Tokyo Hearts: A Japanese Love Story (6 page)

Haruka had no doubt that she’d call. Yuriko never played games with their friendship. But it wasn’t her friendship with Yuriko that worried her. For the next few days, Haruka would be consumed by thoughts of how she might tell Takashi about Jun. She almost rang him a number of times, wanting to blurt out everything and lose the burden weighing heavily on her heart. But each time she stopped herself, believing that time might solve all her problems.

You must look where it is not as well as where it is

Returning to his apartment in Kawasaki, Takashi was oblivious to the office workers packed tightly around him. He was still thinking of Haruka and her plans to move to Kyoto and her wanting to take up a management position there at one of the Kansai branches of the English conversation school for which she worked. He decided that he needed to spend some more time with her that month, apart from their regular Thursday night coffees. The fact that she was considering a position on the other side of the country made him want to see her so much more, and he knew that from October, he would have to knuckle down and commit even more to his studies.

On the train back, Takashi decided that he’d call her in the next couple of days and ask her if she’d spend the day with him the following Sunday in Kamakura. This place would be cooler than Tokyo at this time of the year and it was only a short trip for Haruka from her home in
fune.

He’d always liked Kamakura, with its Buddhist temples and statues – and compared to the rush and madness of inner Tokyo, it was a place that offered up for him a certain peace and tranquillity. Because of this, it provided value for the young and old alike, especially for those that lived and worked in the concrete jungles of the inner urban cities.

He thought back to when he’d first met Haruka nearly three years ago at university, when he’d sat by her side in a Marketing lecture. His interest in her started on the first day of university when he’d spotted her sitting at the back of the lecture room by herself, searching in her bag for a pen. He clearly remembered her wearing a tight white top that showed off her form. He’d casually wandered over and taken the seat to her right. He wasn’t sure at the time if it was the way she flicked her hair back or the scent of her light perfume that attracted him, but he was transfixed by her almost immediately.

Takashi hadn’t taken in one word from the lecturer that day, and he’d left the lecture hall without any notes at all, but that didn’t matter to him one bit because he’d only been concerned about getting Haruka’s phone number at the end of the class. Luckily, when he’d asked for her number she’d agreed to give it to him with a smile – and what a smile! As he got to know her better, he noticed she was always attentive and conscientious in her classes and she was basically a really nice girl, which added to her appeal. Ten months later, he’d been so disappointed when she’d dropped out of university, but he’d respected her reason for doing so.

Haruka was an only child and her father had become very ill at the end of her first year at university. Both mother and daughter had looked after him and had catered to his every whim; there had been much to do. Her parents were fine, respectable people and Haruka had always been very close to them. Her father had suffered from a heart attack. It had been a terrible strain on both Haruka and her mother, but he’d made a full recovery. During this period, Takashi had stayed in touch with Haruka and he’d often spoken to her on the phone.

A few years ago, Takashi had only been thinking of partying with his friends. After he’d met Haruka, she’d made a big impact on him and he’d started to take life a lot more seriously. Haruka had developed from a young girl into a wise woman that her mother had been able to completely depend upon.

Even after her father had recovered, it was a long time before Takashi had been able to meet Haruka in person. But just over a month ago, Haruka had applied for work in the accounts division of an English language school. She’d been assigned to a branch in Harajuku and after this she had been able to meet him at the coffee shop Café hors et dans in Omotesando every week.

During the time that Haruka had been busy helping her mother and looking after her father, Takashi had dated a series of different girls from university. Most of them had been slightly alternative in their thinking and style of dress, and he’d enjoyed being seen with them in front of his buddies. But not one of these girls had interested him as much as Haruka. Despite the fact that he’d liked the ultra-short skirts or revealing dresses on the other girls, he’d also felt that their minds were empty and their hearts were hollow.

Three weeks after Takashi had started meeting Haruka on a regular basis, it had been easy to decide to only meet with her and leave the other girls for his mates at university to have fun with.

Takashi got off his train at Kawasaki. He’d chosen to live in Kawasaki not only because it was such a convenient area in which to live, but also because it had become a really up and coming town over the past few years. The station’s plaza and the shops surrounding the area that led up to his apartment provided everything that one could need. He would most often take the east exit at the train station, as this was the most direct exit to reach his home and from there, he could check out the shops in the Marui or Be department stores or sit and enjoy a coffee at the Doutour coffee house. Sometimes he would drop in for a MOS Burger just outside the station. He’d also at one time or another contemplated joining the new and modern gym that he always passed just before he reached his apartment, but somehow he’d always talked himself out of that.

If Takashi didn’t want to study some afternoons, he would occasionally wander around the shops that he could reach if he took the west exit. This area had recently been refurbished into a rotunda-style complex full of the trendiest boutiques. There was often a band playing in the courtyard and after he’d looked through most of the four levels of shops, it was nice to just sit and listen to the music. He would take time out there; enjoying a cigarette and watching the people pass by. Some days, if he was on his way into Tokyo and he had twenty or thirty minutes to spare before catching his train, he’d enjoy a lunchbox of fresh specialty dumplings for ¥500 or stand and slurp down a delicious bowl of hot ramen soup with a crowd of other commuters at one of the vendors inside the station above the platforms. His favourite soup was Chashu ramen, with three large pieces of thickly sliced pork floating on a bed of noodles.

