When I was nineteen years old, my sister, four years my elder, left Japan. That was thirteen years ago. As for her reason, she told me, “I need to find my own way of life.”
When I went to Narita Airport to see her off, I was moved to tears as I watched her leave alone, lugging a huge pack on her back. She had decided to live a free lifestyle and try new things on her own. She ended up starting a family in Argentina, on the opposite side of the planet from Japan. She got through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic through her own willpower and deep determination.
The other day, she informed me that she had found a nice house deep in the mountains of Kyushu. She is considering moving back to Japan with her family. But the place is deep in the mountains and it isn’t easy to get to from my home in Yokohama.
I said to her, “As long as you return, I don’t care where it is! I just want to be able to visit you without needing a passport. Anywhere in the mountains of Japan is better than traveling 46 hours to see you!”