Two things struck me recently about how the passage of time changes things.

And wouldn't you know it, they both related to Japan! (amazing, I know, I couldn't believe it myself)

Two things that would not have happened/existed without the passage of time and how it heals rifts/wars.

1) I just ordered a book called The Wakame Gatherers, and its awesome. Its the only book I've found where the father is Japanese and the mother is USAian. And in this book the little girl goes to gather wakame at a beach in Japan with both her Grandma and her Baa-chan. And at one point she asks:

"Ba-chan did you wear a dress like this when you were little?"

And the Ba-chan gets a sad face and explains that she didn't have very much clothes because there was a war going on. And then this little girl has to TRANSLATE this to her american Grandma, right there on the beach.

And it reminded me (again) that the girls wouldn't ever have existed if Naoto or I lived one generation ago.

2) And I just saw a commercial for some big name fast food restaurant (possibly Arby's?) where the commercial says "North Atlantic cod in panko breading".

Yes, the word "panko" has come to mainstream, USAian culture. I thought it was only for bistros and hoity toity food reviews, but now its on National TV. Amazing to me, who had never heard of it until I went to Japan for the first time.