In March of 2012 I traveled to Japan with USJC President Irene Hirano Inouye, Counsel Toshio Odagiri and nine other delegates of the Japanese American Leadership Delegation. It was a privilege to have been selected to join this important delegation. The landscape first revealed itself at the start of our journey as we set down in Tokyo. The ride from Narita Airport to the hotel gave us a glimpse of the newly constructed Tokyo Sky Tree, as it dominated the skyline and symbolized so much of Japan’s upward gaze toward the future. Reflecting upon the past, there were signs everywhere down below encouraging Japan to persevere in the struggle of the 3/11 aftermath. From Tokyo we boarded the Bullet Train and traveled to Sendai, where we descended to the coastal region of Ishinomaki to see up close the tremendous power of earth and water. The wisdom of the past taught people to seek higher ground. Looking about we could see the devastation of everything built at sea level. Perched high atop a hill, an ancient shrine remained intact and it was here, we were told, those escaping the great wave found refuge. Piles of rubble, buoys, cars, and shells showed that the ebb and flow of the tsunami swept away everything in its way and then brought it back to shore in disarray. Now neatly arranged piles, some as high as small mountains, waited for disposal. As we stood atop Hiyoriyama, where Basho once stood on his journey to the deep north, JEN staff told us stories of how hospital patients were brought to the foot of the mountain and carried piggy back up the steep stairs to the top.

It was an honor meeting high government officials, such as Prime Minister Noda and Foreign Minister Gemba. We met business leaders, non-profit change makers, prominent members of the Japanese American community in Japan and a member of the imperial family. I had to smile thinking of what my grandparents would have thought of all this. They left Japan at the turn of the century, young and full of hope, and embraced an entrepreneurial spirit that allowed them to brave an unknown world. Many of them did not even speak English. A century later and in the wake of a disaster, I felt something reminiscent of their experience. It was the young people we met in Japan who embodied that same sense of youthful exuberance. Entrepreneurs, volunteers, non-profit organization leaders and survivors alike had that look of determination. Some of the young business leaders we spoke with in Sendai had left conventional jobs against the wishes of their parents, armed only with hopes of reviving the Tohoku area and a renewed vision of Japan’s future. In a world that grows alarmingly more digital and virtual each day, I felt that this very real and tangible wave had awakened everyone. I began to wipe away those images of today’s youth sitting listlessly while staring at cellphone screens. At a Beyond Tomorrow banquet, child survivors sang “makenaide, nakanaide” in a moving song that expressed that this was neither a time to give in nor a time for tears. After our meeting with MEXT officials we were guided to a 3/11 exhibition where one striking photograph titled “genki dama” and translated as “Energy Balls,” showed hands forming “musubi,” the ultimate Japanese comfort food. Something so simple as a rice ball, a staple so many Japanese Americans grew up with, took on new meaning.

Much of my childhood was spent in a small Midwestern town where, as I think back on the experience, my family was the only Asian-American presence. It was not until I met an extraordinary high school teacher when we moved to Maryland that I even thought of learning Japanese. Trained during WWII in an intensive wartime Japanese language program, my freshman French teacher decided to start a pilot Japanese program. Because of her great influence on my life, I now teach Japanese language, literature and a unique course about the Japanese tea ceremony at Washington and Lee University. As I wrote in my JALD application essay, “Life can be a string of occasional intersections but, for the most part, my heritage and profession have remained on distinctly parallel tracks.” Studying classical Japanese literature in graduate school had little to do with my issei grandparents’ experience in the U.S. Therefore, traveling to Japan with the JALD delegates created an ideal crossroads. It gave me the opportunity to view Japan through a different lens and get to know Japanese American leaders from around the U.S. It allowed the Japanese to meet Japanese Americans of various professionals. When I first studied abroad in Japan during the 1970s the word nikkei was not widely understood. This trip helped reshape my image of Japan and renewed my teaching. Before departing, I had my beginning Japanese language students learn the stroke order for the character “kizuna.” With advanced students I read poetry of Wagō Ryōichi, Kaneko Misuzu, Mado Michio and, of course, Miyazawa Kenji. I gave a guest lecture to a chemistry class on “genbaku” or atomic bomb literature. In the busy moments leading up to the trip, I began to understand that disaster refreshes our vocabulary and gives voice to experiences that at first seem a world away. Miyazawa’s well-worn words “ame ni mo makezu, kaze ni mo makezu” seemed to take on new meaning.

Since returning from the JALD what am I even more passionate about? Studying world languages is absolutely crucial to having a genuine interest in people and cultures and leads to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a global citizen. More recently I served as the president of the Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ has now reorganized as a new organization known as AATJ). Those of us who teach Japanese know that students have both an affinity with and fascination of Japan. They respond to the pop culture that seems to tickle their imaginations and want to walk the same streets as Murakami Haruki’s fictional characters. For Japanese Americans, learning Japanese will reconnect them with a heritage that they may suddenly find remote when older relatives pass away. Where as there has been no noticeable decrease in the number students in the U.S. seeking study abroad in Japan since 3/11, there has been over the years a drop in the number of Japanese students studying in the U.S. We realize that there are other places in the world competing for the Japanese student’s interest, along with a host of impediments to their going abroad, but we need to rededicate our energy to the educational exchange between our two countries. In the wake of 3/11 we have much to learn from the youth of Japan.