Saturday, April 03, 2010

A train journey

In the center of Honshu, roughly speaking, you find mountainous areas.

Japan might be perceived as a country of big cities with incredible congestions, but the mountains provide a different scene. I took the Azusa express train from Shinjuku, and before long found myself fast asleep. I had an early morning.

When I awoke, I was already in the vicinity of gods. There was a glow in the sky, the evening sun shining through a thick blanket of clouds hanging over a mountain. I wanted to take a photo, but thought better of it. I knew these moments would pass. The train was speeding, the tunnels would come one after another, and the scenery was in a constant transition with the acceleration of modern technologies.

Better witness it all in my flesh.

At that moment, I was convinced that had I been a local living in the distant past, I would have been persuaded of the existence of gods by the very beauty of the evening sunlight.

Our train reached the destination station shortly, and I found the smiling face of my very best friend waiting for me. A train journey has just been completed.

1 comment:

TED said...

You have had a great experiance recentry. This short essay have offered me an opportunity to think about the advantage and disadvantage of living in rural areas in Japan. There are few elegant shops and large shopping stores in local cities. Moreover no efficient means of transportation is offered there. It is very inconvenient for elderly people to visit the medical institutions because it needs a long time to get there and the medical servicies which they receive are not reasonable. The main reason is that doctors and care workers are not well staffed. However, in my opinion one advantage remained in the life of local cities is that the existence of fraternity and dialog among local people make it possible for them to live peacefully and comfortablely in their everyday life. We miss them in most of the big cities in Japan. I think this situation contributes to increasing the crime rate and the number of people commiting suicide in those areas.