Every year from February to March are the hardest times of the year. Not only is it very cold with very little sunshine and gloomy weather but it's almost the month before 3.11. This year will mark the 5 year anniversary since the earthquake in Japan and every year during this time I suffer physically and mentally the pains of the incident for an entire month. I've come to realize it's a form of PTSD and it's something that I have had to cope with no matter how many years have gone by. I suppose it's because the Japanese media start to put together feature articles and documentaries around this time of year and washes up (no pun intended)a plethora of bitter and painful memories.
It's something very hard to explain to someone unless you've experienced it yourself. Imagine the place where you grew up as a child --memories of playing in the fields, watching baseball games with family, going to buy ice cream with your uncle, fishing in the rivers with your cousin, going to the barnyard to see my aunt squeeze milk out of his cows, waiting for my uncle and cousin to bring fresh fresh from the harbor to eat for lunch -- are all one day shattered and obliterated. The place where I call my childhood home no longer exists and waves have washed away my friends, family, and memories.
Every time you remember the happy times of your childhood, it also brings up painful ones. Every time you close your eyes you can remember the tiniest details of your neighborhood and your home and then you see flashes of images of it being washed away by violent waves, and then when you open your eyes you see nothing left. You think of your family members and then you realize that they have been homeless and that they live in tiny makeshift barracks for the past 5 years. It's heartbreaking to say the least.
But I also know that there have been lots of improvements and changes being made in the last 5 years. New buildings, new initiatives, and new projects. New protocols and safety measures have also been put in place. The future is still uncertain but you do start to see a light at the end of the tunnel. One of my distant relatives, an ex-UN worker himself, has re-shifted to dedicating his life to reconstruct my city and has been an active spokesperson and NGO board member in the global community. He is actually the one that suggested to me as a child that I should work for the UN some day and he's been an inspiring model for me. He was back in Geneva for a UN conference on disaster relief and we enjoyed a brief moment on reminiscing about the good old days back home and also about the future prospects for the city and its reconstruction process.
He also took me out for dinner, knowing that I am a poor student desperate for Japanese food which I was incredibly grateful for. Especially because Japanese food is probably the most expensive food to eat in Switzerland (a landlocked country trying to serve seafood..... go figure)
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| Fusion sushi made by a Hokkaido chef: Fois-gras with sashimi sushi and mozzarella with raw scallops yum! |
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| Yakiniku-style beef sirloin with shiitake mushrooms. Ah, my heart just melted |
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| Japanese sesame sauce mille-feiulle |
If you live overseas, you know that you crave for the most odd things. As we both have/have been living away from Japan for many years, we know what we crave for: Japanese "Financial Times" and traditional Japanese cake. Oh yes, these things are more previous than gold!
