I fear a knife

Yesterday’s accident gave me pain and took away my working time. I couldn’t possibly concentrate on working with that kind of pain. I postponed the work and spent the day quietly just scrubbing the kitchen sink. Today, I felt much less pain in my knee and elbow that I hit on the floor. But, the muscles of my arm ached. I was worried about that I may have hurt my arm when I fell. Then, an idea suddenly struck me. Come to think of it, I ate a persimmon three days in a row, that I seldom do. I fear a knife too, and when I peel fruit I am under extreme tension. The muscle ache appears to result from it. Peeling fruit inflicts more pain on me than falling…

Episode From Surviving in Japan / Hidemi Woods

Audiobook : Japanese Dream by Hidemi Woods On Sale at online stores or apps. Apple, Audible, Google Play, Nook Audiobooks,  43 available distributors in total

His wife was very careful about money.

When I was eight, my uncle got married and left our house. He had collected small change in big jars and gave all of them to me when he left. I had always wanted him to leave soon, but I found a lot of toys that he had given me in all those years besides the small change. About five years later, he also gave me my first guitar. It was a white classic guitar that he won as a prize for a golf game with his friends. Although it was a cheap model, I had played it for years until it got completely tattered and I bought a new one for my first gig. While my uncle was a giver, his wife was very careful about money. She came to sell her homemade bread to my parents, or reaped away with her neighbors most of persimmons that my parents grew in my family’s field. Long after I left home for music, she visited my parents’ house and asked about my first white guitar. According to my mother, she wanted it back now that I had left home and hadn’t used it anymore. I was purely surprised that she remembered the guitar. It must have been her longtime grudge that my uncle gave it to me. After 10 years, she retrieved the worn-out, battered guitar at long last…