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This blog starts from now, the beginning of 2024; and the beyond, a series of incidents that happened not in my backyard.
This blog starts from now, the beginning of 2024; and the beyond, a series of incidents that happened not in my backyard.
This blog starts from now, the beginning of 2024; and the beyond, a series of incidents that happened not in my backyard.
This blog starts from now, the beginning of 2024; and the beyond, a series of incidents that happened not in my backyard.
On the morning of New Year’s Day, in Toronto, the outside was covered in glistening white snow. I leisurely posted my first WeChat moment: “A heavy snowfall on New Year’s Day, a harbinger of a prosperous year. After 2023, a year filled with war, disappointment, and division in the world, Toronto’s winter snow arrived fashionably late. Therefore, this timely first snow of the new year gave me a feeling of finally turning a new page.”
However, we, who were enjoying the beautiful snowscape and the natural anticipation, were unaware that at that very moment, on the other side of the Earth, in Japan, a series of unexpected disasters were unfolding one after another. Great earthquake on Noto Peninsula, and then, a deadly plane crash in Tokyo’s Haneda airport…
You might ask, what does the disaster on the other side of the ocean have to do with our New Year here? Sure, it could be my business. It does. What is happening far away at this moment may one day happen right before our eyes. Those who are currently trapped in adversity have once indifferently watched events and people on the news that seemed distant and unconnected to them.
So-called “we” and “they”, ” here” and “there”, divide the world to be ” relevant” and ” irrelevant”. Who knows, nothing is none of or never your business.
For those who enjoy the convenience of driving, the melting glaciers may seem distant. Little do they know that the accelerated melting of glaciers can lead to flooding, washing away the neighbourhood they are familiar with. It can also cause tectonic shifts, shattering the seemingly peaceful land beneath their feet. The gunfire in a distant continent may appear to be just some others’ unfortunate fate, but it could potentially disrupt the global supply chain, leading to soaring prices and making the food on your table unaffordable. The political situation and elections in other countries may seem none of your business at all, but a shift in one nation’s policies could alter the global landscape, ultimately hindering your career or financial prospects one day in the future. Diseases and deaths in a corner of the world may seem unreachable to you, who are enjoying a lavish feast, but they could potentially unleash a pandemic, turning all gatherings into ashes and isolating you from “normal” life.
You should know that these are not figments of my imagination; they are all reflections of reality. What has been happening since 2020, should wake you and remind you to rejudge how far is from “now” and “then”, “here” and “there”.
Of course, I have to admit that the reason why I am paying so much attention to everything happening in Japan is because I plan to travel there in March. The disasters in the news make me wonder, what if I were there when they happened? It seems just like the stories that used to happen on TV screens, the news sounds like happening in another world, now, is remarkably close to me.
Moreover, the coincidence of connection between these two incidents is alarming. If it weren’t for the most powerful earthquake since 2011, and if it weren’t for the temporary use of Haneda Airport’s runway for effective rescue efforts in the earthquake-stricken area, this tragedy (the death of 5 crew members on a Maritime Self-Defense Force plane) would not have occurred. Who would have thought that there could be such an immediate connection between these two events? When the earthquake on the Noto Peninsula reached Tokyo, it was weakened to a magnitude of 3, however, it swiftly and unexpectedly affected the lives of people hundreds of kilometres away from Tokyo.
It sounds so far from each other between “now” and “future”, “here” and “there”, “we” and “they”, but they are actually tied. Most people may not realize it as they are focusing on their day-to-day lives more than what is happening in the distance. I had been awake to this thanks to my overseas migration life experience, which made the world in my eye no longer a solitary island.
This blog starts from now, the beginning of 2024; and the beyond, a series of incidents that happened not in my backyard.
On the morning of New Year’s Day, in Toronto, the outside was covered in glistening white snow. I leisurely posted my first WeChat moment: “A heavy snowfall on New Year’s Day, a harbinger of a prosperous year. After 2023, a year filled with war, disappointment, and division in the world, Toronto’s winter snow arrived fashionably late. Therefore, this timely first snow of the new year gave me a feeling of finally turning a new page.”
However, we, who were enjoying the beautiful snowscape and the natural anticipation, were unaware that at that very moment, on the other side of the Earth, in Japan, a series of unexpected disasters were unfolding one after another. Great earthquake on Noto Peninsula, and then, a deadly plane crash in Tokyo’s Haneda airport…
You might ask, what does the disaster on the other side of the ocean have to do with our New Year here? Sure, it could be my business. It does. What is happening far away at this moment may one day happen right before our eyes. Those who are currently trapped in adversity have once indifferently watched events and people on the news that seemed distant and unconnected to them.
So-called “we” and “they”, ” here” and “there”, divide the world to be ” relevant” and ” irrelevant”. Who knows, nothing is none of or never your business.
