A trip to Fukushima

This week end, I and my wife will visit a hot spa in Fukushima Pref, where we will spend the weekend. On Sunday PM, we are planning to  see our second son there. He is studying medicine over there. My wife is so cheerful like a pupil before going for a school excursion. I should have had such a trip with her before. A friend of mine made fun of me, when I told him about this trip, saying that the toilet paper roll runs faster when it is run out. I was not very happy with that comparison with our lives. But it is true the blessed time left for us is getting shorter. I am pleased I could compensate the loss of our lives from now. We are planning to attend the W7 FOC event in the last week end of next July as well. It would be the trip abroad first ever for us.

Fukushima Pref is a farming as well as a fishery area. It is a very beautiful countryside with grand view of mountains as shown in the picture. I have driven up there often for the past couple of years. One reason of the frequent visits was to see my old mother in a facility in Miyagi, north of Fukushima, who passed away this spring. I also have been to Fukushima itself to meet my son. The scenary was always overwhelming to me. The mountain range looked not sharp but broad and gentle. I felt as if I were embraced by them whenever the mountains appeared before me. I was always feeling relaxed and soothed watching them.

As it was repeatedly reported, Fukushima Pref , especially the coast area, has been very badly damaged by both the big tsunami and the nuclear plant accident Mar this year. The area surrounding the plant was seriously contaminated with the fallout. The people in the area could not come back home yet. Maybe, a town or two might disappear with the habitants evacuated somewhere far away. It is a too sad  event. We should never forget this fact. The mountain area, inland from the ocean, is less contaminated. But the habitants are struggling against the fallout as well as the critical situation for the economy etc. I feel so sad that this peaceful area should undergo such tragedy. My wife and I will see the area up there this week end.  Have a nice week end, everyone!