Tokyo Hearts: A Japanese Love Story (25 page)

One loss brings another

This New Year brought with it a slice of freezing temperatures that would continue for a couple of months. The cold wrapped its fingers around Takashi’s heart and his bones.

Despite this icy weather, he continued to study hard and do what he felt was expected of him as he tried to force images of Haruka out of his mind. He’d been a good student at school and he really wanted to work for an elite company. He was determined to do well at university and he’d bury his head in his textbooks at home so that he could continue to prepare for the exams ahead. Each hour blended into the next, and as usual he was buried deep in his studies on the second Friday in January when the floor beneath him began to shudder and tremble.

He hoped that this earthquake would be as insignificant as those he’d experienced a few months before. But this one felt different. The room started to move in waves, indicating that it might be a lot worse. Time moved like a rubber band, expanding and constricting over and over.

Being a student, Takashi couldn’t afford to live in the more modern apartments supported by rubber plates that moved the building with the tremors. His home didn’t have anything that protected its foundations from major fractures, for it was about forty years old. He knew that if an earthquake was strong enough, he could end up buried under many layers of steel, brick and concrete. Since he was little, he’d always felt a comforting sense of relief when a bad earthquake had just passed. He’d often feel a renewed sense of gratitude for his health and his life. However, that didn’t mean that he did not panic when they occurred.

With this thought in mind, Takashi quickly threw on some clothes, hoping that the earthquake would stop with one shake. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t and when the room shook for the second and then the third time, he grabbed his wallet and his keys and threw on a jacket. He wasn’t sure whether he should run outside or stay inside and hope for the best. He was less afraid about getting hurt and more concerned about losing all his belongings. The room rattled even more. Takashi dived under the coffee table and cushioned his head with a pillow, hoping the shaking and shuddering would stop.

The table shook. The light swayed violently back and forth. The room now seemed eerie. He gazed straight ahead. His knuckles went white as he clung to the leg of the coffee table. He told himself to keep breathing. It was in between the third and fourth tremor that the fear within him slowed down time. Now the room was moving like huge waves in a storm. His feet felt like they were already buried in rubble. He tried to move, but he couldn’t. His eyes just focused on the glass of water sitting on the top of the television. He watched as the water swayed up one side and then the other. Finally the glass tipped onto the floor and liquid cascaded down the screen of the TV. This broke him from his reverie. At the same time, the tremors stopped and the spilt water was the only evidence that an earthquake had occurred.

Takashi knew that earthquakes like this could be followed by even bigger tremors, minutes or even hours later. He wasn’t looking forward to a fearful night ahead. He never slept well after such big scares. Takashi slept in his clothes, and he kept the light on until morning. Though he woke up several times, half-expecting the walls to be falling down around him, there were no more disturbances.

The following morning, Takashi woke early after just a few hours’ sleep to watch the news about the previous night’s earthquake on the television. It was reported that the quake measured 6.2 on the Richter scale. Not powerful enough to devastate the city, but he learned that many were left injured. The reporter spoke in a grave tone about the inevitability of a more formidable earthquake that could destroy Tokyo and affect the thirty million people that lived in and around the city.

Japan is seismically active due to the fact that the county sits on top of a jigsaw of tectonic plates. Takashi had been trained since childhood on how to take action if and when an earthquake occurred. Unfortunately, no one could predict when or how destructive any future quakes would be. Each time they occurred, the people of Japan strove to learn from the experience and use that information to help them cope better in the future.

Takashi took a shower and quickly got ready to go out, determined to meet Masaya in Shibuya, despite the threat of another earthquake.

He’d just finished dressing when his mobile rang. He took the call even though he was hurrying to get ready. Takashi was surprised to hear his father’s voice. He sounded terrible.

‘I have some bad news, Takashi,’ his father said. His voice was shaking.

Takashi presumed something terrible had happened to his parents during the earthquake, but his father had called to talk about his own mother, and the news was upsetting.

‘Your grandmother passed away yesterday at her home,’ he said to Takashi, who fell to the floor and felt like he’d been smacked across the face.

