INDEX
from Miran #11 – Friday, September 15
Little by little, really little, it’s getting cooler, don’t you think? Thinking that I’ll soon be able to wear my sweatshirt, I feel an autumn breeze in my heart for a moment.
Now is the season of typhoons, so there are sometimes days when it’s just a little too cold to wear a sweatshirt. So it feels good when it’s sunny. This morning was no exception. I woke up stretching, went to the bathroom, washed my face, and drank a cup of hot black coffee that was so good I forgot to eat the cookies I had prepared. I went outside and went about my business without any difficulty, and then I realized that today was my payday. Maybe that’s why I feel so good…? Then all of a sudden, it started to rain. I forgot to bring an umbrella. Situations like this are very common. I wonder if my good mood is due to the weather or money, but what would you do in such a situation?
1.Go home in the rain and get wet.
2.Buy an umbrella
3.Rent an umbrella
I guess those are the three choices that come to mind. I have never rented an umbrella, but I wonder. I don’t want to go home wet and catch a cold, and I don’t want any more plastic umbrellas from convenience stores in my house, so this time I was blinded. Anyway, I looked around the stores in a circle. It’s amazing that there are so many shops in the station where you can go shopping without getting wet. Round and round, round and round. I like the big, stylish patterned umbrellas that don’t fold up. I’m sure I can use it with care. But they are a bit expensive. I also like the simple, foldable, usable ones from Muji. But I don’t feel like it’s mine, and I’m afraid I’ll forget it when I go somewhere. Guru. My old folding umbrella that opens at the touch of a button is on sale! But if I’m going to go through the trouble, I’d better get a new one. Round and round and round.
And after about an hour of this, I finally bought it. Finally, I bought one. A yellow, simple folding umbrella that doesn’t open with the touch of a button, but is wind and rain resistant and UV resistant.
As I held it up on my way home in the pouring rain, I wondered if it was the yellow color that put me in a good mood today. I wonder what color is Supper-chan’s umbrella.
from Late Obara #11 – Friday, September 29
I have only one plastic umbrella in my house. Basically, I don’t use it because I don’t like umbrellas. It is a very good thing that I have one. For some reason, the days I meet up with my best friend from high school are usually rainy days, and she even goes out of her way to call me to tell me to get an umbrella today because I haven’t been so good about not having one. Often I show up soaking wet like an abandoned dog. I’m an adult now, so I shouldn’t be like that. But I feel more relaxed without an umbrella. At the end of the day, I’m going to get wet anyway.
Come to think of it, I’m not very good at buying a new umbrella outside and taking a cab home. I feel like it’s a waste of money. I’m not a poor person in that respect, or if I miss the last train, I walk as far as I can. I finally get on the train after I’m exhausted.
I’m sorry for the inconvenience of not writing this exchange diary for about a week, but my new book “Kore wa Seikatsu na na nakashiran” (Yamato Shobo) was published on September 23, and my mind and body have been so flustered with all the things I’m not used to that. I’ve been making a lot of ordinary mistakes. I’ve been making a lot of ordinary mistakes, and I’m really starting to hate myself.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve been living with the same mistakes. I have been living with ordinary mistakes: not being firm even though I look firm; being slow on my feet even though I look fast; getting sick easily even though I look sturdy. I sometimes feel sorry for myself because my true self is so far away from the image of how I look. It is a bad gap.
By the way, I have an image of Miran-chan as someone who never makes ordinary mistakes. Please let me know if you do.
from Miran #12 – Monday, October 2
When I hear about your various things, I think of you as wild~. I admire you, don’t I?
I’m always thinking about tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and a week from now, which are connected to now, and making plans, trying to figure out how to make things fall into place smartly, how to save my energy, and how much time I can spare for dinner. I imagine that if I come home in the rain, I will make a mess at the entrance and it will be hard to clean up, so I basically carry a folded umbrella in my bag.
But, as human beings, we are bound to make mistakes. I often forget to put it in my bag when I change it. I’m sure that my wife would say, “Oh, no, I’m not looking for such an ordinary mistake episode,” but I can’t help but think, “What? I make a lot of mistakes every day. Today, I asked a contractor to repair my air conditioner, and even though I had put it on my calendar, I skipped it and went outside. After making the contractor wait, I let him come up to the house with laundry that was still hanging out to dry. It’s really not good. I’d get tired as a result. There are nights when I sit alone at home and reflect on the situation over and over again.
But, I am doing very well, with the publication of my book and the release of information on the movie “Strange Lovers from a Different Planet,” in which I performed and sang the theme song. This month, I am supposed to walk the red carpet at the Tokyo International Film Festival. I’m going to be scared to death!
We are both very busy, but yesterday we made time to see each other for the first time in a long time. It was cloudy with occasional sprinkles of rain, but I didn’t notice that Supper-chan didn’t have an umbrella with her. I love her. When I see her, I am grateful because it makes me feel that the present moment is all there is, that the present moment is all there is, that fun and interesting things are all there is, and that that’s all that matters. And there is always delicious food and drink, and words are intertwined and exchanged, and though it never quite comes together, it feels like a small light is being kindled. I met up with photographer Nanako, who took me to a restaurant called, you guessed it, “Toumyo. We had a very nice autumn. Somehow, I think I’m going to make it.
Miran
A singer-songwriter born in 1999.
In 2020, she released her first album “Houfu” produced by home recording, and in 2022, she released her second album “Ducky” produced by Keiichi Sogabe, directed by Hideo Josada and written by Rikiya Imaizumi. He produced and released his second album “Ducky”. Later, with Yusuke Kume (Special Favorite Music) as producer, she released “Natsu no boku ni mo me ni”, “Lemon tree”, and “Like you like it”, which were featured on Fuji TV’s “Love music”, and she also wrote an exchange diary with writer Ban Obara in the culture media NiEW. He will release his new album “WATASHIBOSHI” on December 13, 2023.
Ban Obara
Ban Obara is a writer who published his first collection of essays, “Don’t Eat Karaage Bento Here,” at his own expense in 2022, and his novel “Let’s Luminate” was published in “Shosetsu Subaru” in 2023, attracting much attention. In September, his first commercially published work, “Kore wa Seikatsu na nanashiran” was published by Daiwa Shobo.
