By Kanji Usui
Today, I held a farewell dinner for a friend (a foreign national) at a well-known eel restaurant.
They had come to Japan and worked hard as an engineer, but experienced workplace harassment and took time off due to adjustment disorder. Ultimately, they decided to leave Japan.
They will depart in a few days, but due to circumstances in their home country, they cannot return there and will be going to a different country instead.
Unable to return to their home country or see their family, I was thinking how anxious they must feel—but they seemed surprisingly upbeat, searching online for guesthouses and saying they were looking forward to visiting a country they'd never been to before. I was relieved.
Being young, they may overcome some precarious situations through youthful resilience. I hope that will be the case.
The circumstances surrounding people in situations like theirs continue to grow increasingly harsh.
And I find myself unable to do anything but pray that their futures will become a little brighter.
I hope they encounter kind people along the way.
I hope for peaceful days ahead for them.
I hope that even when difficulties arise, they will be able to overcome them.
And someday, may true peace come, and may a bright future return once more.