Warning Sound

　This is a memory from when I was a child.

 One summer night, someone didn’t close the door of our refrigerator. We slept through the night. The next morning, we found a disaster had occurred. I remember my mother cleaning the refrigerator and dumping food that had gone bad. She was almost crying.

 These days, we don’t experience that kind of disaster very often. Modern refrigerators make a warning sound when someone leaves the doors open for a while. When we clean the refrigerator, we need to open the door for a long time. In this case, the sound gets very annoying.

 One day, I opened the door of our refrigerator. My wife was watching TV. I left the kitchen. I heard a sound, so I assumed I hadn’t closed the door. I returned to the kitchen. I checked the refrigerator. But the doors were closed. The sound was not from the refrigerator. What was it? Then, I heard the same sound again. I froze. Which home appliance was warning me? What was happening?

 Actually, the sound was coming from the TV. My wife was watching a fencing match on TV. In a fencing match, if a player gets a point, a machine makes an electronic sound. The sound is similar to our refrigerator’s warning sound.

 When I was a child, the only talkative home appliances were the radio, the record player, and the TV. These days, all appliances are very talkative. When I hear a mysterious electronic sound at home, I start to worry. If it was the sound warning us of a gas leak, it would be dangerous.

 Why are our refrigerator’s sound and the sound used in fencing so similar? I guess the designer of our refrigerator might have been a fencer.

 Japanese

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Kitty

  

I have three cats.

 One day, my wife’s father found a kitty on a street. We took in the kitty temporarily. We called him Rain because my father-in-law found the kitty on a rainy day.

 My wife and I talked it over. We wanted to welcome Rain into our family. But we already had three cats. One more might be too many. We decided to find someone who could take care of Rain. 

 We thought we should take care of our cats and Rain separately. Rain had to go someday, so we thought it best if they didn’t become friends. We gave him one room. We made it so the other cats couldn’t enter that room. They never met him.

 But they could sense him. After Rain came into our home, all three of the cats became very nervous. We could feel their anxiety. Cats are delicate.

 Finally, we found new owners for Rain. We believed that they were good people. My wife and I felt relieved.

 Rain left our home. The new owners were going to give him a wonderful new name.

 A few hours after Rain left, our three cats’ moods changed drastically. They started to relax.

 Maybe they also felt relieved.

　

Japanese

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Picture by Taka

One-Night Theater

 Once, I experienced a near-death experience. I was in a port. I almost boarded a ship.

Actually, I experienced a different kind of near-death experience at that time. I was wandering between life and death so many times.

I was on a riverside. I couldn’t see the opposite side of it. It was a vast river.

Someone was building a structure. I can’t remember who told me that. I was informed that the structure was a theater. Sometimes, theatrical people build temporary tent theaters, but that theater was not a tent. It looked like a permanent theater with its foundation works. The theater’s top was pointed, and I couldn’t see the top.

Strangely, I was informed that it was a temporary theater. It was built for just one night and one performance.

Somehow, the show was canceled, so I didn’t get to watch it.

Thinking back about this experience, if I watched the show, I couldn’t go back to this world.

The roof was pointed. It could mean the top of the roof might be connected to the opposite side of the river.

I imagine that if I watched the show, it might have been an exciting experience. My favorite late actors might be on the stage. The playwright I have long admired might write the script. The late director I greatly admired might direct the show.

If I watched that show, I could accept my death.

To my theatrical friends, you may watch this show someday.

I hope it will be in the far-distant future.

 Japanese

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The Best Chef

　I have eaten many dishes in my life. Actually, I used to work at restaurants. I met many chefs. I cooked for myself when I lived by myself. I understand that cooking is interesting and deep. If someone asks me, “Who is the best chef in your life?” I will answer “Mrs. K.”

Mrs. K was my classmate’s mother and my mother’s friend. We were neighbors. My mother was an activist. She held a meeting at home almost every day. Sometimes, she asked Mrs. K to cook lunch for the members. I could eat the dishes. I could enjoy her dishes when I was a child.

The greatest thing about her dishes was that she never used expensive or unusual ingredients. She only used usual, familiar ingredients we can buy in any supermarket, but her combinations and arrangements were always surprising.

