Dan dan kawarimashita

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Slow to change, the male dominated culture in Japan is slowly changing. The male-female stereotyped roles of train conductor and train host are changing. I was pleasantly surprised to see a female train conductor on a local JR line From Sendai to Matsushima. I was stunned to see a male train host on the Tokuho Shinkansen from Fukushima to Tokyo. Riding the local lines is always an adventure. Some of the inaka (rural) stations are unsheltered platforms where you need to navigate stairs with extreme incline. Add luggage and you are standing with the commuter rush swerving around you like water flows around rock. Standing on a open platform when a Shinkansen at full speed passes, is an amazing rush! You feel the speed and the power of these amazing trains And they speed through inches from where you stand.

The 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Miyagi region is recovering. You do not see many visible reminders of the devastation. The people do not talk openly of the event that affected the region. Yet, as they converse they mention of the loss of life, the damage and struggle that continues to haunt them. As I sat gazing at the calm of the sea, I learned many of them are still scared of the horrors brought on by the tsunami.

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