"The place I like best in this world is the kitchen." Banana Yoshimoto wrote in her novel Kitchen. In my case, the place I feel most attached to is the garden of my old house. The house which I used to live when I was a kid stood in the middle of a foothill. The …
When I was 17 years old, I wrote my first play. I was a drama course student in high school. Every year senior students put on a show as a final project before graduation. All members of the class, 40 of us, had to be cast in the same show. Also, each one of us …
It’s been almost a year since I lost my grandma. I am writing this anecdote so as not to forget an incident that taught me a good lesson. It happened one night when I was living with her. On the eve of my trip to Okinawa, a beach resort in southern part of Japan. I …
Finding another lift was tough. I talked to 15 people or more, but all of them refused to give me a ride. Most of them showed compassion on me excusing they are heading to other places, but some of them looked at me as if I were a beggar. (Technically, I was a beggar asking …
As we arrived at Numazu Interchange, he got off the car and told me to remain in the car. I started to regret what I have initiated. Now it seemed not at all a good idea for a woman to hitch. I thought I knew the risks of hitchhiking, but being picked up by a …
On a summer night in 2004, I was standing on the roadside in Tokyo to hitch. In hindsight, I think I was too naïve to believe a woman in her early 20s can hitch to travel more than 500 kilometres (300 miles). But back then I really wanted to try something out of ordinary, to …
It is difficult for me to write about him. We have never been that close, though we never argued or had a fight. I can't easily describe the relationship we had. He wasn't really what I would call 'family'. We weren't friends nor flatmates. He was my mother's partner after she divorced my dad. They …
It was the early summer of 1995. I was 13 years old, and one rock band blew my mind. In the first semester of my freshman year of junior high school, I was assigned as the “School Broadcaster”. That position was a privilege. I felt like a DJ at a radio station. My role was …
What is your first memory? My sister says she remembers things from the age of 2. I, on the other hand, don’t remember anything earlier than kindergarten. I think my earliest memory would be from when I was around 5 years old. I was standing at the bottom of the staircase in my house, looking …
"So you have travelled to quite a lot of places. Which country did you like the most?" One day, my friend who was planning her next summer trip asked me. That's such a difficult question, I stunned. I loved every single place I've ever been to, and it seemed to make no sense to compare …
A Thousand Years 