“Can we cook these ingredients like this?”

Okay, making a strange dish is easy. You can create a new dish, but keeping a balance of taste is difficult. Reaching the stage of delicious is super difficult.

I couldn’t understand her greatness when I was a child. After I started cooking by myself, I gradually realized she was an outstanding chef.

Her parents ran a restaurant at her home. She was taught the fundamentals of cooking as a child. Some creative people tend to skip fundamentals, but she did not. She married and became a housewife. She kept studying and practicing every day. She even served her new dishes to my mother’s friends at our home.

She was a talented person who was born in a good environment. She loved cooking and kept at it. She was a great person.

Creating economic, delicious, and fresh dishes is a dream for all cooks, but only a few cooks can reach this dream.

Are you ready to enjoy Mrs. K’s dishes?

Well, I am sorry. I have some sad news for you.

She already passed away. As usual, talented people tend to be invited to heaven too early. I believe she is cooking in heaven now.

I cared for my parents, but I don’t want to meet them very much. I want to enjoy Mrs. K’s dishes again.

I want to be a good man who will enter heaven.

 

Japanese

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Big Box or Small Box

 The Sparrow’s Tongue is a traditional Japanese story. You may know this story, but I will introduce it to you.

 A nice old man visited a sparrow’s house. He had been very nice to the sparrow. The sparrow would give him a present. They gave him two choices: a big box or a small box. The old man was a selfless man. He chose the small box. In the box was silver, gold, and other treasures.

 A bad old woman listened to his story and also visited the sparrow’s house. She had not been nice to the sparrow. Actually, she had cut the sparrow’s tongue. But she found the sparrow’s house. The sparrow offered her a present too. She also had the same choice as the old man: a big box or a small box. The bad old woman was greedy. She chose the big box. Actually, in the box were monsters.

 This traditional story teaches us to be nice, to not be bad, and to not be greedy.

 But my wife understands this story from a different angle. She insists that if she were put in the same situation as the old people, she would definitely choose the big box.

 I tried to explain, “In the big box, there are monsters. You should choose the small box.” She answered, “Who decides that? No one knows until the box is opened.”

 My wife is a nice person. She is not bad. She has never abused animals. In this case, there might be treasure in the big box. It is a gamble. My wife loves gambling.

 This kind of person could be successful in the future.

 Japanese

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Boys, Be Ambitious

When I lived in Tokyo, my roommate was a programmer. He was a good programmer.

 When he was an elementary school student, a teacher asked the children in the class, “What do you want to be in the future?” His classmates answered with their dreams. “A baseball player!” “A pilot!”

 But my roommate answered, “I want to be a passenger on a train.”

 The teacher scolded him. “You should be more ambitious!”

 In the end, he became a wonderful programmer.

 I think children’s dreams can be like his dream. Maybe he didn’t know what a programmer was at that time. Children don’t know most jobs in this world. I don’t know all the jobs in the world even now. The world is changing. Maybe new jobs are created every day.

 We can’t predict our future. When I was a child, I couldn’t even imagine the world would be like this. I couldn’t imagine I would be like this.

 But I want to support young people who are ambitious.

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Japanese 

Should I Offer My Seat?

Recently, I have been thinking about the topic of trains or buses.

I am fifty-six years old. I am not surprised by my appearance in my usual mirror. But sometimes when I see my reflection in a mirror located at an unexpected angle in a shop, I am surprised. I am older than I think.

One day, I was on a train. An old man got on. The train was crowded. I thought I should offer my seat to the man. But I reconsidered: his age could be almost the same as mine. He could be younger than me. It could be rude.

Offering one’s seat to old people is a duty for young people. People at my age no longer have this duty.

My dear friends, do you offer your seat to old people even now?

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Japanese

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A Bottlecap of Sauce

A playwright said, “When you write an absurd play, you have to have concrete, reasonable theories, at least, in your mind.” Absurd plays are difficult to understand. But they are attractive. I guess that is because the playwrights have their theories.

