I had dinner at my student’s house tonight.  Her husband is in China for the year (for work) so it’s just her and her seven year old daughter (the daughter is actually the student).  We got on the topic of the Americans here and I was telling her that D.J. and I were hoping to go to Hiroshima soon.  She said that she had never been and I asked her what she thought about the Washington (a carrier that’s nuclear and replacing the Kitty Hawk soon).  There have been protests outside the gates of the base – one in which I was on base and they shut down the gates for safety, trapping me inside for an hour or so – and I wondered her opinion on it.  She agreed with many of my students that even though she doesn’t necessarily like the fact that there will be a nuclear powered ship here, Japan needs America’s protection.  She said that when North Korea tested their missile over Japanese waters, her daughter cried while watching the news and informed her that she wasn’t going to go to school anymore.  She said that she wanted to die at home with her family and not alone at school.  Isn’t that just the saddest thing you’ve ever heard?  I almost died.  I just wanted to reassure her.  We’re not going anywhere anytime soon!