Category: Blog
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Japanese Diary: Noriko
When I emailed Noriko and informed her that I was coming to Tokyo, she didn’t respond right away. Three weeks later, I received an email from her: “Great, I’ll meet you at 1 pm on November 15 at the Hachiko statue in front of Shibuya station.” I smiled. I loved Noriko’s sense of humor. Hachiko…
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The Silence of Anonymity
It was an early morning in the Kyoto train station. As I walked on the platform, I saw only two people. A young boy and a train conductor were waiting for a train. It was a rare sight at the usually busy station. They both had their backs turned to each other. It looked like…
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Father, Son, and the Sea
Fuaad is a Bajau boy who lives on the ocean with his father, mother, and two sisters near the Balabalangan Islands off the eastern Borneo coast. His family, along with a dozen other Bajau-Laut families, formed an alliance called “Pagmundah.” They are boat-dwellers who regularly fish and spend time with each other, sharing food and…
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The Impermanence of Things
When you first told me about stateless people who live in Borneo, in the middle of the ocean we were in the Gili Islands, waiting for a boat to Bali. I was exhausted from booze, sun, and sleepless nights, and I told you angrily that if you don’t stop talking, I will jump into the…
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Pieces of a Shattered Past
Can you imagine a cave man waking up in contemporary Hong Kong? What would be his first reaction? How can you describe his facial expression after he sees eight million people scattered in 426 square miles? What would be his reaction seeing the towering skyscrapers, fast trains, cars, ferries, bridges, and neon lights? How would…
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An Icon of Eternal Memory
Mee told me about her recently passed mother when we were on our way to climb Huayna Potosi mountain in Bolivia. She was carrying her mother’s photo inside her coat pocket, wrapped carefully in a small plastic bag. For her that small piece of paper was the symbol of happiness and there was nothing in…
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From a Notebook Found on the Floor of a Bus
Shepherdstown, West Virginia Today is November second, a gray and rainy day… Tomorrow is the election everyone is talking about. I don’t know what’s going to happen, who will win; I really don’t know. The only thing I know is that I live in a country full of sick people. I won’t be able to…
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Before You Left Botswana
“Ilia, are you bored?” It was morning, and I was still snoozing. I had a pillow over my eyes and didn’t want to wake up just yet. “Ilia.” “What?” “Are you bored with your life? With me? Life in general? Do you ever feel any excitement in your life?” I slowly opened my eyes. The…
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My Eleusinian Mystery
It was early morning when I left Arba Minch, a city in southwestern Ethiopia. My plan was to drive the 500 kilometers to Addis Ababa, but with a stop in the area around the town of Sebeta, where I hoped to find one of the settlements of the Dorze people. The Dorze are a minority…
Small Piece of Happiness 