Yoneko is a writer and consultant who writes about culture and human existence.
Paddington visited me a while ago đ Just kidding! I came across Paddington in Shinjuku station a while ago and I couldn’t resist..! I think I was more excited than the children themselves đ
I also would like to thank you all for your support and kindness. I have no words to explain how much for support means to me, and what a difference is making in my life and work. Thank youâ¤â¤â¤â¤â¤
I wake up as I do every morning at 5:00 a.m. without alarms.
I think I am an early bird because I am neither tired or grumpy.
I am fully awake.
But today is Sunday, and although my heart is ready to write, my brain has decided not to oblige today.
âIt is Sundayâ it says â I want to have fun, I want to watch TV, laugh at silly jokes, and enjoyâ it demands.
âOnly 5 minutesâ I reply, and I start preparing my morning tea.
âWeâll see about itâ it threatens me.
âTime to workâ I say once I finished preparing my tea.
âBut we work everyday. It is Sundayâ it says almost crying.
âWe gotta get on with itâ I say trying to make it understand
âIt is Sunday. I want to watch TV, laugh at silly jokes, and enjoy. I wonât work todayâ It repeats again.
So I turn on the tv, and here we are still discussing when it is a good time to start writing. Sometimes my brain doesnât want to understand that writing is having fun, enjoying and laugh at silly things, even when those silly things are our own lack of concentration and skill.
There she was waiting. I could see in her profile that she was shy.
Once we started talking I could see in her a wise but fragile soul, as she had survived not one but many battles, cried defeats and survived ignominy. She smiled and laughed at my poor attempts at humor. But her laughter, although sweet, was a cover. A cover of what? I don’t know. But I could see in her eyes memories that still hunt happiness away.
Her soul was a pandora box that could mirror the deepest darkest corners of ourselves. And yet, she was fragile. And in more need of protection than anybody, I have met before or after her.
âI have to go,â she said
She just stood up and walk out the door. And for a brief moment, I felt as if a part of me had just left behind her.
I love pens. I love holding them. But at this moment, all the pens I own are broken. Why are they all broken? I have no idea.
The spring that unfailingly lowers the tip is stuck..!And Itâs hard to make the ink leave a mark on the paper. I try writing with the other pens, but it is all the same result.
And when inspiration strikes, it has to wait until I finish battling (dueling at times) with the pen, the ink, and the spring.
Iâd love to curse and let it all out, but I shut those thoughts down because the inspiration is a sensitive spirit, who needs to feel peace and calm to work her magic. So there she is now waiting with crossed arms in front of her. She is huffing and puffing at me, and the foolishness of who I am.
âBuy new pens,â she says.
âI like these old ones. Iâve had them foreverâ I simply reply.
And the inspiration just rolls her eyes at me as answer.
When I finally get the pen to work, I write it all down, but something is missing. I know. And the inspiration knows I know. I look at her, but I donât beg her.
âFineâ she says angrily. And she starts pouring silk on air.
She cries with me in the funeral of Prince Charming and smiles at the birth of his heir. And when we finish the story she leaves without warning or a goodbye. But I know she will come back. Because although I know, she doesnât like me because I am a talentless writer, I know she will come back because she has nothing better to do than torture me.
The first time I visited Odawara, I didn’t know what to expect, but as soon as I saw it, I fell in love, metaphorically and literally. And even now after so many years, it still speaking to me.
And to many people, because even the samurais stop to take photos in front of it (Odawara castle)
Its solid wooden gates welcomed me as it has welcomed thousands of people before me. And will continue to do so until the end of times. Perhaps.
And with the brave “pink” ninja who kindly posed for my camera before I left, I said goodbye to Odawara castle once more.
Late at night, fairies visit me whispering stories and old tales. Some speak familiar languages, some talk in dialects I have never heard. Nonetheless, they all come to share their stories and their secrets. They fly around me, tickle me, pull my hair softly until I wake up and agree to play with them.
When my husband is awake, they hide and wait for him to fall asleep to come out of their hiding place. Once he is asleep, they pour magic dust on him, so he doesn’t wake up. And when they are sure, he won’t wake up some kiss him on the cheeks, and some lie on his chest looking at him with goggly eyes. They like to flirt those little ones. Those cheeky little fairies.
But the fairy queen sets them straight “there is no time to play” she says “there is so much to do and so little time.” They take me out of my room. And I write, what they share with me.
While the world sleeps, the fairies tangle their stories around my fingers, whispering their stories in my ears, and laughing at my mistakes. I write until dawn when they must go back to spread morning dew, so nature wakes up. But I know they will come back. As they do every night.
I spent all day writing yesterday, and with the joy of the fulfilled task, relief came.
I fell how the knot Iâve had for days in my throat started to loosen up as if the stories had been there just waiting and instead of setting them free, I had only been piling them up.
I am free I thought, but then the need for writing stroke again.
New stories came from nowhere. Some were good, some were sad, others ridiculously funny, but they all were in need of a home.
I think I might be able to build them a little house, where they can be happy.
After all, there’s nothing special about writing as Ernest Hemingway said “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed”
A summer day I was walking down the street when I saw her. A woman so beautiful that could stand traffic, and yet so unaware of it (her beauty) and the effects she was causing on people.
She was walking blindly to the desire looks she received from men, and the hateful looks women shot at her.
And as she was walking, the slinky movements of her hips were hypnotizing pedestrians and drivers. I even saw a mesmerized couple of guys walking behind her.
They were not harassing her. But it was obvious that the poor guys have lost their souls to the rhythm of her movements.
I am just grateful there were no traffic accidents.
And I couldnât help but think of âthe girl from Ipanemaâ and that some people are really gifted with beauty but as this beauty is nothing extraordinary for them, they do not hold themselves with pride or arrogance. As ironic as that might be.
.
Not a while ago, I quit, what many would call, a dream job in Japan. But there was still something missing in my life. Do not think for a moment, I am ungrateful to my employers, on the contrary, I was lucky to work with them. But it was time to move on. In the last e-mail they sent, I was asked if Iâll ever come back. So I replied as honestly as I could, I told them that theyâd find someone else, better than me, because they deserve better. But I also told them they could always call me and count on me. And yes, we could still be friends. I will always be there for them.
I know comparing quitting a job with breaking with a boyfriend, might sound disrespectful for some people, but in Japan, where work ethics are still very traditional, getting a job is a life-time-commitment. In other words, in Japan, you just donât get a job, you marry your job. You read that correctly.
You marry your job. Your job is your priority number one. And you immediate supervisor becomes your mother/father, to whom youâre obliged to obey. No arguments. Your bossâs word is final. In a traditional Japanese company, there is no room for âI.â What matters the most is âWe,â the group, even to the cost of your well-being.
This is an actual cultural fact. When you get a job in these islands, you stay with the same company for life. You give them your life, and in return, the company looks after you. And although this has started changing during the last two decades, I was fortunate enough to experience this unbreakable bond, that still exists, in the Japanese Business world.
In other words, quitting was not easy. But, I was lucky enough to see, to live and, to experience this cultural phenomenon in order to transmit to all of you.
Yoneko: Writer and consultant 