‘That’s shocking news,’ Takashi said. His voice was shaky and he found it difficult to find the right words to say. ‘This is sudden. I didn’t even know she was ill.’

‘Nor did we,’ his father replied. ‘Every week when I went to see her, she never mentioned a word about being sick.’

Takashi could hear how tired his father was, and he was shocked by his croaky voice, which was full of grief.

‘I spoke to her doctor and he told me she’d been to see him a few weeks back. He’d discovered that she had an advanced form of throat cancer that had also spread to other parts of her body. He’d suggested she start treatment immediately, but he knew that no matter what he did, he wouldn’t be able to help her,’ said his father.

‘That’s awful,’ said Takashi.

‘When I saw her last week she had no colour in her cheeks and I asked her how she was and she said she was fine,’ said his father. ‘I thought she was so pale because the room was freezing and she hadn’t turned the heating on.’

‘Who called you to say that she’d passed away?’ Takashi asked.

‘Her neighbour and close friend, Mrs Ikeda, dropped in to see her at about lunch time and she was devastated to find her stone cold in her bed. She rang an ambulance and me straight away. We rushed over to her house and when we arrived, we were told that she must have died in her sleep. Her face was so serene and she looked so content,’ sobbed his father.

‘So she was really ill, but she just didn’t want anyone to know?’ Takashi asked him gently. ‘She must have been in denial about her illness.’

‘It looks that way,’ replied his father. ‘We did have a long talk last week and I should have realised that all was not right. Takashi, she was thinking of you even in her final days. She told me last Saturday that if anything ever happened to her, she wanted to leave you her house and her savings – and I must tell you she’s saved an enormous amount of money.’

‘Why?’ Takashi asked, not able to take all this in at once. ‘I wasn’t even very close to her. Shouldn’t you inherit the money?’

‘She explained to me that times were good when your mother and I bought the family home and now that the Japanese economy is not as strong as it once was, she’s afraid you won’t be able to manage as well as we did. She said that she wanted you and your future wife to have a comfortable life, just as I enjoyed when I was growing up, and so she wanted to leave you everything. You’re never going to have to worry about money again, Takashi.’

‘Unbelievable!’ was the only reply Takashi could manage.

‘I have to go now, we need to organise the funeral arrangements … will you come out to Yokosuka?’ said his father.

‘Of course,’ Takashi replied.

Takashi couldn’t pick himself up off the floor for several minutes. He felt lost and very sad. Even though his grandmother had always been strict and stern with him, there’d been a few moments when he was a lot younger when she’d extended her kindness, and now that she’d passed away and left everything to him, her generous heart would never be forgotten.

Fifty minutes later, Takashi began walking towards the station, still thinking about his grandmother. He noticed small reminders outside that shadowed the fear that he’d felt the night before during the earthquake. Broken branches were scattered here and there. On the sidewalk, some sets of bicycles, lined three deep, had fallen to the ground. Various people scurried in and out of side streets, buying their necessities and then hurrying back to their homes. The damage was minimal but still worrying.
Had other parts of the country been so lucky? I should’ve finished watching the news
, Takashi thought to himself.

It was Saturday at ten a.m. and despite the earthquake and the shocking news about his grandmother’s death, Takashi thought the best thing for him to do was to keep to his plans and spend some time with Masaya in Shibuya. The next few weeks ahead were going to be very sombre indeed as he and his family dealt with the funeral arrangements for his grandmother. Masaya was working minimal hours during the New Year break and Momo-chan had planned to go away with him to Karuizawa in the Nagano Prefecture. They were leaving on Sunday morning, so Masaya and Takashi had decided to meet up on Saturday instead for their weekly shopping adventures. He felt brave and adventurous setting out to meet his friend after what he’d experienced the night before.

Takashi had just passed the MOS Burger outlet when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He saw Masaya’s phone number flash up on the screen and, thinking that he’d decided to forego their plans to meet up, he answered with an annoyed and chastising tone. Takashi thought that his friend was probably still feeling a bit spent too from a lack of proper sleep and all the bad news.

