Old Things of Fukushima

When I arrived in Japan the summer was turning late again. My Daihatsu Move was still waiting in a parking lot with its bright white finish as though I had never left. The ride from Osaka Airport was smooth. It occurred to me that the last time I had flown into Osaka Airport I had been in middle school and it had been the start of my first glimpse into Japan. I had become aware at that moment in 2011 that some giant wheel in a far off room had clicked left one notch to signal a new beginning when I again found myself landing in the peculiar yet familiar Osaka Airport. For anyone who has never flown into this airport before it is sure to be a surprise as the airport is completely surrounded by the sea. As the plane approaches one may have the exhilarating and perhaps uneasy sensation that the plane will be landing on water as at the last minute a small landing strip appears out of nowhere and in an instant the plane touches down on a solid tarmac. I was able to take a train to the residence where my car had been parked. It was sitting in the same place where I had left it as though it had known that I was coming back. I started up the engine and headed north. I don't think Daniel was in the area. He was the teacher that had opened his residence to me and many other teachers months before. I wanted to thank him and express my gratefulness for his hospitality. Sometimes moments cannot be fulfilled all at one time. With this thought and wonderment I pulled out of the parking lot and prepared for the next leap.

I was unsure what to expect when I headed north once again headed for the bustling Tokyo Metropolis. When I had left three months prior, Tokyo had transformed to a quiet place. Lights still blinked cheerily in the electric city, but there was a unspoken feeling of silence and a cloud of uncertainty seemed to float in the air. When I once again breached the city's borders from the south this time I found a fast rebuilding city. Japan had been through hard experiences before and nuclear in origin. They knew this energy. It was in their blood. They knew it made no sense to fear the mysterious force. Hotels were packed with people. I ended up staying in a hotel for a night or so and then headed up to Narita Airport to visit my good friend and previous girlfriend Iyo. She worked near the airport and I also knew that hotel accommodation would cost less there as being within Tokyo itself often yielded more inflated prices. In addition, it was a location closer to my end goal of navigating up to my new supposed position and home in Yamagata City in Yamagata Prefecture. Near Narita Airport as well was a big temple. I had been there before, but it had always been nice to enter its calm center and be in silence for a while. You can always sense the energy in a room where people have been in silence and in a sacred state of intention. It has a quality that differs from other places. In this temple I remember it was calm and the big space felt freeing. The wooden floor felt old yet peaceful. I easily melted into silence and processed what had happened over those three months. I later met Iyo. She was living in a female work quarters that was reserved for all Japanese airline staff. We walked the street of Narita for a while and then I headed up North to Fukushima. She could feel new beginnings forming and her family was safe. Her Dad was involved with the Fukushima Prefectural Government and her mother was a nurse at one of the costal hospitals. The whole family was a symbol of open hands, generosity, love and internationalism and I felt extremely grateful to have shared my life with her for a time being and have such a wonderful connection for the future. It is a connection I still nurture as I write this article.

A lot of the teachers that I had taught with had never left Iwaki City in Fukushima. They had stayed there. When I arrived on a familiar street in the late afternoon Dan greeted me at the door. I had played music with Dan many times. We were scheduled to play a gig together that evening in Iwaki the night that everything happened three months prior. He explained to me how there had been food shortages in the town for weeks, but that everything was getting back to normal. Water once again trickled into the city and grocery stores were open once again. The blood lines once again coursed up the coast with a new found vitalism and energy. I believe I had lunch at Baba's restaurant one more time and then I headed north to the place where I would teach again. I had been waiting for a response from the school that I would be teaching in. The conviction that I had at that point that I would have a teaching position was more based on a pipe dream based sense faith rather than an actual certainty. I remember passing under a random stoplight in a hot Japanese summer and then hearing a tone on my phone that let me know that the school was contacting me. It turned out I had an interview in Yamagata city in two days at Nana 7 7 street. Nana is the Japanese word for seven. This would later be a beautiful coincidence for me. I'd learn the meaning of coincidences in India many years later. For now though the road simply stretched forth in front of me with lush green foliage on either side and cricket sounds in full swing. Fukushima City passed by quickly and I knew that some 100 kilometers to my left I was passing by Naraha as well. I wondered at that moment if Naraha the town and the land knew that I would be passing by it's vicinity at that instant. I sought out some feeling or some sign that it knew, but instead all I saw was a fresh blue sky and puffy white clouds. I felt my life transitioning to something new again and only time could tell me what would lay ahead.