A POSTCARD FROM JAPAN

Another earthquake in Japan made me think of the people there. So I hunted to determine if I had any postcards from there

The postcard was sent to my parents from their friends Mike and Arleen Furgala.
"Oct 29/81- Hi Dear "Parks", There we go "low-flying" to Kyoto & Nara. Japan is beautiful colours and people but oh, so busy. Enjoying the adventure of "Interline tour". Keep well, Love, Mike and Arleen" The postcard features the Bullet Trains at Tokyo Central Railroad.
Mike was a captain with Air Canada like Dad. He and his wife Arleen were dear friends of the family. They travelled more than my folks. Arleen, unlike Mom, liked to fly!
If you want a postcard featured here, email me at abdm@rogers.com so I can send you my address so you can send me a postcard.

A CANADIAN-JAPANESE FEEL GOOD STORY

The Tsunami in Japan in March 2011 was devastating to so many people and areas of Japan. We are told the debris that is in the Pacific Ocean continues to head to North America and especially the coast of British Columbia in Canada. This week a fellow Canadian Mark Davis that likes to beach comb found a container with a motorcyle on a very remote beach. It was from debris from the Japanese Tsunami. Did he want to keep the find? No. His kindness to try to find the owner as it had Japanese license plates was to contact the Japanese Consulate. He wanted to know if the owner had survived. His first thoughts were about the person who owned it. The rest is history- Ikuo Yokoyama is alive and the owner. He lost family members, his home and probably lots of hope for his future. Harley Davidson in Japan is having the bike shipped home and will fix it before returning it to Ikuo. It's just a bike but it is something to give back from a terrible disaster. Both men want to meet each other. I feel proud to have a fellow Canadian with a good and generous heart. His first thoughts were to return the bike. Does it mean there are stories to unfold as the debris continues to hit our shores? Will there be a special connection between Canadians and Japanese? I hope so. Perhaps it is a lesson to see if there are other connections we can make as Canadians with other parts of the world. Mark you are a fine human being and like many other Canadians-very mellow and low key about the whole thing!

A WINTER PROJECT

Almost done. When goals are set to try to complete projects in a timely fashion, some technical difficulties get in the way. Needed to buy a new printer, more ink, some pictures too dark, eventually went to a photoshop. Then I thought of my week and the tragedy, the terrible situation in Japan and the people still recovering in New Zealand. How blessed to have nothing more to worry about than some technical difficulties. Do you feel blessed to have family and friends safe?