If you get around Tokyo and Yokohama any, you¡¯re likely to run into people of African descent from time to time. The vast majority of these people ¡ª if they¡¯re not members of the U.S. military ¡ª will hail from either Nigeria or Ghana. I¡¯ve also had the pleasure of meeting the occasional Kenyan, Somalian, Ethiopian, Senegalese and Sudanese, but those have been far and few between. So running into a Zambian in Roppongi was a rare treat for me, and after spending a few hours listening to him hold forth, I urged him to bless Black Eye with his story. Thankfully, he agreed to.
Axson Chalikulima Jr., 51, the son of a Zambian freedom fighter, has been an English teacher in Japan for over 30 years. So far, so fairly typical for non-Asian residents. But his journey here was anything but typical. He was born in 1964, and has been collecting cultures, languages and wisdom ever since.
1964 is a revered year for Zambians. And, as Axson informed me, even many seniors here in Japan remember the year fondly and know why it is so important to his countrymen.
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