That afternoon, Takashi walked slowly to his apartment, situated about ten minutes from the station. He bypassed all the shops and only stopped at the convenience store to buy some ready-made sushi and a cold can of oolong tea.

Takashi had moved to this part of town because his parents lived in Yokosuka. A few years ago, he’d convinced them that it was too far for him to travel to university from there. His parents would be considered neither rich nor poor. His father had worked as a mid-level salary man at a transportation company in Yokosuka for over twenty years. He grew up provided with all the essentials, but when he was younger, his mother had never bought him the latest designer clothes and they’d never been able to afford overseas holidays.

There were a few happy memories he fondly looked back on. He remembered the times his parents had taken him to Hokkaido to visit his mother’s side of the family, and they’d also paid for him to go with the rest of his school mates one year on a school trip to Kyoto, which he’d really enjoyed. When he’d been offered a place at a reasonable university a few years ago, his parents had been very proud of him and they’d generously offered to pay his rent while he was studying so that he wouldn’t have to commute long distances to get to his lectures and home again. They even gave him a humble weekly allowance. Takashi was extremely grateful for his apartment and it was his very own six-by-ten foot cosy little kingdom.

As Takashi approached the stairs leading up to the first floor landing and his front door, a bicycle stem that someone had thrown onto the guttering above him caught his eye, as it had many times before this month. Lowering his gaze, he noticed that the caretaker for his building was standing outside his apartment and Takashi thought that it was as good a time as any to ask him to remove the bike part that was hanging precariously above him.

‘Hey caretaker, do you have time to take this bike stem off the guttering? It’s been there for over a month now,’ Takashi yelled.

‘Can’t you see that I’m busy, boy?’ he shouted back. ‘I’ve got a list of other things to do before I can fix the guttering.’

‘Okay, sorry to bother you,’ Takashi said, a bit taken back. He rushed towards his flat, wishing he hadn’t said a word to the caretaker.

Takashi’s place was small, even by Japanese standards. He liked it like that. He felt cocooned from the outside world, but not isolated. His apartment was in a block of about twenty other similar-sized units. The door was heavy, with a double lock, and inside was a single bed, a little fridge, a Sony TV, a Panasonic stereo and a Toshiba PC– he’d wanted an Apple iMac, but he’d decided it was too expensive. Takashi was a bit of a brand snob when he bought any kind of technology. His room also contained a mini cooker, a toaster, a Panasonic microwave and a kotatsu. Of course he didn’t use the kotatsu in this weather, but this coffee table enveloped in a futon, with a heater attached underneath to keep his knees warm, was invaluable in winter. Only the bathroom was separate from everything else in this small apartment. Less to clean, he always told himself.

Attached to the apartment, there was also a balcony where he kept his washing machine and above this, a plastic frame with twelve pastel blue pegs for drying his clothes after the wash. This area was so small that only one person could stand and look out over dozens of other apartments with washing machines and freshly washed clothes.

Until a couple of years ago, he’d also had a Microsoft Xbox 360 and thirty-seven games to go with it. That had kept him busy most of the time, but that interest came to a sudden end the first time Haruka visited him at his apartment at the end of the first three months at university. He’d spent an hour showing her how easily he could get through the first five stages of one particular game when she’d pressed the power button deleting all his efforts after a solid hour of impressive playing. She’d told him that it had been the most boring sixty minutes she’d ever spent with him. On an impulse the following day, he’d sold the console and every one of the games.

The first three months without his Xbox were difficult as he tried to find different ways of filling up his spare time and he even considered buying the games back on several occasions, but he soon found out that his studies were improving without the distraction and his friends Masaya and Kenji were happy to hear the last of his conversations about his Xbox abilities.

Takashi sat down, turned on the TV and settled down to watch a game show. He glanced at his textbooks piled up in the corner of the room. He felt like those books were staring at him and trying to make him feel guilty for neglecting them. He took his jacket off the bed and threw it over them. Now that they were out of view, he knew he’d be able to ignore any urge to study.

He’d just about finished his sushi when he received a phone call from his cousin Katsuro, who lived in Y
ga.

‘Hi Takashi, it’s Katsuro. How’re you doing?’ he asked.

‘Fine, thanks, good to hear from you,’ Takashi replied. ‘What’s new?’

‘Not a lot. Sorry I haven’t spoken to you recently. I’ve been really busy at work.’

‘You have the best job, don’t you? I know you work really hard, but you get a lot of perks working for such a prestigious trading company,’ said Takashi.

‘Wait and see, Takashi. When you begin to work, you’ll understand that my job sounds a lot better than it actually is.’

Takashi lit a cigarette. ‘How’s Mika?’ he asked, flicking his ash into the ashtray.

‘She’s okay thanks.’

‘And the house?’ asked Takashi. ‘Are you enjoying living at this new place in Y
ga?’