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long with this strong sense of culture, Japan has a unique sense of nationalism. They are dedicated people to their country and its future. This sentiment has carried them a long way, as we saw by our visit to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima. It showed us how, with singleminded determination, the people of this country started rebuilding their world from ground zero. Dedicated to the future, parents worked not to give themselves a better life, but to give one to their children and their grandchildren. In the "ME" generation of today, examples like these are refreshing.

iroshima offers other lessons too. An elderly local man approached Jill at one of the exhibits in the museum asking her, "What country are you from?" Though Japan drew America into the war with an unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, she still found it difficult to reply "America" after surveying the devastating pictures of destruction all around her.

ast forward to the Japan of today - a mere 54 years later. Japan is the country with the highest Gross National Product per capita in the world. The budget of Tokyo alone is bigger than Spain's or Canada's. For a country that relies so heavily on other nations to provide basic staples and raw materials, Japan has shown the world what can be accomplished in a span of 50 years. The sticktuitiveness of these people paid off, in a real and thriving way.

ecently in the Bangkok Post, an article was written about the influence of Japanese music and styles on Thai culture. A Thai man was quoted as saying, "We [Thais] like to learn from countries that are more civilized than we are. And Japan is the most civilized country in Asia. We want heroes, and we see the Japanese as our heroes."

or us, the real heroes in Japan were the family and friends who so graciously took us in, providing a fun and refreshing holiday from second and third world travel. As we sat in church on Easter Sunday, Uncle Tom (the man who married us) delivered a beautiful message reminding us of all the miracles and blessings in our lives.

ome of those blessings are the family and friends who take time to read these web pages. We would love to hear from you! goingbeyond_spam@yahoo.com (Remove the "_spam" from the name).


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