BEE Japan

I found this daruma at one of WE21 Japan’s recycle/reused shops in Kanagawa a few weeks ago.  When I saw it sitting on the shelf I knew this head-hunter’s prize had been placed in my path for a reason–this daruma was the wish I had been working toward for the past several months.  When I inherited the responsibilities of BEE back in October at the end of the 2008 ride, I didn’t exactly know what I was getting myself into: late nights of sending 2nd and 3rd emails to people proving difficult to track down, hours pouring over online maps, several weeks of interviewing potential team members, multiple drafts of Japanese translations…

But even when I lacked the energy to keep up the internet searches and phone calls, I knew that what we have the opportunity to accomplish this year on the 2009 Ride is beyond our bodies and bikes.  Call it random mutations or an aqua aura, but some energy was pulling me toward the BEE network–the riders that have become the 2009 team, our sponsors, and our beneficiaries.  That is how I found WE21 Japan in the first place–BEE was looking for a group in Japan that aims to improve environmental and human rights conditions, and after some research we decided on WE and Japan For Sustainability.  Months after my journey began, and still months from its end, standing in the store that I would not have found had it not been for BEE, the ominous daruma stared blankly through me.

As you can see I’ve since made the wish for this wise mind to see us safely through to the end of this year’s adventure.  Only it knows where we’re destined for (I’m hoping it’s Okinawa, because that’s the current plan we’ve been telling everyone…).  Despite all of the weight we’ll be carrying up and downhill, I’m thinking of bringing this guy along–I have a feeling he’ll capture more with his one eye than I will with mine.