May 31, 2019
Japan's new Imperial era telling people how precious calm, ordinary life is
The first month of Japan's new Imperial era, "Reiwa" in the Japanese, is passing, as the summer flower of hydrangea has begun to bloom as usual in many areas of Japan.
The Reiwa era started on May 1, on the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito, following the end of the Heisei era which included a host of devastating natural disasters and social incidents. The most serious of the mishaps was the earthquake-triggered killer tsunami waves of March 2011, which claimed as many as about 20,000 lives in the northeastern to eastern Japan areas and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless at one time.
The series of disasters and incidents threw Japan into confusion just after that, but Japan gradually started getting back on its feet each time. This reminded Japanese that they must bind together as one to overcome the difficulties.As the new era name means "beautiful peace," Japanese people equally hope that their life will be calm in the years ahead. But it is far from certain if their life will be so.
In the first month since the new age began, there occurred not a few traffic accidents across the country involving vehicles mistakenly driven by elderly persons. This can be seen as yet another phenomenon of the ongoing aging of Japan's population.
In an indication of Japan's uncertain, shaky social situation, a killing incident occurred in an urban area near Yokohama late in May. The 51-year-old assailant killed himself, just after stabbing more than 10 persons, including kids on their way to school, on the street, two of them fatally. The killer is said to have been in the so-called "hikikomori" (self-isolation) life.The incidents show how precious the calm, ordinary life is and how difficult people in today's Japan live such a life.
A song written by students of a junior high school in an area affected by the tsunami disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, one year after the tragedy depicted their memories linked to their victimized friends. The song says, "Ah, we were born in that town and we met you, and we shared our times with you while talking about many wishes. .... We have come to know that ordinariness is a happy thing..."As the season goes by, flowers and plants grow in various parts of Japan, but people's life is unlikely to be exactly the same as in the ordinary year.
Japan is expected to go through challenging years in the new era, too, but calls should grow in society for Japanese people each time to remind themselves they have to work together closely in hard times.
