私は500マイルも歩いたものでした (I Would Walk 500 Miles)
There's been a huge influx of new people at my company over the past couple of months with a handful of those people making their way into my department. There's the two kids fresh out of university eager to start their first jobs, not yet aware that their souls will be crushed into over the next 45 years of steady (hopefully) employment. There's a dude who sits diagonally across from me that just recently came back from Canada, is into all the Hypebeasty streetwear shit I love, and takes really dope pictures. And there's a mother from mainland who recently moved to Okinawa with her 3 year old son to get away from the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake, subsequent tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.
As me and the rest of the team got to know this lady over bentos and McDonald's barely salted french fries, I came to find out that this lady wasn't some divorced or single mother whisking her child away on a magic journey down south, but was actually happily married to a guy living in Chiba. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!" I exclaimed. I mean I've had my fair share of long-distance boos, but long distance marriages? With a kid involved? It's definitely not something I could see myself doing. I kind of need affection, and attention, and someone to make my rice for me when I'm out working late. And I damn sure wouldn't wanna raise a kid by myself. They'd probably be covered in baby poo 24/7 if I were left to my own devices, and nobody wants to see that.
As I've come to find out, long distance marriages aren't at all uncommon in Japanese society. Not everyone is out there separating from loved ones to escape insanely high levels of radiation. What often happens is that people couples get separated due to someone's job. Japanese public employees, for example, as required to change positions every couple of years. In Okinawa that could mean your ass is working in Naha for a few years, then suddenly you're told that you have to uproot your life and move 100 km away to Miyako (JETs seem to be the only public employees immune to this). One of my former students lived in a separate house from his wife and kids because it was closer to his job and he was out doing work almost 24/7 anyway. On the surface anyway nobody seems too bothered by it, but I always wonder how much is legit not minding and how much is just resignation and acceptance of a system you can't really change.