Nagoyaka Gaiko: “Dreams of Flight”
by Philippine Consul General Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat
06 November 2022, Chunichi Shimbun
I am, in most circumstances, a risk averse person.I can live dangerously through the spills and thrills of action characters in movies or books.
My idea of an adventure is, for example, traveling to a new place not as part of a group tour but rather on our own, and relying on our wits and common sense, the kindness of strangers, and, to a large extent, the synchronous or serendipitous confluence of little miracles.
There is however a universal thrill that fires the imagination and makes even people like me want to throw caution to the wind: i.e., being up in the air.
Flying has been fascinating humans for ages: from the mythological character Icarus, who—after experiencing freedom and flight—forgets about his father’s warning, to the inventors, aviators, and astronauts who have been reaching for the skies and stars and pushing the limits of air travel.
My own dreams of flight have been modest.
More than 20 years ago, after attending a crash course on skydiving, I jumped off a plane with a parachute strapped behind me. I fumbled with the chute’s controls, landed on my behind, and thankfully did not get hurt.
Since then, I have not pulled a similar stunt… until recently.
During a private trip near Mt. Fuji in 2021, my daughter and I booked ourselves a paragliding experience.
We had both signed up for a tandem course, in which a professional instructor would handle the parachute’s controls and the passenger would sit back and enjoy the view.
At the paragliding office, we first watched a video on safety tips and what to expect. Once the staff determined that wind conditions were safe enough to proceed, we moved to the landing zone, where a van was waiting to bring us to the jump-off area.
The site was an elevated location, with a relatively flat, even surface and a slightly downward slope. Paragliders were busy preparing and inspecting their gear, laying their canopy flat and neatly on the ground, and detangling their parachute lines.
Two children, probably less than 10 years old, were among the first ones in the queue.
I volunteered to go next. The crew strapped on my safety harness, put on my helmet, and signaled me to run toward the edge of the jump-off area.
My instructor expertly steered our parachute to circle around the Asagiri plateau. Even if Mt. Fuji was partly hidden behind clouds, the lush green landscape under the blue sky was still a beautiful sight.
For a few precious minutes, the plateau—and my worries—seemed small, less important, and far away.
It’s as if I was being reminded to take a bird’s eye view: to step back from the little details, stop sweating the small stuff every so often, and—in the words of English writer Colin Wilson, “[reveal] meanings that are ungraspable by the narrow focus of our usual worm’s eye view.”
My tandem partner gently and safely brought us to the landing zone, where the real world was waiting for me.
I was grateful, not so much for the adrenaline rush, but rather for the peace, stillness, and time to zoom out during our short flight.
A shorter version of this article in Nihonggo can be accessed at the Chunichi Shimbun through the following link: https://www.chunichi.co.jp/
Consul General Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat is a career diplomat from the Philippines. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics and a master’s degree in international studies. She held jobs in banking and the academe before joining the foreign service, and assumed her post in Nagoya in November 2020. She is married to a fellow Filipino diplomat, and they have a daughter and a pet cat.
