by TYLYN
Many years ago, this land used to be filled with warriors who spoke only of honor and dying on the battlefield, the finely curved blades that sat on their hips considered their souls. Sometimes, the battlefields were soaked with their blood, entire fields trampled for the sake of glory and power. Then, the land would grow once again, becoming the site of fleeting trees whose petals made the tranquility appear ever-lasting.
The towns that hailed the mighty warriors, as well as those honest, everyday people that history has forgotten, soon became cities. These are things that one comes to figure out when they’re standing on the border of the city, filled with explosive signs, heavy traffic, and interesting characters.
“Ohayou gozaimas!”
“Wakarimas ka?”
“Shukudai o shimasu.”
“Suki des ka?”
With guidebook and dictionary in hand, plus many years of study of the language and culture, one is not truly prepared to become a part of a world that one had to fight for, without the proper resources that public schooling tries to provide.
And yet, behind remains the fields that seem almost dream-like in appearance. It is almost as if time resisted the advances of civilization on this little archipelago. But it still failed, for civilization has merely allowed it to merge quietly into their world. The tarred roads, the crops that are just outside the little section of fluttering pink petals, and even one’s standing there, are all signs of how civilization has made it part of their world. And idealistic world wherein there is an image of purity that really is not there.
In the land where symbols are backwards from much of the rest of the world, where the people are never safe from natural disaster, and where unease might lurk behind the insular happiness that has developed, many look to for that bit of hope left in the world, blissfully ignorant of the reality behind that which they seek.
If only they would open the damn doors, culturally. It happened once with intense trepidation, and again with the fire of cannons, but both were merely technological by nature, and signaled the beginning of the nation’s inner turmoil. The time has come for the gates of the society to swing wide, slamming into fence, instead of creaking, barely accessible to the uninitiated.
But these are the fears and worries of someone who had never been. Of someone who has only read the history, the opinions of such a place, without ever truly experiencing it for themselves. Of course, one might argue that the speculation is unfounded, but such is not necessarily false, just a bit more difficult to substantiate.
But it’s all the easier to prove right.
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