Last year marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the summer I spent in Japan as a high-school exchange student. During the last six months I’ve been filming short lengths of video about the extraordinary experience I had there. My hope has been to make a video “thank you” for my host parents, who welcomed me into their home and treated me as one of their own. To this day, I call them “Otoosan” and “Okaasan,” father and mother.
My husband, children and I visited Washington, D.C. last August. While we were there, I returned to the Japanese Embassy and the U.S. Capitol. These were among the places where, at sixteen, I was fortunate to meet with Japanese and American officials before departing for Tokyo.
Yesterday there was an earthquake off the coast of Japan. The extent of damage and lives lost from the earthquake and tsunami are still unknown.
Below is a link to the small clips I filmed in Washington last summer. My husband lived in Tokyo for three years after college, so Japan dwells in both of our hearts. We send our hope and prayers to our loved ones there, and to all the Japanese people. We hope that readers of this blog will do what they can to help them recover from this devastating disaster.
This photo is so lovely–like something out of an anthropology text. It brought back many memories of my time studying abroad in Nagoya (college, junior year). My heart is with my second family there too and all the Japanese people.