in regard to Japan. The first is about war, suffering, and the aftermath of war. I have been considering how Germany and Japan have become such economical giants after each country tried to take over the rest of the world and was crushed by the opposition. I guess they would have never been able to consider such grandiose plans if they hadn't been very capable in the first place. But it still strikes me how people can forget the suffering, the hatred, and bitter struggle after one or two generations. Now the Japanese and Germans seem to be pretty good friends with most of the countries, including America, that were their bitter enemies. I guess that's how much change that new governments can bring about. It makes one a little more optimistic about the things getting better someday with other governments.

The other thing on my mind was the idea that the [rural] kids of Japan get a much longer childhood than the kids in America. I thought that American kids already had an abnormally long childhood (especially with liberal arts colleges), but here it is perhaps the tradition of staying in the same house with family over many generations that allows people to have a very very slow, sometimes practically inexistent, transition into independent adulthood. Here I am as a 22 year old far from home and my own culture, let alone my family, and here many thirty year olds still live in with their parents. I asked one of my fifth grade classes yesterday if their grandparents were in Ubuyama and they all answered yes. And I bet they live with them. Why not? Which makes you want to ask: is the childhood in Japan too long? or: Is childhood elsewhere too short? I guess there are benefits to both ways.

Tonight my mom will arrive in Kumamoto airport (about an hour away from my house). I think she will enjoy all of the hospitality and friendliness she will surely find here. Pretty much everyone in the town who knows I exist knows that my mother, who was born in Japan, is coming and many of them know the exact time she is coming. I wouldn't be surprised if some stopped by the airport as I know my vice-principal is already (he is a great guy). She will join the Thai teacher and five Thai students that are currently doing an exchange here in this tiny village. What an odd coincidence in this little southern town.