ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

In your mind is a map of the world. Near your home is big and detailed. Far away places are small and vague.

I was coming to teach in Kagawa in April 2011, shortly after the Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident. All of my American friends were very worried that I would be going into a radioactive disaster area. They didn't understand that Kagawa is very, very far from the area that was affected. In their mind, Japan is just one 'place', a small spot on their mental map.

The same is true for my Japanese friends, students, and co-workers. It's hard to understand just how big the United States is. They would hear about events happening in America and be concerned that my family would be affected. Usually, no. Idaho and California may look close on a map, but it would take a four hour trip by airplane for my family to see the forest fires. They're watching it on the news, but they're not affected by it, same as you.

For most of my life, I've lived far away from where the news is happening. Events in New York or Los Angeles might as well be happening in London or Beijing. I see things on the news, and I wash the dishes and go to the supermarket like any other day.

Now I live near Baltimore, about 55km from Washington, D.C. It's the same distance from Takamatsu to Kanonji. The things I usually only see on the news, I see happening on my way to the supermarket. History is happening around me, "in my backyard".




The past few weeks have been very tense. On the day of the presidential inauguration all the trains in my area were shut down and police were stationed at major intersections. I hope soon everything will go back to normal.