A Thing Tempts Me to Fly

2011.4.16

Who isn’t afraid of the effect of radiation which is sneaking into our environment?  Radiation is invisible, so there is no efficient way to know how much the environment is polluted by radiation substance with the eye. It is actually a big concern for people living around Fukushima, Japan. As everybody already knows that the problem is the consequence of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

When I told a friend of mine that I would visit Tokyo, he questioned me why I should go to the area where I might be exposed to radiation. He had a point. Maybe I should not ignore his concern, but the distance between Tokyo and Fukushima Daiich Nuclear Power Plant is about two hundred and thirty kilometers, and in my prospective point of view, the risk that I might get radiation exposure was quite low. (It is not based on any science evidence, for your information.) I would not say that there is no probability of getting exposed to radiation. However, it concerns about radiation effect coming from the malfunctioned nuclear power plants that didn’t affect my visit to Tokyo at all. Maybe, I am too optimistic about this issue.

TOKYO SKY TREE (still under construction)

I flew from Aomori to Tokyo, which took about an hour. There were still some signs of the damage caused by the earthquake. Public transportation had been unstable, especially, railways were not in full condition at that time. Anyway, I am not a science geek, so it does not matter to me why airplanes are not affected by the earthquake. The important thing was to get to Tokyo safely.

It has been a long time since  I visited Tokyo last time. I am not familiar with subways in Tokyo since I live in a rural area far from the capital. Besides, I have no sense of direction. Needless to say, I always get in trouble knowing how to get to the place where I wanted to go. I am not sure why I don’t take my poor sense of direction seriously, but “It will come out all right.” that is what always comes up to my mind when I get lost on the way.

I headed to Asakusa with my friend’s help through text messages. She gave me all the information; which train I should take and what station I should get off. Thanks to friendship and technology, I could finally reach my destination: a karaoke box in Asakusa, where the people whom I longed to meet were there.

My purpose in this short trip was to meet two of my English teachers who are from the Philippines. They came to Japan for sightseeing. Even though we have had lessons through the Internet for over a year, it was our first time to meet each other in person. I was really excited to have the opportunity to see them, and I found them to be very cute and charming ladies just as I thought they are in our online lessons. 

I wasn't the only student of theirs to come and meet them in person. I met those other students for the first time too. Strangely enough, we hit it off immediately after we were  introduced to each other like old classmates from high school. They also study English with the teachers and speak English well. I always thought it was weird to talk to other Japanese people in English even in the lessons, but this time I didn’t feel any weirdness while chatting with them. The teachers have great personalities, so their students also have similar characters, I guess. Maybe it is like “Birds of a feather flock together.”

During my stay in Tokyo, I did not find any radiation effects, but found friends who have warm and angelic smiles. That was what I traveled for a long way of five hundred and eighty kilometers.