Since I started living in Japan, it has always been my dream to travel the country and finish all of its 47 prefectures. I don’t know why I have this tendency; I barely even travel in my own country. I guess maybe because there is something romantic in this country that makes me want to enjoy every moment I spent in each of its places. Something that makes me want to stare at the grassland while the sunset goes down. Something that makes me want to stay on the shore to hear the sound of waves crushing the stones below my feet.
The latest prefecture that I visited was Fukui. When I told people that I and Rika will go there, everyone wondering what’s in there that interesting enough for us to visit. Being one of the place in Japan that considered ‘remote’, Fukui often underestimated. Actually, I enjoyed Fukui a lot.
Fukui is a prefecture with history. The first place that we visited was Port of Humanity Tsuruga Museum. In Tsuruga Port, during the World War II, about 700 Jews entered Japan, successfully escaped from Nazi Holocaust. It was Japanese vise consul named Chiune Sugihara who provided visa from Lithuania to Japan for those refugees, despite the prohibition from Japan Minister of Foreign Affairs. From the movie that I watched in the museum, I could see how relieved those people, being saved from such disaster. Especially because at that time most of countries close their doors for Jews. Japan is the only place they can escape.
However, the Jews did not stay long. They had to move from Japan to other countries such as Australia and USA, due to a pact of Japan and Germany that signed not long after the refugees was saved. That’s why there is no Jews left here in Japan, to best to my knowledge.
From Tsuruga we moved to Tojinbo. The place is famous for its beautiful sea cliff – which unfortunately also one of popular place in Japan for committing suicide. We were walking from the station to the cliff, enjoying a sparkling ocean view while breathing a fresh air and hearing the sound of the waves. When about to reach the cliff, we chose to explored the nature park first: walked down to a former salt production site, tasted the water from the estuary of small river, wandering around taking pictures… and just blend with the moment. I and Rika both agree: Fukui is a perfect place to cool our head during our thesis period.
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The trip had taught me about history. It triggers a lot of questions in my head, push me to find the answers. More than that, it makes me rethink about something that I always see as a black and white. I realize there are so much fact out there that I haven’t know yet. I learn to not judge anything before I find out myself. Fukui also reminds me of how small I am. How such great power had shaped the cliff, arrange it in such magnificent structure – and leave it as it is since Jurassic era. We, human, only able to enjoy the result.
Cheers,
