In Japan, there is a stationary item called shitajiki, a hard plastic sheet you place between two sheets of paper in a notebook. It’s a tool designed for young children who use pencils to write in their notebooks so that what they write on one page won’t leave a mark on the next pages. When […]
Today is the dayI start a new journeyPlunging into the Unknown I’ve waited for this momentFor so longI’m sure I’m prepared The whole summer went byQuicklyBut not without fun I felt aliveAs I swayed in the breezeAbsorbing the sunshine on my skin I didn’t forget to chat with othersWe used to be togetherFrom dawn to
In the autumn when I was five, one day, I woke up to a sore mouth. Mouth ulcers. Worse still, I had more than one. “Bummer!” I started out the day as usual, but when it was time for a meal, the pain was so much that I could barely eat anything. These mouth ulcers
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Long ago, when I was in junior high school, one day, I happened to read a study material about story-telling. The article discussed the power of an emotional build-up and how after a layered preparation of events, even the simplest of trigger could create an avalanche of emotions in the audience. One of the three
In this memory, I’m six. Recently, my teacher has shown us something interesting at kindergarten. She inflated a polybag with water and tied the end tightly so that the water wouldn’t leak. When I hold it in my arms, the water in the polybag moves, making it feel like a living creature. One day, I
One eveningA tent emergesIn the living roomLike a child’s dreamOnly thatNo children live hereOr so I thought Hanging a lampCalling in all the stuffed animalsI walk insideInto the magical caveWhereA forgotten adventure awaitsWith a beating heart Lying downLooking up at the swaying lampOne thought speaks to meThe world is still magicalThe adventure still awaitsYou are
When my little brother has a regular check-up of his heart condition, I accompany him to the hospital with my mother. It’s now a familiar drive, out of our community of tiny, half-dilapidated apartments, down the hill, past the art gallery, cross the river, then up a narrow rocky passage before coming out right in
I’m three in this memory. My baby brother has recently been released from the hospital after his heart surgery. Though he can now stay with us at home, he is only allowed to feed a small amount each day despite his large body. Every evening, he cries out of hunger, and that’s when my mother
Long ago, when I was about twelve, I was at a large family gathering at my relative’s house. We were all sitting together in the living room, chatting over tea and snacks when the eldest person in the group – let me call her Fuku in this story – started telling us a “remarkable encounter”
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One day on a sidewalkWith my legs heavy from exercisingI sit upon a stretch of concreteMarking the end of someone’s garden It’s been a while since I satNear the ground like thisThe warmth of the afternoon sunTingles my face and bare hands Then I see itA pill bugLazily crossing the sidewalkWith the sunshine on his
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