I began blogging with my first journey to Japan after the Great Eastern Earthquake in 2011. I didn’t have much of a clue about the process, but was extremely fortunate to have been selected for a New Voices project by Disability Arts Online. I’m still blogging there.
This year, 2015, I wanted to gather up my Japan writings where I could get more of a sense of their direction and, having failed to make this site work well as a portfolio for my drawings and soft-sculpture, am now attempting to dedicate it to the evolution of my life shared between Japan and UK.
I began writing about the process of getting there and the fact of being in the country so soon after the quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. I made attempts to discover the arts scene in Tokyo and to make contact with Disability Arts practitioners.
I was astonished that being in Japan could have such a profound effect on my perception of who I was and how I lived. To my great joy I have been able to continue the exploration on a regular basis, continue learning important life lessons and finding hope for the future.
Living in more than one country has always been integral to my life, it has taken me a long time to even begin to appreciate the value, the privilege, of it. In Japan children of one Japanese parent and one other, are called halfs. My knee-jerk reaction was to be offended (in a non-Japanese sense I’m one myself), but as the world grows smaller and people move around to find peace, financial security and personal growth, a rainbow of halfs will surely be the future of humanity.
And maybe halfs will do a better job of being human-kind.
The blogs include thoughts on the business of belonging, on expectation and desire.
I do still write about the trials of travelling with my wheelchair and comments on access.