Late one night, I casually watched a documentary that left a shockingly unsettling aftertaste. The title of the program was "I Can't Believe It's Been 2 Years: Faraway Solomon." A Japanese man working as an NGO staff member is assigned to the Solomon Islands, where he meets a local Solomon Islander woman and marries her. They eventually return to Japan and are blessed with two daughters. The family of four is living happily until 2019, when the wife is diagnosed with cervical cancer, and by the end of the year, it is discovered that the cancer has metastasized. Realizing she does not have much time left, the husband learns that his wife's final wish is to see her mother and her favorite brother among her nine siblings. To make this wish come true, her 71-year-old mother and her brother make the long journey from the Solomon Islands to Japan, a place with which they have no prior ties. Soon after, the wife passes away surrounded by her family. Amidst their grief, the mother and brother try to return to the Solomon Islands, but unfortunately, it is May 2020 in Japan. Due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Solomon Islands refuses entry to travelers from Japan. The two of them become unable to return home. All they have are tourist visas. Unable to work, they have no choice but to spend their days inside the house. Coming from the Solomon Islands, where they had neither electricity nor running gas, they cannot hide their bewilderment at touching Japan for the first time. Yet, unable to return to their homeland, they have no choice but to somehow continue their stay in Japan. However, after a few months, stress builds up between them, and the mother even weeps, saying she wants to go home.
In the program, it shows them finding a bit of relief by helping out with farm work, thanks to the kindness of their neighbors. However, Japan does not even have an embassy for the Solomon Islands. Naturally, there are no direct flights to the Solomon Islands, meaning they have to return by transiting through two countries: Singapore and Australia. Furthermore, both of those countries are island nations with strict entry restrictions against COVID-19. The husband, busy with the added expenses of a growing family, does his best to process their return procedures amidst his busy work schedule, but it proves difficult. And finally, two years pass by. The brother had a wife and children left behind in the Solomon Islands. However, there was no telephone in their house, and certainly no internet. In nearly two years, they were only able to get in touch twice. When asked why they couldn't return and explaining it was because of the coronavirus, the Solomon Islands had virtually no information. What is the coronavirus? Why aren't you coming back? That was the kind of response they received.
Against this backdrop, the year 2022 arrives, and they finally reach a point where they could return home if only the visa application for Austria, the transit country, is approved. However, while the brother's application is approved, the mother's application is rejected. Unable to hide her frustration in front of the camera, the mother vents her anger at the man, suspecting that he simply didn't submit her application. They wait until the very last moment before the brother's departure, but in the end, the mother's visa does not make it in time. They are forced to make a choice between two options: both of them canceling, or only the brother returning home. After the brother leaves, word comes that the mother's visa has been approved. That very night, the mother returns to the Solomon Islands with a smile on her face. Despite the hardships, news arrives that the two have made it back to their homeland, and that they built a grave in the place where the wife was born.
Then, the final narration delivers the shocking truth: the brother's wife has married another man, and the brother is now taking care of and raising their 4-year-old son. It leaves an unsettling feeling of utter helplessness, where everyone's surroundings become miserable even though not a single person harbored any malicious intent. From the perspective of the wife waiting in the Solomon Islands, with no television or internet, it must have been hard to understand even if it was explained that she couldn't return due to the coronavirus. And with no money being sent over, marrying another man might have been unavoidable just to raise the children. The two people moved by the daughter's kind-hearted desire to see her younger sister off, and the husband who wanted to fulfill his wife's final wish. And a government that couldn't grant permission to return precisely because it is an island nation lacking developed medical care, meaning they could not afford to let the infection spread in order to protect their citizens. Precisely because nobody had any malicious intent, the impact of the ending is all the more powerful. The message from the brother at the end of the program struck a chord with me, and I would like to record it as I bring this to a close. "To the people of Japan, I have returned to the Solomon Islands. My wife has left, but life is beautiful."
That's a story from Aichi Prefecture, right? Chunichi Shunju was doing follow-up coverage, so I knew the background up until their return home. However, I didn't know the aftermath regarding the brother's wife. I'm surprised to learn about the "afterward" in such an unexpected place. Thank you.
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