We had a mostly restful night at the EFree Guest House in Takayama. Have I mentioned that we've had one or two noticeable aftershocks each night? I haven't felt them all, but a couple nights ago, one woke up all of us.
Today we return to Tokyo and prep to fly home to Seattle. Kind of strange to put all these days of disaster in our rear view mirror, because much of what we've seen and felt here will remain in our hearts and memories for the rest of our lives.
After the 6 hour drive to Tokyo, we arrived in Higashi Kurume where we started our journey. We dropped our stuff off at the EFree Mission HQ and Guest House, returned our faithful van to Toyota Rent-a-car, and walked through the train station over to CRASH for a debrief time. Life seems normal here - and rather nostalgic for me because our kids went to school in this town, and we lived here for the last 5 years of our time in Japan. Much has changed of course, including a new Tullys in the station. Would have never imagined that 10 years ago.
 |
| Shere and Jeff in Shibuya |
It was our final night in Japan, and we needed some time to decompress and visit Tokyo. My good friend and long-time Japan buddy, Tim Johnson, joined us, and we took the train/subway to Shibuya. TJ was able to give extra insight on how people are handling the recovery from the disaster, as well as talking about his work as a missionary pastor of the church we attended for years.
 |
| TJ and the team enjoying Shabu-Shabu |
In Shibuya, we noticed that even though the people energy - mostly all the typical 1000's of college and career aged crowd - was still lively, the usual electronic billboards and neon signs were dark. TJ said it was because businesses and even families and individuals are conserving energy. The rolling blackouts have stopped, but people are still helping this way. We found a wonderful Shabu-Shabu restaurant on the 8th floor of Seibu, and splurged a bit to celebrate a successful trip and to commemorate this terrific team.
No comments:
Post a Comment