‘Have you decided to stay at home, Masaya?’ he asked his friend. Masaya sounded distant and removed. This made Takashi stop dead in his tracks. He knew that Masaya had a strong personality. Surely nothing terrible had happened to him, he thought to himself.

‘I can’t believe it, Takashi,’ Masaya cried. ‘I just saw him last week and he looked so fit and healthy.’ His voice was faltering. ‘Not Kenji! Why did this have to happen to Kenji?’

‘Slow down, Masaya,’ Takashi told him. ‘What happened? What’s happened to Kenji?’

There was a pause. He heard Masaya’s girlfriend Momo-chan’s voice in the background. Something must have been really wrong if he was still at home when Takashi thought he’d been on his way to Shibuya.

‘We can’t go to Shibuya today, Takashi. You have to meet me in Yokohama. Kenji’s in hospital! He’s had an accident on his new motorbike. It happened yesterday during the earthquake. He’s really hurt himself, but I don’t know how bad it is. Please just meet me at Yokohama City Hospital.’

Takashi couldn’t believe it himself. Not Kenji. Nothing like this ever happened to Kenji. He pulled himself together. ‘I’m on my way. Don’t worry, Masaya. I’ll get a taxi to Shin-Kawasaki station and take the train from there. I’ll be with you soon. I’ll call you when I get to Yokohama station. Pick me up there,’ he told him.

Takashi couldn’t believe it, first his grandmother and now one of his best friends. He decided he’d go to Yokohama City Hospital and afterwards, he’d continue on out to see his parents in Yokosuka.

Reaching Shin-Kawasaki station, Takashi made a beeline for the platform. The mark of fear was set on the foreheads of each stranger around him because of the earthquakes. He kept telling himself that Kenji was going to be fine. He would be there for him and he knew that Kenji also had a close family. Over and over again, he repeated in his mind that Kenji would be all right.

The train ride to Yokohama seemed to take forever. On the way, a group of four children and their mothers climbed into Takashi’s carriage. He guessed that the kids were all aged between five and seven. They were chatting away incessantly about the musical clock that they were going to visit outside the SOGO department store in Yokohama. It brought back memories for Takashi of when he was about five years old and his own mother had brought him and his brother to Yokohama for some shopping and to see this same mechanical clock that played a musical pantomime on the hour. They, too, had laughed and clapped at this small amusement. It occurred to him now that nothing that innocent could move him to that extent anymore.

An hour and a half later, Masaya and Takashi walked through the doors of the hospital, striding forward with obvious urgency. They needed to see their friend.

They asked for directions and arrived outside Kenji’s room. Takashi looked at Masaya’s frazzled face and he saw a fear in his eyes that he’d never seen before.

Takashi pushed the door open. The curtains were partly drawn and the light was dim. There was a strong stench of anaesthetic. Kenji’s father was sitting by his son’s side. He lifted a heavy head. His face was grey and his eyes spoke of sorrow. Takashi thought then and there that Kenji had really been seriously hurt and may be on his deathbed.

Kenji’s father signalled to them to sit on the other side of the bed. Takashi looked at Kenji’s face. It was bruised and battered. Masaya nodded at Kenji’s right leg and Takashi saw it move a little. He let out a huge sigh of relief. Kenji was sleeping. Takashi went over to sit down next to Masaya and the three of them sat next to Kenji in silence for at least fifteen minutes before a doctor entered the room and checked the drip running from Kenji’s right arm. A few minutes later, the doctor went to leave and Takashi followed him to the door. Outside the room, Takashi pressed him for information.

‘Your friend has three broken ribs,’ the doctor said. ‘He’s also broken his left leg in two places. Many of the scars on his face will heal, but his cuts are very deep and it will take some time.’

‘So he’s going to be okay?’ Takashi asked with obvious relief.

‘He certainly will, but he’s a very lucky young man to be alive,’ the doctor said. ‘We’re still worried about his left leg. He may not be able to walk on it again for some time.’ The doctor gave Takashi a short bow, turned abruptly and walked away quickly, as if he had no more time for questions.