I visited Hawaii a pretty long time ago. My good friend, Carrie, and I rented a car and drove around Oahu and Kawai - as far as you could drive, that is. That isn't very far. I very quickly got a nice case of claustrophobia. Without adequate money you could never leave these islands! Having grown up in the United States where, with adequate time and a car, you can go about anywhere, I felt trapped on the islands. Then I made the mistake of looking at their location on the map. Too small of spots in the middle of too big of an ocean. YIKES! One big tidal wave, and...SPLASH!
Now I live on an island. However, there is enough of the island for me not to feel claustrophobic, and it is close enough to Korea I can dream of swiming there if I have to.
But, lately, the "smallness" of Japan has hit home again. And I mean the actual size of the land.
Apparently Japan is not able to produce enough produce at a reasonable enough price to feed us all who live here. So, as many islands do, we import. I grew up with imported food being bananas! Here it is everything from fish to daikon radishes. Everyday foods have to be imported for the supply to be adequate. Or at least, the cheap supply to be adequate. I suppose if you were rich enough you could buy all Japanese grown whatever, but...
Japan imports much of their food from China. The land known for dirty air, water, and who knows what all else. That is where many of the inexpensively sold vegetables are grown. Just this past week one of the HUGE news stories has been about contaminated frozen processed food coming from China. I took note of the news on the first day it aired. Then, the next day, I saw a picture of the package of frozen Chinese dumplings (gyoza) that I often buy and that Jun LOVES on the news as a product to avoid.
I wanted to cry! I gave thanks to God that we had not gotten the contaminmated ones and Jun was fine. I felt so angry that my own baby's life could have been in danger, and guilty that I am too lazy to make these dumplings from scratch, thus endangering my family. And I felt claustrophobic again!
We live in a tiny apartment with a tiny balcony. No dirt to grow our own carrots or whatever. No family members living in the country to send us their home grown produce. No options, but to buy what we eat. And I longed for the spaciousness of North American again.
3 comments:
When you look at a map of North America, you see occassional splotches of large population centers. Once you have looked at that, then realize how much of the area is really pretty rural, or in our case, even remote. Flowers and veggies flourish in most zones, and you can grow them in your back yard.
Claustrophobic... that is exactly the word I used the other day when I described how I was doing to Lorrie. I totally understand, friend. I am so glad that you will be coming and we can share some big-ness with you!
Hi Kim-
I was thinking about how winters in japan can make me feel claustrophobic...because only one room is heated, so all of us are forced into one room, as well as all of our hanging wet laundry because it's the only place it will dry... Yes- I understand!!
Love to your family. Sue
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