I found this article both sad and it made me think all afternoon about Japan's future. Please find my thoughts below.
私はすべての日本人のために祈ります。日本がもっとよくなってさら
皆さんがこの困難な時を乗り越えられることを期待しています。日本語を勉強することで日米友好と両国の相互理解に貢献したいと思
私たちの心には常に希望があります。だから日本の若者たちには希望を失わないでほしいです.
How bout a poem?
If tonight, you find yourself lonely in the city of Osaka,
with no job to find and no hope to seek.
Please know that I am also here, standing in Manhattan.
Looking east or looking west,
you will find me.
Though my body's limits limit possibility,
I am now not interested in anything rational:
Thank goodness strangers never are.
Yes, tonight, tonight,
返信削除Tonight is dripped with dew of my loneliness
Tonight,
why should the moon shine when the travelers have no home to reside?
Tonight,
why should there be morning if night will fall again with plight?
On your side of this great city,
返信削除tonight has become a tree.
Tell me, which park is this? Which garden?
This traveler will find a home
if you show him to the gate.
But I have heard of other trees, as I have heard of many gardens and I know in the morning light there are millions of drops of dew.
How am I to believe all this dew came from the eyes
of a single person who I almost met tonight.
Oh, yes, deception, deception,
返信削除hearts cannot detect, minds cannot perceive
O, my Lord, have mercy, have mercy...
find a secret garden,
find a closed well,
find an ocean with treasures,
find a pair of eyes that delight your soul...
You have seen Egypt,
You have seen Tibet,
You have seen great mountains,
and shallow creeks,
Do not say you know nothing,
for you do know something
and that something maybe sufficient for
tonight...
Tonight is a place that refuses to stand still,
返信削除a map whose lines change,
I have never traveled to tonight,
I have heard those who do never come back alive.
I have long wondered what happened to them.
Martyrs? For which god? For which night? In whose grave?
Tonight for me is entering the mazes of a martyr's mind who has yet to find a cause worth dying for.
Tonight: that map you throw away.
Do you like tonight?
返信削除Or do you like tomorrow, or today?
Is it really that no hope to seek tonight? No joy to rejoice tonight?
Tonight, I will part from my lover
Tonight, I will not see him again
He left
He left
He left tonight...
What beautiful poems! I was also impressed by your deep concern about Japan. I read the article, and yes, it's sad, but as a Japanese, I'm hopeful for Japan's future.
返信削除Since long ago Japanese have valued something nonmaterial before we had to accept materialistic values after the war, and we became one of the most affluent country in the world. But I believe what drove us to accomplish the economic growth was not the mind to pursue the richness but our dilligence and compassion. And I believe that those kind of our sprits were not blown away with a bubble, and I hope soon we will find a new way to get back to be a happy country:)
Dear "Ai"
返信削除Thank you so much for your comments. I am so happy to hear that you are optimistic about Japan's future. I am very touched by your comments about the Japanese character and I do believe you that the nonmaterial beauty of Japanese culture will always be a shining light to the world. I'd love to talk to you more about this! I'd also like to ask you what you think a foreigner (like me) could do to help Japan. I am sure you'll have some wonderful insights.
I hope you are enjoying the beginning of your weekend. It's a shame we only run into each other on Fridays but as always, I look forward to the next language lab :) Tristan