Summer

Today is the 6-month anniversary for the March 11 Earthquake AND the 10 year anniversary for the Sept 11 attack. The latter changed the world... I would probably say the same for the former too, in light of the all the recent attitudes towards nuclear power. I still remember how small I felt as we tuned in to the radio in our classroom in secondary school, listening to the full impact of the whole situation. The night before I saw the unbelievable image of the smoking twin towers live on the 10 o'clock news. I couldn't comprehend what had happened, but the image burned itself into my mind. I must have thought of how crazy the world is becoming at that point in time.

10 years on, I still tear while reading magazine articles of how people's lives are turned upside down by the tragic events which happened on that fateful day. Little did we know that the 11th would be witness to another devastating disaster in Japan. It's been 6 months and I don't know how to feel to be honest. While it feels unreal because we haven't heard so much about the things going on Tohoku, yet at the same time, it still feels as if I just survived the quake yesterday. Our anxiety about the future still persist, but in a subdued manner as we carry on with our lives.

Talking about my life - I'm terribly sorry for being away for a month. August was crazy due to work. I worked 10am-11opm shifts almost everyday. It was a bit hellish, but I managed to live through it. I had some fun times but it just all added up to a terribly exhausting month.

I went to Disneysea with Camilla and it was really fun to see this fantasy world. Actually, it was more fascinating to see how crazy the Japanese people are about mickey mouse and his friends. It was unbelievable how they can embrace the whole gaudiness of the mickey empire and the money-spinning empire. They love it, they were buying down the entire place!?!?!!?! It would never happen in Singapore. Boys were happy to wear mickey mouse ears headbands. Everyone wore Mickey Mouse shirts and had a 1000/2000yen popcorn container hanging from their necks. Before this, I was at the National Museum with Masa-chan and it was really interesting to see the different Japanese cultural treasures. It did no favors for my superrrrrrrrrrrr sore feet though.

Earlier I went to the controversial Yasukuni shrine with Jeremy. He's my junior from my college and he happened to come to Japan for a summer music festival. I met him for the first time in Tokyo and we had a lovely time hanging out. It was cool to visit the shrine. I was really lucky to have some history background and I was able to look at its unique depiction of history. I found out from Yusuke that the shrine was able to write whatever it likes because of "freedom of speech". Shrines are entitled to their own opinions, which meant that they could write their own version of history. I found many contentious points, to which I chuckled to myself. However, most of the visitors are old Japanese people who seemed to take the information seriously. It further reinforces their belief that WW2 had a positive impact on the world. Still, I can understand from the Japanese point of view after looking at the exhibits in the museum. While the political leaders' visits to the shrines to honor the war dead are undoubtedly controversial, I can understand why some of them insist on such a tradition. The shrine has been established for a long time to honor ALL those who sacrificed their lives for the country (or ruler), thus it would be too narrow-minded to stop them from offering their respects at Yasukuni shrine because of WW2. Of course, any clever Japanese politican would not tempt fate and invite trouble by insisting on making official trips there. Kudos to the newest Prime Minister Noda for being pragmatic and prudent with regards to the Yasukuni shrine.

That's all I remember. I'm a little tipsy too, after polishing a bottle of wine with my housemate this evening. I had spent the evening watching and listening to my housemate cry about her heartbreak. My heart goes out to her. Be strong my dear. x