I don't like waking up early in the mornings. It may be because it reminds me of the fact that he is no longer sleeping by my side. We lived together for about a year. He usually woke up first. On occasions when I woke up before him, I would turn my head to the …
I was furious. I was desperate. I was full of anger, frustration and craving. It was the last straw: there were no bagels at any of the three bakeries in my neighborhood. I was devastated to realize no decent bagel was available near my home. I looked at the sky and lamented. Yes, I knew it. …
It was five years ago when I went to Australia for a working holiday. Since I have not been able to decide which city to go first, I just booked a one-way ticket to the centre of Australia: Uluru. I left my job on March 27th, departed Japan on March 30th, and then arrived at …
Cherry blossoms are very popular in my country Japan. It is considered a symbol of Japanese beauty. Every year when spring approaches, every newspaper, every radio and television station start to forecast a prospective flowering day. When I say I’m Japanese, people instantly assume that I adore cherry blossoms like most Japanese do. Well, I …
I used to have terrible period cramps when I was a teenager. When the time of the month approached, I would feel my body starting to bloat. And then I would get the heaviness and gruelling pain in my lower back and abdomen. I would often get anemia and feel so nauseous that I couldn’t …
Sometimes a very trivial thing gets you into never-ending agony of an incomprehensible mystery. It happened to me on a beautiful Sunday afternoon of a beautiful summer day. I was making my favourite type of coffee poured into my favourite mug, listening to my favourite radio station. Then I opened a packet of my favourite …
When I feel “Life is not fair!”, I’m likely to remember my friend, Kaz. Kaz and I were classmates at the third grade in an elementary school. We sat next to each other in the classroom. We also lived near one another, so we sometimes walked back home from school together. I remember him as …
My life was once saved by a stranger. It was a cold night in late winter in the late 2000s. I went out with my friend to Lower Manhattan. Just the two of us emptied two bottles of wine. It was unusual for me to drink that much. I’m not a heavy drinker. But that night …
When I was 22 years old, I was working in a jazz bar. The bar was located in Akasaka, an entertainment area in CBD Tokyo. The owner of the bar was a 60-year-old guy from a wealthy family. He would play piano and drums and sang old jazz classics while I was tending a bar. …
I have once interviewed a well-known novelist. It was back in 2009, when I was studying arts management in New York. The assignment we were given was was to carry out an interview to one of those “movers & shakers” in New York. I was very excited about the task, but I had no idea …
A Thousand Years 