For those who enjoy the convenience of driving, the melting glaciers may seem distant. Little do they know that the accelerated melting of glaciers can lead to flooding, washing away the neighbourhood they are familiar with. It can also cause tectonic shifts, shattering the seemingly peaceful land beneath their feet. The gunfire in a distant continent may appear to be just some others’ unfortunate fate, but it could potentially disrupt the global supply chain, leading to soaring prices and making the food on your table unaffordable. The political situation and elections in other countries may seem none of your business at all, but a shift in one nation’s policies could alter the global landscape, ultimately hindering your career or financial prospects one day in the future. Diseases and deaths in a corner of the world may seem unreachable to you, who are enjoying a lavish feast, but they could potentially unleash a pandemic, turning all gatherings into ashes and isolating you from “normal” life.
You should know that these are not figments of my imagination; they are all reflections of reality. What has been happening since 2020, should wake you and remind you to rejudge how far is from “now” and “then”, “here” and “there”.
Of course, I have to admit that the reason why I am paying so much attention to everything happening in Japan is because I plan to travel there in March. The disasters in the news make me wonder, what if I were there when they happened? It seems just like the stories that used to happen on TV screens, the news sounds like happening in another world, now, is remarkably close to me.
Moreover, the coincidence of connection between these two incidents is alarming. If it weren’t for the most powerful earthquake since 2011, and if it weren’t for the temporary use of Haneda Airport’s runway for effective rescue efforts in the earthquake-stricken area, this tragedy (the death of 5 crew members on a Maritime Self-Defense Force plane) would not have occurred. Who would have thought that there could be such an immediate connection between these two events? When the earthquake on the Noto Peninsula reached Tokyo, it was weakened to a magnitude of 3, however, it swiftly and unexpectedly affected the lives of people hundreds of kilometres away from Tokyo.
It sounds so far from each other between “now” and “future”, “here” and “there”, “we” and “they”, but they are actually tied. Most people may not realize it as they are focusing on their day-to-day lives more than what is happening in the distance. I had been awake to this thanks to my overseas migration life experience, which made the world in my eye no longer a solitary island.
This blog starts from now, the beginning of 2024; and the beyond, a series of incidents that happened not in my backyard.
On the morning of New Year’s Day, in Toronto, the outside was covered in glistening white snow. I leisurely posted my first WeChat moment: “A heavy snowfall on New Year’s Day, a harbinger of a prosperous year. After 2023, a year filled with war, disappointment, and division in the world, Toronto’s winter snow arrived fashionably late. Therefore, this timely first snow of the new year gave me a feeling of finally turning a new page.”
However, we, who were enjoying the beautiful snowscape and the natural anticipation, were unaware that at that very moment, on the other side of the Earth, in Japan, a series of unexpected disasters were unfolding one after another. Great earthquake on Noto Peninsula, and then, a deadly plane crash in Tokyo’s Haneda airport…
You might ask, what does the disaster on the other side of the ocean have to do with our New Year here? Sure, it could be my business. It does. What is happening far away at this moment may one day happen right before our eyes. Those who are currently trapped in adversity have once indifferently watched events and people on the news that seemed distant and unconnected to them.
So-called “we” and “they”, ” here” and “there”, divide the world to be ” relevant” and ” irrelevant”. Who knows, nothing is none of or never your business.
For those who enjoy the convenience of driving, the melting glaciers may seem distant. Little do they know that the accelerated melting of glaciers can lead to flooding, washing away the neighbourhood they are familiar with. It can also cause tectonic shifts, shattering the seemingly peaceful land beneath their feet. The gunfire in a distant continent may appear to be just some others’ unfortunate fate, but it could potentially disrupt the global supply chain, leading to soaring prices and making the food on your table unaffordable. The political situation and elections in other countries may seem none of your business at all, but a shift in one nation’s policies could alter the global landscape, ultimately hindering your career or financial prospects one day in the future. Diseases and deaths in a corner of the world may seem unreachable to you, who are enjoying a lavish feast, but they could potentially unleash a pandemic, turning all gatherings into ashes and isolating you from “normal” life.
You should know that these are not figments of my imagination; they are all reflections of reality. What has been happening since 2020, should wake you and remind you to rejudge how far is from “now” and “then”, “here” and “there”.
Of course, I have to admit that the reason why I am paying so much attention to everything happening in Japan is because I plan to travel there in March. The disasters in the news make me wonder, what if I were there when they happened? It seems just like the stories that used to happen on TV screens, the news sounds like happening in another world, now, is remarkably close to me.
Moreover, the coincidence of connection between these two incidents is alarming. If it weren’t for the most powerful earthquake since 2011, and if it weren’t for the temporary use of Haneda Airport’s runway for effective rescue efforts in the earthquake-stricken area, this tragedy (the death of 5 crew members on a Maritime Self-Defense Force plane) would not have occurred. Who would have thought that there could be such an immediate connection between these two events? When the earthquake on the Noto Peninsula reached Tokyo, it was weakened to a magnitude of 3, however, it swiftly and unexpectedly affected the lives of people hundreds of kilometres away from Tokyo.
It sounds so far from each other between “now” and “future”, “here” and “there”, “we” and “they”, but they are actually tied. Most people may not realize it as they are focusing on their day-to-day lives more than what is happening in the distance. I had been awake to this thanks to my overseas migration life experience, which made the world in my eye no longer a solitary island.