D-Day-1

Hi there,

argh, I've realised I made some English mistakes on the previous messages, well rather I forgot some words. Very understandable as I type as quickly as I speak :-)

I'm starting to feel some anxieties ahead of my departure to Japan, some excitement too, well it's scary when I think that I'm going that far, I've never travelled so far before, the US quite far, Africa as well but Japan... Great. 

Yesterday, I watched a very enlightening documentary on Arte about Japan made in 2016 and about the rise of Japan nationalism since the abdication of the emperor.  I didn''t know that Japan was the only country in the world whose constitution prevented it from having or building its own military force.  All that because of the US making it impossible for them by changing their constitution after WWII.   And today, many opposition forces want to challenge that article, revise it and even delete it and enable Japan to build its own military force.   To be continued... Shinzo Abe is a fervent supporter of the US, so that won't change for a while I guess unless inland forces force him to change his views.

Basically, the US are above the emperor, formally (before the end of WWII) the highest authority in the country. 

And another thing, Japan never really capitulated, they stopped fighting but there was no surrender from it. So they never really acknowledged having lost the war.  So in Japanese people's minds, that must be rather disturbing, did they lose? Did they win?  Were they forced to stop fighting namely because of the use of the nuclear bomb, a threat to human civilization, if used again, as the emperor said at the time, if used again, it could destroy the entire human civilization.

Yesterday night, M's birthday.   Very nice, friendly  and cool.

Before that, very moving goodbyes at school, with my colleagues, very warm and kind.  They offered all the necessary accessories for eating Japanese.  I may soon say, I live Japanese, I eat Japanese and I breathe Japanese, well for a while but I love it going to other cultures and immersing myself into them.  So enrichiing!

Nice words in the goodbye card too.  Well, I will definitely go back to see them.  I already miss them (not the words, the colleagues).  Also a nice speech from the headmistress, Mrs B. very humane and open.

Started packing, a little, I always travel light, my suitcase is light as is my head, it makes space for peace, love and serenity.

A modern sculpture in the Jardin des Plantes - a a favorite place of mine to practise mindfulness and enjoy peace