My younger brother and his girlfriend arrived yesterday evening and they bring with them the novel wonder of seeing Japan anew. After visiting her family in Korea, they see this country contrasted not only with America, but also with another Asian culture that I have yet to experience. Listening to them, seeing the surroundings through their eyes, explaining to them things like the garbage system, the bus and different foods, I start to see Japan again in a new way. I live in Japan–how cool is that?
After parting ways with them this morning, I got on the train for Nishinomiya and HPAC. I started to practice my vocabulary as I usually do when I take public transportation, but I became distracted by the scene outside the windows, the houses, the river, the tops of the buildings, and especially all the people that boarded the train along the way. By the time I got to Nishinomiya, it was packed with Japanese people and I was newly amazed at seeing them. In any culture, I sometimes become so amazed at the living people around me, and today, while I was impressed by how similar everyone was, I was even more impressed by how different. Some life energy in each person that truly is unique, that shapes the face and the body of the person that wears it.
This evening after we finished our concert, the rain had stopped and I was able to ride my bike home. The river was misty, slowly opening its eyes, the bark of the trees was still dark within the young light-green leaves. I rode through a grove of sweet smelling trees, their flowers hanging low with the weight of the water and the mist. There's no way to hold on. There's so little time to be born in the instant.
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