Through someone else's eyes

A fellow co-worker will be leaving next year. I was so shocked and sad to hear of the news. A lot more shock than I would have expected. He was so sweet and welcoming. I guess his absence will mostly be felt because he was always trying to make me feel at ease here. Telling jokes and asking me questions about America and such left and right.

But it's what he said as his parting words that left me really sad. He told me that I shouldn't give up on Japan. That the Japan I see here in Hasaki is not the whole country. I shouldn't make judgements on the country as a whole through just the experiences I had at my work place. This actually really shocked me as I hadn't thought I expressed or made any indications that I wasn't happy with my interactions here. It made me think if I was expressing something negative through my body language that anyone with eyes could see.

That's so sad....