Taking care of Alzheimer’s patients is similar. The patients may act meaninglessly. But if their caregivers support them sincerely, they can find their meaning. For example, wandering. From the patients’ point of view, they never wander. They have important reasons to go to particular places. On their way, they happen to get lost. So, some people tend to avoid using the word “wander.” A doctor said, “A good caregiver to Alzheimer’s patients needs to be a good detective.” Superficially, the patients’ actions appear meaningless, but good caregivers can deduce the meaning.

My own observation was that if a patient acts without a reason, they may cause trouble. In my mother’s case, she could stay home alone for a short time, provided some clear conditions were met: She was not hungry. She was not thirsty. It was neither cold nor hot. She needed a comfortable chair and a bed and so on.

One day, my wife and I left her at home for a short while.

When we got back home, we were so relieved to find her safe.

But I was surprised by the unnatural scene on the table. A bottle of sauce was opened. And the bottle’s cap was full of the sauce. Automatically, I started to wonder about the meaning of that. Was she thirsty? Did she have some message for us?

I froze up for a while, looking at the bottle and the cap full of sauce. And my wife said to me: “She was playing with them. OK?”

If my mother was playing, there was no meaning. If a person is satisfied, they start to play.

Japanese

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What did you do during WWII?

My favorite comedian, Kamioka, said on TV, “When my father got drunk, he always asked people the same question.” The question is, “What did you do during WWII?”

My parents were children at that time. My grandparents didn’t want to talk about the war. So, I didn’t hear information about the war from my family.

Maybe, for people who experienced the war as adults, there might be many things to talk about.

I guess maybe the conversations were like this:

“What did you do during WWII?”

“I was a soldier in the battle of Imphal.”

“How did you survive?”

Kamioka’s father always asked the question when he was drunk. When he got really drunk, he started to ask the question to younger people who were not born during the war.

WWII had a strong impact on most of the people in the world. Luckily, we don’t have any incidents with such strong impact in our generation.

But the pandemic had an impact on all of us.

Maybe the future drunkard could ask this question to people:

“What did you do during the pandemic?”

“I was a restaurant owner.”

“How did you survive?”

I hope a world war and a pandemic will never happen again.

 

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Japanese

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Realistic Movies

　I love to watch dramas on TV. I am surprised by the advanced makeup techniques these days.

In the old days, in scenes where someone gets injured or is sick, they used simple techniques. They were lovely. They used red or blue paint for the makeup. Those were cheap. But I was able to relax while watching those.

But now, if someone gets injured in a drama, they can use makeup for really painful-looking wounds. If someone is sick, they can make them look really sick and pale.

I know they are healthy actors, but I always start to worry about them.

The mysterious thing is that I can’t tell whether the techniques are done by makeup artists or digital artists.

My smartphone shows me short movies. Many beautiful people are dancing or smiling. But I can’t tell whether these people exist in the real world or are created by an AI artist.

Once, my smartphone showed me a kind of movie. In the movie, a cat or dog got rid of a bear. I believed this kind of movie. I imagined that if a bear attacked me, my cats would help me. But TV taught me these are fake movies.

What should I believe? We should be suspicious of the information from screens.

 

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Japanese

Inflation and Family Strife

I heard this story from my mother.

My family lived with my paternal grandmother. My mother was always scolded by my grandmother. My grandmother said to my mother, “You spend too much money!” “You are not good at shopping!” “You have to learn to make ends meet!”

 My mother had hard feelings about that even after my grandmother’s death. My mother sometimes complained that “she didn’t know it was because of inflation.”

 When I was a baby, Japan experienced a period of inflation. In 1970, the average first monthly payment for someone who graduated from a university was $111. In those days, most women didn’t have an income. In other words, a family could live on that income. Only 17% of people could study at university. Those were lucky people. They could have nice lifestyles with that income.

 My grandmother didn’t watch news programs. She didn’t read newspapers. She didn’t go shopping. She didn’t have information about inflation. That why she thought her son had married a stupid woman.

 History repeats itself.

 For a few weeks, my wife was busy at work. So, I went shopping to buy everyday items. I paid for those from my pocket money and kept the receipts. After that, my wife would give me the money from our family budget. She summed up the receipts and screamed, “That is too expensive! You cooked the receipts!”

 She started inspecting the receipts. She tried to find out if I had bought some stupid items using our family budget. I am a stupid man. Of course, I sometimes buy some stupid items, like cigarettes. But I don’t spend our family money on stupid items.

