Anna Matsushita

 One winter, my family and I embarked on a journey to the Canary Islands, situated off the coast of North Africa, to celebrate the year-end holidays. These islands, a bit farther south than the Mediterranean, are renowned for their numerous volcanoes. My destination was one of the islands in the archipelago, Lanzarote. It's a Spanish territory where the predominant language is, unsurprisingly, Spanish. Upon landing at the airport and traversing the island by bus, I beheld many curious sights. I noticed peculiar circular enclosures made of stone, with greenery growing in sunken centers. Our guide explained that these were vineyards. The island, formed from volcanic ash, experiences strong winds, making it challenging to cultivate taller crops. Thus, they construct enclosures with rocks to shield against the wind, creating depressions in the center where grapevines thrive. That day, our group of nearly thirty individuals was meticulously led around by our guide, showcasing variou

In June, I published my second novel. The book focus on the changing friendship of women through the course of life.   　 There are times when your friendship is tested when we came across the crossroad in our lives.  was interested in how the life events gouge out the difference of value in life between friends, especially the friendship between women.   The egoism might cause friends leave, even if you think you are doing good for others.   I found that the crossroads in life, such as marriage, pregnancy, meeting your old love, changing jobs, and family’s death, are the times when your friendship are tested,   When you are at the crossroad, what will happen if there are friends who are too egoistic?   A friend who become out of control as a result of bordering problem with others – such as borderline personality disorder. These people could cause mayhem, believing that she is doing good for others.   An old friend who is too proud and can’t see herself object

 When I was young, I came across with a picture of two entertainers in Medieval Japan, called Kusemai dancer, and Shrabyoshi.   They were one of the prominent street performers in Medieval Japan, and they were mentioned in a book called “Seventy One Songs on Craftsmen", illustrating various craftsmen which was established at the end of 1500’s   Here is the link to the original painting of Kusemai dancer and Shirbyoshi. (On the bottle left) 狂言・能楽の歴史｜文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp)   (Kusemai dancer on the left, Shirabyoshi on the right )   能・世阿弥｜文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp) So, what are Kusemai dancer and Shirabyoshi ? Kusemai, also known as Mai-Mai (Roughly translated as "dance, dance") is a male street dancer, usually paired up with a singer, and dance while holding a folding fan. Shirabyoshi is a female dancer dressed in men’s clothe and sing song while dancing. Kusemai | the-Noh.com | Noh Terminology Shirabyōshi - Wikipedia   In a book of “Seventy

 Long time ago, my mother took me to meet one of my distant relative – my grandmother’s aunt – at a hotel in Tokyo. I vaguely remember that she was a charming lady, very warm and kind. My mother chatted away with her, and when we leave her hotel room, she gave me a little brown coin – very small one which I have never seen before. My great-aunt was affectionately known as “Aunty in Hawaii”. She and her family immigrated to America few years after the World War II. My mother, who was born on the year of the end of the War, remembers when the great-aunt’s family left Japan from a port by a vessel. My mother remembers her cousins threw some paper tapes to them, bidding farewell.   I heard from my grandparents that the USA offered immigration program to Japanese people, especially those people who lived in war-devastated areas such as Okinawa, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and Okayama prefectures. Many people participated the program and sought their future in the States. My great-aunt’s fami

 My maternal grandmother was from Hiroshima prefecture, Japan. Most of her family lived in Horshima, but I have not heard much about them until I was 17 years old. This is some of the family history I heard, when I visited my grandparents back in 1989. My grandmother’s father was working at the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall – better known as “Atomic Bomb Dome”.   As the name of the building describes, the hall exhibited many industrial products in Hiroshima – I heard that the dome had a beautiful spiral staircase leading up to upstairs. My great-grandfather’s office was in the building. My great-grandfather was known affectionately by the family as “the man who forgets”. He always forget something. It caused many mayhems, but everybody knew his personality. So on 6 th August 1945, when Enola Gay was heading to Hiroshima carrying the little boy, my grandfather arrived at his office. As usual, he noticed he forgot something at home. He jumped back on a tram and h

  Our neighbour’s cat came to our garden for an afternoon nap. He has his favourite spot underneath the cherry tomato cage. The roses were in bloom and lavenders were budding. It was fine day, the weather was warm and dry, and everything seemed peaceful. I reflected the past 6 months. Since September 2020, I have been unemployed. The company I worked for needed to lay off 70% of workforce due to COVID19. Somehow, I managed to stay positive while unemployment, with occasional ups and downs. The main reason, I recall, was that I was with my family, also I was in touch with my friends and job advisors through SNS and e-mails. One of the person who supported me was a job counselor. I met my job counselor at his office in Yokohama. He was gentle and always helpful, suggested many job vacancies at stable businesses. My career at travel companies were not in the mainstream of their business. I was working on specialist’s visit abroad. The field of client’s fields were vast, from local or nati

My mother came home from shopping, and shown me a piece of paper towel and rubber bands stapled together. “They asked to wear this at the bakery” She went to her favourite bakery for some bread, and apparently she forgot to wear a mask. “You can’t go in unless you are wearing a facial mask. They have loads of these, and they asked me to wear it” she said. Back then, I think many people must have experienced forgetting to wear a facemask when they go out, and refused to be let in at shops. The rules were not strict enough for those who went out of their house without masks, Imagine how it was problematic for the baker to tackle against the regular faces wondering into his shop without properly covering their faces. My mother managed to buy some breads and sweet rolls. Apart from the usual breads, she also bought some sweet dumplings with salted-cherry blossom on. We had a nice tea break with it.