Gunmania 2008: Spring Issue (vol 2)

The magazine I write for has just come out with it’s spring issue, so check it out. This magazine is a quarterly publication about Gunma Prefecture (群馬県), where I currently live.

In this issue:
-Running (And Cycling) For A Cause
by Erin Kessler

-Great Japan Beer Festival
by Bahia Simons-Morton

-Gunma Public: Teacher Dorama
by Joyce Wong

-Koyasan: The Best Of Old Japan In A Day’s Leisurely Walk
by Symerna Blake

-Not Done Yet
by Chris Hensleigh

-The Princess Of Kiryu
by Bahia Simons-Morton

Download the PDF here: http://www.gunmajet.net/node/1171

Small Moments

This was written for the Gunma Guide, an English language newsletter for Gunma Prefecture, Japan.

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In my opinion, there are two types of people who come to Japan; there are those who stay for a short time, and there are those who stay forever. Each of these individuals must have a spirit adventurous enough to pick up and move to an unfamiliar country. Those of us who come for a short time may have different experiences; some may have negative experiences and leave after only a few months, but I think most have positive experiences and stay longer than expected. Some become what are often known as “lifers”; those who have no plan to ever leave Japan and return to their home countries.

But what is it that these two groups have in common besides the obvious that they both live in Japan? For any person, living in a foreign country for any amount of time will leave indelible marks. We may seem calm and still like the surface of a pond; if we return to our home country we may at first seem the same as we did when we left. But like throwing a rock into the water, though the surface regains its former equilibrium, the rock stays forever, and we remain changed.