 My wife checked all the receipts. She never found any stupid items on the receipts. I was innocent, as I had insisted to her.

 Now, inflation is happening all around the world. It causes strife for many families everywhere.

 I heard that in the 1970s, the same thing happened. As a result, there was a wage increase. But wage increases are always too late.

 We need to do our best to survive.

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Japanese

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Drone Show

 When my family went to Osaka Expo, the venue was very crowded. Most of the pavilions were already full. We could not go in any pavilions.

 My sister-in-law got information that the UK pavilion was not so crowded. If we waited for one hour in front of the pavilion, we could go inside.

 We decided to try the UK pavilion. When we were walking to the pavilion, we could see fireworks in the sky.

 When we were waiting in front of the pavilion, we could watch the drone show. That was the first time I had seen a drone show. Of course, that was a wonderful experience.

 The beauty of fireworks is difficult to show on television. The beauty of a drone show is also difficult to show on television. Each drone moved regularly. They made a beautiful show.

 At the same time, I felt scared. If a war happened, the drones would attack us.

 I am a Star Wars fan. In the story, there is a Clone War. Clone people fight against AI robots. But actually, we are now experiencing Drone Wars.

 Japanese fireworks are beautiful. Firework techniques were developed during the Edo period. During that period, Japan didn’t experience any wars. People could concentrate on developing fireworks. This must be a good way to use gunpowder.

 I hope people never use drones for wars. I hope people use drones in peaceful ways, like for entertainment. We will see many, many beautiful drone shows in the future.

 Japanese 

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UK Pavilion

       My wife, my wife’s younger sister, and I went to Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

Beforehand, we applied to visit popular pavilions online, but we were all rejected. Thus, we did not visit the famous pavilions.

My sister-in-law said she wanted to visit the UK Pavilion. She works in the UK. If I could visit an expo in a foreign country, I would want to see the Japanese Pavilion.

Luckily, we were informed that we could visit the UK Pavilion by waiting for an hour, which we did.

We could visit at least one pavilion. At the same time, we knew why we could enter the UK Pavilion after just an hour of waiting.

In the UK Pavilion, we just walked around and watched movies. The movies were not exceptional—they were educational. My wife complained, “Is this a class?”

Sometimes, I work for movie companies. I thought that if I asked six coworkers, we could make the same quality of movies as those that we watched.

My sister-in-law said that people in the UK are generally not interested in expos.

On the contrary, the Japanese might be too crazy about expos.

Japanese

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Special Skill

Did you go to Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan?

My house is not far from the venue, so my wife and I decided to visit the expo to make memories. At that time, my wife’s younger sister, who lives in London, was temporarily staying at their parents’ house. She decided to come along, and the three of us went on an overnight trip.

I was so happy that I saw a full-scale Mobile Suit Gundam. That is my all-time favorite animation. My wife and my sister-in-law are not familiar with Gundam. They didn’t say anything about it.

That was summer, and Japan was experiencing the worst heat wave. But when we visited the expo, it was not blazing hot. Many people visited the site, and the venue was packed. We had to wait for over an hour to enter the venue and another hour to leave it.

But I think the biggest problem was the women’s restrooms. In the venue, many women formed significantly long lines in front of all the ladies’ restrooms. By contrast, no lines were observed in front of the men’s restrooms. The women had to queue for a long time in the restrooms. Being a woman is challenging. If you feel the need to urinate, you have to wait for a long time. You need to pull yourself together strongly.

I think it’s not a small problem. We need to think of female and male equality. If we think of true equality, the sizes of restroom areas should not be equal. If the sizes were equal, the number of toilet bowls for women would be less than that for men. We should prepare at least the same number of toilet bowls for both men and women, but I don’t think that is enough. Females need more time to use the restroom. I think restrooms for women need a bigger area and more toilet bowls to address this issue.

I don’t know if the expo planner was a man or a woman, but did that person not feel anything when he or she watched the long lines for the women’s restrooms?

This problem not only applies to the expo but also to any events or theaters. The planners need to consider this problem when they design the restrooms—the restrooms are important.

