A sad day
Today I went, as I do every Wednesday, to Maezawa Elementary School and was told right away in the morning that my students may not be themselves today. Over the weekend one of the first-graders had gone to Tokyo for a kidney transplant. His body, however, rejected the kidney and he passed away shortly after the surgery. The entire school attended his funeral yesterday.
Being only here a few months, I didn’t get the chance to know him very well, which in itself is a little sad, but it also means it’s not emotionally affecting me to the point where I can’t work. All day at school, though, you could feel a little bit of emptiness. Everyone was quiet, somber. I don’t really know how much kids understand about death at their ages, so I don’t know how much they feel the impact of the loss. But while they were quieter than usual, they were still at least able to focus—they didn’t seem distracted or depressed in any way as far as I could tell.
In any case, my heart goes out to his family. I can’t even imagine what they must be going through.
About Me
My name is Lawrence Denes.After spending 5 years studying Japanese language, culture, literature, and history in St. Louis and Kyoto, I now live in Japan, in a town that most Japanese people have never even heard of, lost amid the rice fields and vending machines.
Please feel free to ask me anything, or send me an email.
