It was the autumn when I was four years old and staying at my maternal grandmother’s place. There was an old hut next to her house where my grandmother used to keep her farming tools and store some vegetables from her vegetable garden. The hut was from the time before my mother was born, and […]
As long as I can remember, my maternal grandmother has worn false teeth. They weren’t just a few teeth, but a bunch of teeth. And my grandmother used to clean them with a brush every evening before bedtime. I was four years old when I first saw her false teeth. At the time, I was
This is a story about a small incident that took place when I was about four years old. I used to play daily with my friends in our community of tiny half-dilapidated apartments, and that day, I was playing with a particularly large group of friends near the rows of Japanese plum trees on the
When I wanted to try the boys’ way Read More »
When I was small and lived in a community of tiny half-dilapidated apartments, my favourite activity of all was to play house with my friends on one of the Japanese plum trees on the community premise. Each of us would pick a branch and claim it to be our private room. I had a branch
When I couldn’t climb down the tree Read More »
When I was about three, one day, there was a large gathering in our community of tiny half-dilapidated apartments. Most of my friends and their mothers came together in somebody’s home (a tiny apartment) and had a potluck party. It must have been a special occasion – somebody’s farewell party, perhaps – since the place
The moment of playfulness: a group photo Read More »
About ten years ago, I came to Canada for the first time on a year-long college exchange program. I had never lived in a foreign country before, and even though the language wasn’t too much of an obstacle (except the speaking part), I immensely struggled with some culture shock. The shock was usually around small
The Muffin: a culture shock Read More »
When I was a first-year college student in Tokyo, my very first final exam was for the course titled “Introduction to Calculus”. As an enthusiastic new math major student, this was my favourite of all the courses I took in the first semester. I was so excited about the subject that I even bought a
Memory of my first college exam Read More »
The autumn when I was in Grade 3, the whole four classes of Grade 3 presented a play based on the famous folktale “The Emperor’s New Clothes” at the annual school art festival. Being fond of acting in front of other people, I auditioned and got the role for one of the weavers. In the
The Emperor’s New Clothes: when I smiled as a weaver Read More »
In October 2018, I caught a really bad cold. With the outside temperature quickly dropping and my student life at university getting busier as the Fall semester reached its turning point, I didn’t take a good care of myself. One morning, I woke up with sore throat, high fever and no voice. As I got
It was when I was about six or seven. I was visiting my maternal grandmother’s house during a school holiday, and one day my elder cousin invited me to watch a theatre play with her in the city centre. She said it was designed for young children just like me. “Do you know the story
When I watched a theatre play for the first time Read More »