How did my wife solve this problem at the expo? Don’t worry. She has a special skill. Gundam didn’t have special skills in the story, but my wife does. When I first met my wife, I assumed she was a boy. She looked like a male. She always wore boyish-style clothes. Sometimes, she gets scolded by other women in the restrooms: “This is the ladies’ restroom!”

My wife’s special skill is using the men’s restroom. We entered the same male restroom, but no one minded her. You need talent to use this special skill. If you can pull off wearing men’s attire, you can try that.

My sister-in-law? She has a more radical special skill. If she tries, she can endure not urinating for over seventeen hours. This might be a wonderful special skill.

However, these are not the solutions to the problem. My wife doesn’t want to use the male restroom, and my sister-in-law definitely cannot hold out all the time.

I strongly insist that there be true equality for men and women when it comes to restrooms.

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 Japanese

 

Long-distance friends

  When I was a child, some friends of my family moved to other towns. Those experiences had a strong impact on me. I almost felt like my friends had died. I believed I couldn’t see them again.

Now, I am an adult. But I think maintaining friendships with long-distance friends is difficult.

We can meet neighborhood friends easily. We can meet by chance. We can invite them someplace easily. We can go to cafés, bars, restaurants, and events together. We can help each other with small tasks. These actions are a good opportunity for maintaining friendships.

When I studied in California, I had many foreign friends. I still keep in touch with some of them. Sometimes, I send cards to them. Two of them send me cards too.

One friend from Hong Kong still lives in California. Another friend from Taiwan lives in Taiwan now.

When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, both of them sent me emails asking, “Are you OK?” I was OK. I lived far away from the epicenter. My fiancée scolded me because I didn’t call her when the earthquake happened. That was the biggest damage I experienced from that earthquake. But don’t worry, she is my wife now. And I was happy to hear from old friends.

They actually helped me when the pandemic happened. In Japan, people needed to wear masks everywhere. But we couldn’t buy masks in any shops. Magically, though, everyone wore masks everywhere.

My friends knew about that situation. They sent me masks from the USA and Taiwan. Let me say a few words of thanks. Those masks were really useful. Thank you!

You know, most of my friends live in Japan. If we have a problem nationwide, most of my friends have the same problem. No one can help me. But my USA friend and my Taiwan friend can help me.

Keeping in touch with long-distance friends is bothersome. Out of sight is out of mind.

But there are situations only long-distance friends can help you with. In our future, no one can predict who will help us in any situation. We need to keep in touch with long-distance friends.

Japanese 

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Nightmare

One night, I had a nightmare. I jumped up from the nightmare. I was sweating a lot. My heart was beating very quickly. I was relieved when I realized it was a dream. I went back to sleep again.

The next morning, I checked my smartwatch. It recorded that I had woken up in the middle of the night. It also recorded my heart rate. It was for a very short time, but my heart rate was as fast as when I have been doing strenuous exercise.

This could be used as a good dieting method in the future. You can sleep while using this method, but you can also do strenuous exercise. If you invent such a method, you will get tons of money.

But if I need to experience nightmares while using this method, I don’t want to try it. I don’t want to experience any nightmares.

Someone, please, invent a new method I can use to have a good night’s sleep and nice dreams while dieting in a healthy way.

 

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Japanese 

May Be a Friend

 One day in spring, my wife and I went for a drive. Of course, my wife was driving the car. I am not good at driving, but I can enjoy the drive. What a wonderful day!

 We stopped because the traffic signal was red. In the next seconds, we felt a shock. We heard a crashing sound.

 Our car was bumped by a truck from behind.

 I bought the car for the memory of our marriage, but it was badly broken. At that moment, it became a scrapped car.

 When the truck hit, I looked back at the driver. I saw that he was putting down his smartphone. I am sure he was driving while using the smartphone.

 Luckily, no one was injured in this accident. Policemen came, and we did all the procedures after the accident. We exchanged phone numbers with the truck driver.

 After everything, my wife and I went back to our normal life. I checked my smartphone. Facebook showed the truck driver’s page and read “May be a friend.”

 He is not my friend. I don’t want a friend who drives and uses a smartphone at the same time.

 I love social media, but sometimes, it is insensitive.

