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...

 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-au...

  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 ...

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.