It was last summer. My housemate and I were committed to a short jogging ritual. Every evening, after work, we would go out for a quick run in the neighbourhood. There were many days when we only managed to jog around our block. But a few times, we felt adventurous and tried out a longer […]
I have a friend who has a sister six years older than her. I’m always surprised by this age gap because from the way she talks about her sister, it feels as if they were twins. My friend says that they grew up together being the best playmates. I always love to hear whatever my
One autumn, I was visiting Italy on a solo trip and took a train from Milano to Pisa. It was my first time to take a long distance train in the country. For the first time in my life, I saw a train with compartments like the one in the movie of Harry Potter series
It was years ago when I was still a busy college student in Tokyo. One hot and humid evening of summer, I was walking back home from the nearest train station. It was already dark. Exhausted from the long day, I was focusing all my energy on moving my legs as fast as I could
The last moment of life Read More »
In the region of Japan where I grew up, October is the season of fragrant olives. Wherever you walk, you’ll encounter their subtle sweet fragrance and their pale orange blossoms. When I was about nine or ten, there was a period when I walked to school just by myself. As the autumn arrived, I felt
Memory of a fragrant olive Read More »
It was when my great aunt was in her late seventies. She lived in the same old house in a crowded neighbourhood of Tokyo where I spent much of the first year of my life on this earth before my family moved to north Japan. Her husband had passed away long before I was born,
One summer, I became good friends with a girl three years older than me. One day, she told me that she had a special trick. “I can smile with just half of my face.” As soon as she said that, she smiled with exactly half of her face while the other half remained completely still.
A girl who can smile with only half of her face Read More »
Just like a photograph captures a physical moment, a story photograph captures a moment that happens inside our heart… As I walked through my life as an adult, it broke my heart to realize how many moments of my life that I treasure in my heart never get the chance to be told to anybody
A departure can come to us when we expect it the least. As the thanksgiving approaches, there is one moment that I recall in my heart with special feelings. The first time I met the dog was when I visited the shop for the first time to purchase the very first guitar in my life.
The last time I saw you Read More »
That summer, I was on my way back to Ottawa from Tokyo. After having spent a very long layover in Calgary (I remember it was more than 12 hours), I finally sat on the plane that was going to carry me to Ottawa. The plane took off at around midnight. As soon as I finished
