He concluded that, given both the country's present economic difficulties and the stubborn fact that they are due to continue for some time, the only option open to most young people is to emigrate.
As someone who has emigrated (though for a long time I never thought of my situation in such a way), it is not the sort of thing I would glibly recommend. As some of the subsequent comments from readers point out, emigration is as much an emotional decision as an economic one.
Leaving one's country, the place you were born and raised, home to your family and friends, is an ongoing exercise in displacement. You are forever a foreigner in whatever country you settle, yet visits home leave one feeling like you are an actor in a familiar drama, but one to which you no longer know the script.
I think this sense of displacement is further heightened when you have a children. I look at Cian and think in three years time he will be starting school and that, more than anything else, will mark his identity as more Japanese than Irish. He will begin formal learning in the Japanese language, he will learn about Japanese history, he will be taught his roles and responsibilities as a future Japanese citizen. After school sports will begin, and given the pervasiveness of the game, that will most likely be baseball. Or maybe soccer. But it won't be hurling or Gaelic football. And as a father, who passionately loves all things GAA, not being able to see my son catch and kick a ball, or puck a sliothar, that breaks my heart. His sense of Irishness will be limited to what I can pass on to him, but that will be severely constricted by both time and space.
I have always harbored the hope that in the not so distant future, I might return to Ireland with Sanae and Cian and start (continue?) our lives in the place I truly call 'home'. But given the events of the past two years or so, that hope has become very dim indeed.
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