Day in the Life by Senji Kuroi

Author:Senji Kuroi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2013-02-19T16:00:00+00:00

FOR THE RECORD

A Happy New Year

Wishing you all the very best for the New Year

(Mass-produced rubber stamp. The black ink on the stamp had come out as a faint gray. The rest of the note was scribbled in black ballpoint pen.)

I’ve broken off any involvement I had in “the cause.”

I have five grandchildren now. Woe is me!

The first day of the first year of the twenty-first century Tokyo

(Addressed to O.O. from Q.W. A New Year’s card for 2001 including a lottery number: group B2563 215856. Not a winning number.)

***

Dear All,

I hope you are well.

It’s nearly time for the cherry blossom party of the Ten Man Strong Club. Some of you may be wondering what’s going on, seeing as I haven’t yet sent out any details about this year. That’s why I’m getting in touch now to let you know how things stand.

I have actually had a bad back since around the end of January and am still not able to walk. I went to the hospital and had all sorts of tests, none of which helped pinpoint the cause of the problem. I also tried massage, acupuncture, moxibustion, and deep breathing exercises, all to no effect, and ended up being told it might clear up as the weather gets warmer.

If that was the only problem, all I’d need would be to get someone to take over my job as organizer for this year, but B, as part of his post-retirement consultancy, is scheduled to be in Canada from the end of March to the beginning of April. S is busy taking care of his wife, who isn’t well, and N has arrhythmia and doesn’t want to leave the house. In other words, we’ve got a whole host of problems on our plate. It would be sad if only four of the eight of us were able to get together, so I was thinking we might postpone our party and enjoy the autumn colors instead of the usual cherry blossoms.

As we only meet once a year it’s an important occasion for all of us. I really hope we’ll manage it this year too, but given the way things are I think we should just wait and see. What do you think?

We first started these get-togethers of ours in our midteens, and although there was a long gap in the middle, we’ve met once a year without fail for the last twenty years or so, making this a tradition I don’t want us to break. It’s actually been over half a century since we began. There’s nothing much anyone can do about physical decline, but let’s all try and do our best so we can be in good health to meet this autumn.

(Dated March 5. Printed on a sheet of A4. Up to this point the text from T.T. was printed horizontally using a word processor or PC. In the space underneath was a handwritten note to O.O. written in blue-black ink with a fountain pen.)

P.S. There’s no need to worry about my back.

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