For reasons I don’t want to go into now, I found myself at the Self Defense Forces Central Hospital today. It was surreal.
Sitting in the window of the second floor cafeteria over a bowl of curry rice, I watched men and women wearing camouflage uniforms and army boots come and go. Looking at their faces, I felt a fundamental human connection: these people who go on peace keeping missions all around the world also get sick, just like me or anyone else. It was a humbling realization.
Then I went into the hospital shop and found this:
Who but the Japanese would dress a Kewpie doll in combat fatigues and send him crawling into battle on a cell phone strap?
And who but me would bring him home and pose him with a squirrel and a couple of cacti?
Tokyo Tales 