I meant to publish this post on Saturday, but a good friend came into town and between two movies and just hanging out and catching up, I just ran out of time. So, halfway into the journey, here is the update...
Saturday morning, I woke up, excited and eager to make my way to the post office to mail the flag. The night before, I did some quick research online to check prices, since I had never mailed anything internationally, and tried to determine the cheapest, yet safest, way to proceed. The USPS won hands down in the online research, $15 compared to $113, but I figured I made a mistake in my estimations, so I wanted to stop by the local UPS store, just to make sure.
I walked in, asked the woman at the counter if I could get an estimate and after the quick advertisement on the benefits of using UPS, she told me the price would be $89 and they could not guarantee when it would arrive due to the earthquake and tsunami. She said sending it via the postal service through UPS would be a little cheaper at $47. Once the shock of the price wore off, I thanked her and made my way down to the main branch of the post office. I asked Mike (he's always working at that branch when we go there) for an estimate and he said through the post office it would only be $30 and it was guaranteed to arrive on Thursday. Deal!
After filling out two customs forms and squeezing 6 lines of address information (228 characters and 32 words) into a 2" by 2" square on the form, Mike sealed the global express envelope, I swiped my credit card and the flag was gone.
I felt excited and proud that the flag was returning home, but at the same time, it was hard to see it go. For 54 years the flag was in a simple cardboard box, first at the house in Milan, Indiana, then in 1981 it moved to Versailles. For 12 years after that, it followed me around Muncie - first our college house on Neeley, then to a summer rental on College Ave, a year on Rosewood and finally to the house on Airway in 2001. Throughout those 12 years, I would dig it out, along with all of the other mementos from World War II and just look at it, wondering what stories it would tell.
I know I was not meant to keep the flag, it belonged to Shinzo Furuya and his family, but it was also a part of my family and my history.
Happy, yet sad.
Over time the joy and happiness will win out. I have my photos, research and a chronicle of this amazing journey, and best of all, the knowledge that the flag is almost home.
Since Saturday, I have anxiously watched the progress of the flag as it has traveled from Muncie to Indianapolis to Chicago. Then on Sunday evening, it left for Japan. According to the USPS web site, it arrived in Japan at 7:27PM, local time on March 22, 2011. With the help of Google (what else!) I was able to find the Japanese postal service and their own tracking system. Using the ID, I was able to find that it is currently sitting in customs, awaiting review and dispatch to the office in Tokyo, where it should arrive on Thursday.
From there, the office will send it to the son in Yamanashi.
I included my name, address and email address with the flag, in the hopes that the son might want to contact me. I do not know what I would say or what I would expect him to say, but I look forward to hearing from him. Only time will tell what happens next.
What I do know is that I am so very thankful and appreciative for the efforts of Satoshi Taniyama, Kanako Sekine and the investigators of the War Victims' Relief Bureau in locating the son of Shinzo Furuya. I can only hope and pray that they have similar luck with the worn wallet and faded photos, the threadbare prayer flag and the delicate paper fan that are still at home in Muncie.
If anyone would like to follow the progress over the next couple days, feel free to use this tracking number and the link below :)
Item number: EG938822632US
Then just click "Tracking starts" - gotta love Google Translate.
...and yes, I realized that the USPS tracking site follows it into Japan too and has the same information, but using the Japanese page just seems like more fun!
...and yes, I realized that the USPS tracking site follows it into Japan too and has the same information, but using the Japanese page just seems like more fun!
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