Ejovi Nuwere

I wasn’t too excited about coming to Japan this time. Maybe it was the long flight in coach, usually I try to get a flight with one stop so I don’t have to sit in the planes tiny chair for 12 hours straight. And because I fly a lot I get free upgrades to first class on any flights in the USA. So at least one leg of my flight would have been comfortable. Then while I was taking the bus into Tokyo I found the grey buildings around the city to be particularly ugly and depressing.

But Japan is a beautiful place really, you just have to keep your eyes open. Outside of Tokyo Japan is mostly green and full of beautiful mountains and hidden corners of extreme Japanese culture. I think hitch hiking across Japan is one the best experiences I’d ever had in my life. I learned more about Japan in those two and a half weeks traveling around the country and sleeping out of a tent then I did my entire year there.

At Narita airport they have several mini Japanese gardens, then some where on my way towards the hotel I heard traditional Japanese music and saw a group of 20 or so girls dressed in kimono. The girls in kimonos are fairly common and I think most Japanese people don’t even notice them anymore, but I felt I really needed to pause and appreciate its beauty, the colors and the history it represents. Then I realized what it was that first attracted me to Japan…Japanese girls in kimonos (that’s a joke!).

Tuesday at 10:00AM I will take the stand for 2 hours in a Tokyo court room for my case against Japan for violation of freedom of speech. A case that is nearing its end after two years. I suspect that my time on the stand to be an emotionally and mentally draining experience. Absolutely necessary given what the employees of Soumushou did, but one I hope to never have to go through again. In the meantime I am trying to relax and appreciate Japan a little before Tuesday. Going to museums and visiting historical sights again to remind me of how culture rich the country is under all the glitter and glam.

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