« Karl = CRAZAY. | Main | Ben's Important Day (Plus Goat and Pig's Feet!) »
December 20, 2004
Lift-off!
Today I finally met Tomon Mitsuko, a Shaminto representative from Okinawa in the Japanese House of Representatives.
We've been playing phone tag (which is hard when one side doesn't have a phone) since last week, but finally I got through to her secretary, Tomiyama-san, from Koza, where I'd gone to an English bookstore to pick up a copy of this, and it turned out Tomon-giin lived about eight blocks away and was going to drive into Naha about fifteen minutes later and would I mind talking to her in the car on the way? No, I wouldn't mind at all, of course, and I set about walking the longer-than-anticipated route and worrying about the fact that I wasn't prepared, didn't have a pencil and on top of that happened to be wearing this today. Yow.
Tomon-san didn't seem to care. She talked and talked and made me very happy to have my iPod voice recorder. She's very bright and incredibly kind. In Naha I joined her at the candlelight vigil against the Henoko relocation project. I even marched around the block with her, though it occurred to me people might be confused to see a gaijin marching behind the Socialist Party banner.
Anyway, Tomon-san is putting me in touch directly with loads of people (not only Gov. Ota, but also Profs. Nakachi and Shimabukuro at Ryukyu University and Yamashiro Sei, a prefectural official who should know quite a bit about my topic), so it's going to be a busy next few days. I also met Yamauchi-san, Gov. Ota's treasurer.
Everyone was so supportive. I only hope I can make an impact and give something back to them someday.
Posted by Ben at December 20, 2004 08:50 AM
Comments
A picture comes to mind: you, candle in hand, wearing The T-Shirt, marching with the Socialists. A real smiler.
Posted by: Bagmom at December 20, 2004 03:35 PM