Today is March 17th 2010. A nice comfortable day in Sacramento California. Whisps of clouds sparsely populate the sky, the temperature is a balmy 70 degrees fahrenheit. There are nine days left before I board a plane at the San Francisco International Airport headed for Tokyo, Japan.

    At about two in the afternoon today I finished reading a book entitled: Islands of the Damned, a story of a marine in the Pacific Theater of the Second World War . How times of changed since the 1940’s. The novel was filled with the gruesome reality of the war between America and the Japanese Empire. From the tropical island of Guadalcanal to the living hell of Okinawa the fighting was grim. From my perspective it is almost surreal that I will soon head to the land of the author, R.V. Burgin’s enemy. He often refers to the “Japs” throughout his novel and his hatred of their soldiers. What a different world I live in, made more distinct by the fact that R.V. Burgin and I are so different and yet both contemporary citizens of America. War is Hell and the marines of the second world war lived in this reality. Everyday not knowing if fate would bring them death or another day in which to endure the cruelties of the battlefield. 

     In a vivid contrast, I live in a world where the war against Japan brings different thoughts. My classes on the Pacific War are filled with realities only seen in retrospect. Things we now view as obvious, such as the Japanese-American internment camps as blemishes on America’s past, were once a part of American’s daily live . As a history student I have been schooled in the reality of the war in addition to the warped wartime perspectives driven by fear, hatred and propaganda. History at times takes on a matter of fact air to it, similar to the books which are so common in its telling. But at times, especially with first hand accounts, we see the human perspective. The view of the soldier, PR filter barred. The words bringing back old views and realities, like referring to the enemy as “barbarian Jap.”  But life in its harshness and temporality is also full of vibrance and capacity for progress. 

     In the post war world what had been our despised enemies, Japan and Germany become post-war partners in creating a new world. With such alliances and diversification, old racial bias has largely disappeared. My home University, UC San Diego is at the moment around 60% asian with a very high number of Asian exchange students. Where author, R.V. Burgin once trained near my campus as a marine to go fight Japan in 1942, I attend a University that has a large and friendly populace of Japanese exchange students. In a modern world of many injustices, realities such as this are a beautiful respit and a shining light towards the betterment of humanity. 

    On March 26th I am embarking upon a life experience that shows the leaps and bounds of progress that have occurred since the world of the early 40s. I am going to live and work in Japan as a teacher. For the last few days I have been in intense learning of the Japanese language trying to prepare for my new home. It has been in many ways surreal reading Islands of the Damned in conjunction. I am thankful for soldiers as brave as those portrayed in Burgin’s novel for serving our country and I am thankful. The world we now live in is a much different and place. I cannot predict the future of our small planet we inhabit called earth, but I hope that in the next 65 years similar progress can be made.