I am a 68-year-old grandfather.
I was born and raised in Kagoshima, in southern Japan.
When I was 18, I moved to Kyoto, where my two older sisters were already living.
When I was a child, television had only just begun to spread.
Information came mainly from newspapers, radio, and a little television.
Social media, as we know it today, was beyond imagination.
In rural Kagoshima, even seeing a car was rare in those days.
Growing up in such a quiet countryside,
I believed the world was the same everywhere.
I thought people in other countries lived just like we did in Japan.
Of course, I had heard about places like Antarctica, the Arctic,
the equator, and Africa.
But I still imagined that life there was not very different from ours.
It was only after the internet became common
that I slowly began to learn about the world.
That was when I truly started to feel the differences
between Japan and other countries.
People often say,
“The Japanese know the least about Japan.”
That may be true.
Perhaps it is because everything felt too ordinary,
so we did not pay much attention.
Or maybe many Japanese people think they are poor.
Another reason might be that we rarely traveled,
rarely left our towns or prefectures.
As a child, I hardly ever went on trips.
So even leaving my prefecture felt new and frightening.
Growing up in Kagoshima, in the south of Japan,
I was amazed by the heavy snow in the northern regions.
Snow falls a few times a year where I lived,
but it never piles up deeply.
Seeing landscapes completely covered in snow,
like in this photograph,
feels almost unbelievable to me.
This quiet, pure scenery washes my heart.
And the smiling faces of children
warm me deeply inside.
There are still so many things about Japan
that I do not know.
I hope to share the beauty of this country
with all of you.
May your heart be peaceful and calm.
— Hideki
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