Japanese culture

  I had a wonderful experience!  I got to meet up in Japan with friends from across the ocean that I've known online and exchanged ideas with on a daily basis!  There was a corona and it was not easy to make it real, but I was very happy.  Mika is an American who has a very kind and gentle heart, more so than the Japanese. I also met her husband for the first time. They both had a very warm atmosphere.  She loves Japan, so she also studies Japanese and has a wide range of things to talk about, such as sumo, her thoughts, and so on.  Everyday, I only speak with native Japanese speakers, and it is very tiring to read too much into small discrepancies in language. However, speaking with people from other countries, I keenly felt the kindness of thinking about how to communicate with them and what they are trying to convey from their perspective, which is very simple and considerate of others.  I felt how we spend our days asserting ourselves. And she gave...

 We have just celebrated 3/11, 12 years have passed. I am sure that this day is etched in the minds of the Japanese people and the world as an unforgettable day.  No human being can ever compete with the wonders of natural disasters.  No one was to blame, but we all blamed ourselves.  They lost their loved ones and wondered what they could have done to help.  The people who were involved in the nuclear power industry also blamed themselves for their ignorance, which they had exposed to the wonders of the world.  I felt helpless to do anything while there were people suffering in the same country.  I wondered why I survived and why lives that should have been valued more were taken away from me. In a place where people are close together, the cold-heartedness of people becomes evident at the same time. Many groceries and consumables disappeared from supermarkets and convenience stores.  Even now, remnants of those days remain.  People are supp...