 

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My Great-Grandfather’s Retirement Allowance

 Will you get a retirement allowance in your future? It depends on your working style. If you work for a Japanese-style company as a full-time worker, you can get a lot of money when you retire. If you can get it, do you have plans to make an efficient investment of funds?

 For your information, I shall tell you an old story about my great-grandfather’s investment plan.

 My great-grandfather was an elementary school teacher. When he retired, he successfully got his retirement allowance. 

 His investment plan was this: He lent land and built many small houses for rent. He could get rental income and enjoy his old age.

 His plan worked for a while.

 But my grandfather recommended changing the plan and selling the houses. My grandfather was a highly educated person who graduated from a national university. It was during WWⅡ, so if there were an air raid at the houses, my great-grandfather would lose all of his property.

 My great-grandfather refused to sell them. He said he had donated tons of money to a shrine. He believed no bomb would ever come to his houses because of religious power. My great-grandfather was a religious and highly educated person. My grandfather tried to persuade him logically, but it was in vain.

 Sometimes, a religious person could be stubborn.

 I respect all religions in the world. When I visit churches, shrines, temples, and other holy places, I pray sincerely. But I also know religions never work like that. Any religion doesn’t work depends on money.

 As a result, my great-grandfather’s houses were all burned down. He didn’t own the land. He lost his retirement allowance.

 If he had had a different plan, my family might still be rich.

 Financial planning is always difficult.

 

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April in Japan

Are you coming to Japan? When?

 April is a good time to visit Japan. Those are warm days. You can watch cherry blossoms. It is a highly recommended season.

 But be careful because in April, Japan experiences small inconveniences every year.

 Schools, companies, and government offices all start the new term on the first day of April. Many people are given transfer notices. There are many freshmen in all fields.

 In a train, most Japanese people follow some unwritten rules, like giving way to passengers getting off at a busy station. But in April, you can find many people who don’t know the rules. So sometimes, some disruptions happen in trains. The train crew could also be freshmen. Japanese train systems are punctual. But in April, there are many delays.

 When we drive in April, we can find new drivers on the roads. Some people may be from different areas. They are not familiar with the roads. I am really careful to drive in April. I feel that my blood freezes a few times in April.

 Even in TV, there are many technical issues on pictures and sounds in April. I guess new TV workers make mistakes in April.

 If you go to a hospital in April, you need to be a little brave. It depends on the hospital, though. Some doctors tend to recommend that patients take a blood sample. Of course, in some cases, the doctors really need a blood sample for your health, but actually, some doctors want newbie nurses to have an experience taking a blood sample. I had an encounter with a neophyte nurse who had not yet experienced taking blood samples from a patient. I was the first. I had blood congestion for two weeks. I contributed to the medical world.

 Everyone was a freshman once. Everyone could be a freshman again. All you need is to tolerate April in Japan.

 Please come to Japan in April. You can experience wild Japan.

 

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Treated Like a Child

 When I was a university student, I was invited to a party with my mother and her friends in a restaurant. My mother had many friends, and she often asked me to accompany her to her meetings with her friends.

 At the dinner, I felt a strange atmosphere. It started when I saw a man and a woman who were sitting separately but paying attention to each other. I didn’t know why.

 I guessed they might be a divorced couple. This might not be a simple dinner party. It could be an opportunity for an intentional reunion for them.

 Actually, I was wrong, but my guess was kind of close. It was an arranged introduction for marriage. Officially, we had a dinner party, but it was also an event for the meeting of the man and the woman.

 In that case, I wanted to be involved. I could be supportive. I had no idea that was an arranged introduction for marriage. I was already a university student. I could understand the situation. My mother didn’t tell me; I think she treated me like a child.

 I didn’t know the situation, so I made a mistake.

 The man started to talk about his adventure. He traveled all around Biwa Lake (the biggest lake in Japan) by bicycle. After that, I talked about my adventure. I traveled all around Hokkaido (the largest prefecture in Japan) by bicycle. I think my story was not supportive of him. 

 If I knew that it was an arranged introduction for marriage, I shouldn’t have told my story about Hokkaido.

 I don’t know if they got married or not after that.

 If you have a party with a specific purpose, inform all the party members, including university students. We should not treat university students as children.

 

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