“Life In The So-Called Space Age”
Watching this video makes the reality of what happened even more terrifying:
Here’s another video, of the Japanese town Onagawa after the Tsunami.
I was just looking at the town in Google Earth, or at least the town before the Tsunami. It looks like a beautiful little fishing village. The sort of place you would like to take a vacation in; half on the water, half in the mountains. Here’s a photo of the town then:
Now, it’s all gone.
The other day, on my drive home, I saw a hitchhiker. He was in his 20s, lightly dressed for the cold weather and had no bag or backpack with him. He was in the classic pose, thumb out, on the side of a suburban road. I drove past, with no thought of picking him up.
For some reason, hitchhikers seem to have all-but-disappeared from the roads of America. I was trying to remember the last time I saw one anywhere and couldn’t. When I include other countries (Australia, UK, Japan) into the equation the results are equally barren. Could hitchhiking be a lost art?
Only once in my life did I try it. It was on the Pacific Highway, from Newcastle to Charlestown. Me and one other person who I now forget (was it you MMN?) made a half-hearted attempt to hitch a ride. No-one picked us up; no-one even stopped. I don’t remember how old I was, probably in my late teens. I figure the lack of interest was in no small way related to our appearance.
In those days, or rather at that age, there was no fear of some stranger picking us up and giving us a ride a mile or two down the road. Although the perception of hitchhikers was certainly there, who ever thought it was anything beyond urban legend?
And yet I wouldn’t pick up a hitchhiker today. Not even a young, harmless looking guy in Delmar, NY. In this increasingly social, decreasingly private world it seems ironic to me how people seem to be less trusting of strangers than ever. The world gets closer and yet the fear of the unknown increases. Maybe the reason I didn’t pick this guy up was because I didn’t want to be bothered; maybe it was because somewhere in my mind I feared he’d be a psycho.
Has anyone ever picked up a hitcher, or successfully hitchhiked themselves? How did it go?
The first time we went to Japan we fell in love with the country and the people. During each subsequent trip the love grew.
The Japanese people are the friendliest, noblest and most honorable I have ever met. Their land is one of the most beautiful in the world, and the mix of their society with this natural beauty make for a country I have many times said I would love to call my own.
The tragedy that continues to unfold in Japan is heartbreaking beyond words. This is a crisis not only for Japan but for the world as a whole. I can only hope that in the far future when these times are looked back on they are remembered not for the great loss, but as another period during which the Japanese people proved once again how strong they can be in the face of terrible adversity.