Quiet Victories and Everyday Miracles
By Alex Billingsley ‘24, JFOU Fellow 2024-2026
Right now, I am sitting in a hospital room in midtown Tokyo, sunlight shining through the window from over the Tokyo Tower. Needless to say, my January has had some ups and downs, but this time of rest and recuperation is giving me plenty of space to reflect on these past six months since I landed at Haneda Airport. Every day has brought with it a new adventure, a new chance to carve out my life in Japan, and new opportunities that ride on the back of chances taken weeks and months before. I try to document these daily experiences every evening and – in what is sometimes a tiresome chore at 2 am before I crawl into bed – write a diary about my life. These small, one-page snapshots of my life are nothing fancy, but I treasure having recorded vivid details of my days to help me recall memories of my fellowship in later months and later years. In this report, I’d like to share three of these days with you.
One weekend in late November, I returned to the tea farm that I interned at five years ago in order to help with a town festival. Held in the fall, this festival – the Chagenkyo Matsuri – is an opportunity for the town to showcase what it’s known for: Japanese tea. This was the first year that the festival was getting up and running after being shut down for COVID-19, and so I decided to help out with navigating the influx of tourists for the event. It was an incredible day; from tea hand rolling demonstrations to a stamp rally, making matcha lattes to hanging out with the town mascot, I had so much fun running the Obubu Tea Farms table at the festival and working with/getting to know the current interns and assistant managers at the tea farm. I ended the day with 200 grams of tea, piles of mochi from the wonderful mochi maker in town, 10 new friends, and memories to cherish for the rest of my life.
Photo of Alex Billingsley with the Wazuka town mascot, Cha-Cha-chan
On a sunny December Sunday in Tokyo, I took the train into the city and met my friend for brunch. Having previously been separated by the Pacific Ocean, we decided to reconnect over pancakes and soup at a Peanuts-themed cafe in the neighborhood of Harajuku. After parting ways, I began my main event for the day and met up with the members of the Tokyo Embassy Choir for our annual Christmas concert. I joined the Tokyo Embassy Choir on recommendation from choir president and former J.F. Oberlin Shansi Fellow Cassie Guevara, and have spent the semester greatly enjoying being a part of the ensemble. Now, I am non-religious, but being a life-long choir kid, I love nothing more than singing Christmas carols in 4-part harmony. Accordingly, I spent the rest of the day performing in not one, but two Christmas concerts at the Tokyo Union Church. With everyone decked out in goofy Santa hats and reindeer antlers, bells and tinsel decorating both our persons and the space itself, and plenty of home-made Christmas cookies, it was quite the jolly afternoon. Filled with the joy of the season, Zack (who came to see the concert) and I went and got some burritos for dinner before heading home and watching TV (as we do most evenings).
In the early days of the new year, a large portion of my fellow cohort and I met up in Vietnam. The six of us ventured to the city of Ha Giang where we embarked on a three day motorbike tour in the gorgeous scenery of northern Vietnam: the Ha Giang Loop. On the first day of the trip, I arrived in Ha Giang after spending all night sharing a night bus pod with Lady Doak fellow Caris and after a brief nap in the hostel, we jumped on the back of our motorbikes and began our journey. This was my first time riding on a motorcycle, so I made sure to ask Indonesia fellows Yana and Mia for tips on how not to fall off, since they have experience riding motorcycles at their respective sites. After the initial waves of fear, I started to become more comfortable on the bike, giving me the mental space to look around and enjoy the ride. It was drop-dead gorgeous – mountains rose out of the mist, looking like an imagined, paradise-esque painting. During the day, we stopped at a number of outlooks and scenic locations, grabbed some coconut coffee (and in my case, drank some wonderful green tea from the area), rode a boat, and chatted with the tour guides and motorcycle drivers we were partnered with. After a day of riding, we arrived in the town of Dong Van, disembarked from our bikes, and waddled into the hotel (our knees were quite sore after many hours of keeping balanced on the back of a motorcycle). We had some delicious hot pot for dinner, and the six of us sat and ate while laughing, joking, and watching the Vietnam vs. Thailand soccer game in the background. After a couple rounds of foosball with our tour guides, I went back to the hotel and had a great night’s sleep.
Photo of Sophie Bernstein, Nissa Berle, Mia Bird, Alex Billingsley, Caris Gross, and Yana Levy on a boat ride through a river valley
These three days were each unique and wonderful, giving me an opportunity to learn about, enjoy, and build community in a variety of spaces. However, they were anything but extraordinary; my ordinary life is filled with moments like these, filled with tea festivals and events, weekly choir rehearsals, and the occasional trip to someplace new. This is my life as a Shansi Fellow, and I feel a deep sense of gratitude that I can experience wonderful moments like these on a regular basis. This fellowship has filled my diary with memories, ones that keep me company and remind me of the world outside this hospital room. I’ve had such fun as a Shansi fellow for these last six months, and I can’t wait to continue seeking out new experiences as I live my life in Japan.