Study of history
The history study was the worst. It was like we were given a terribly written book and told to memorize the whole thing. History teacher would come into the classroom, […]
Shiho the star
I did better in English than the rest of the subjects, but so did many other girls. A lot of them had aspirations to learn about the world and had […]
Study of Japanese lit
The problem was that I wasn’t thriving in high school. Math got complicated, and no matter how much I prepared for the test, I only had a mediocre result. Japanese […]
Wase-jo
The proportion of female students at Waseda was about 30% at the time, higher in the literature department, and lower in the engineering department. Somehow Waseda didn’t appeal to female […]
“What am I?”
Waseda was one of the top private universities in Japan, rivaled by Keio University. I had known my uncle wanted to study literature at Waseda but was not accepted. I […]
Choosing a direction
High school was a much better place. There were no boys, and the girls were top students from schools in the district. I felt ordinary among them. The moment we […]
High school – commute
To get to my high school before the morning meeting started at 8:15 am, I had to get on 6:30 am-train. To get to the nearest station, my mother had […]
Hair – part 2
During the spring break before high school started, I went to visit my sister in Tokyo. She was already busy with her hostess job, but she booked a haircut appointment […]
Hair – part 1
I write this in July 2020, four months into shelter-in-place due to COVID-19. The hair salon I patronized closed a few days before my long-overdue appointment. My hair length is […]
End of junior high school
As the junior high school was coming to an end, my health was declining. I had lost 2kg (4.5lb) during the LA trip and didn’t gain it back. I looked […]