Tokyo Hearts: A Japanese Love Story

by Renae Lucas-Hall

Haruka sat restlessly on the bullet train on their way back to Shin-Yokohama. Her anxiety heightened with each station that they passed. Her greatest fear now was that Takashi would no longer take her seriously. She thought that it was so important for them to be together. He brought out the best in her. She thought that he was kind, honest, reliable and dependable and also very attractive. She decided that he surely had his own faults like everyone else, but faults that she could easily accept. The question she kept asking herself was whether he would be able to accept her faults. Haruka thought back to the romantic night at his apartment and the strong pang of jealousy she’d felt when he’d flirted with Akiko at Masaya’s tavern. She knew at that moment that she’d be honoured to go out with a person like Takashi, who had so much to offer her.

  CHAPTER 17

  The nettle grows where the rose was expected

  If Takashi thought the trip to Izu was an utter failure, the worst was yet to come.

  Two weeks later, he was waiting as planned in Omotesando at the Café hors et dans. He was nervous, but he was looking forward to seeing Haruka. He wanted to speak to her about her relationship with Jun. He also wanted her to be more open about her feelings for him.

  Maybe the cold had sent everyone else home that evening. Only two other people were at the café – a girl and an older man. It was painful to watch this couple, because the girl, wearing a pink top stretched over a rotund pregnant belly, had tears escaping down her cheeks. All Takashi could hear from her was the occasional sob. Sitting opposite her was a very stiff and hostile businessman in his thirties, refusing to speak to her or offer any consolation. Takashi turned away, not allowing himself to even begin to imagine what type of situation was unravelling over there.

  The hands on Takashi’s watch showed 6:50 p.m. Haruka had never been this late before, and for a minute his stomach turned. He thought that she’d forgotten about their plans to meet. Takashi lowered his head and stared blankly at the floor, thinking of the time that Haruka had dropped her money there and had nearly lost ¥50,000.

  At six fifty-five p.m., it was not Haruka walked through the door. It was Yuriko.

  Yuriko sat down with a forced smile on her face and Takashi panicked. She carefully placed several shopping bags down next to her.

  ‘Where’s Haruka? Is she ill?’ he asked her.

  ‘Haruka’s fine,’ Yuriko replied. ‘She asked me to come and meet you here because she’s in Kyoto. She tried to call you, but your mobile phone must’ve been out of range.’

  Takashi was completely confused, upset and worried. Not a good combination. He felt like he was going to be sick.

  ‘My mother wanted to go to Kyoto to see a sick friend and she didn’t want to go on the bullet train alone. So Haruka’s mother said that she’d accompany her and Haruka wanted to go along with them.’

  ‘Why didn’t you go to Kyoto?’ Takashi asked her.

  ‘I’m looking after my little brother while they’re away,’ she replied.

  The waitress came over and, sensing that something was not right, but afraid that Yuriko might not order a drink, stood hovering behind them. Takashi nodded in the direction of the girl.

  Yuriko turned and ordered a cake. ‘I’ll have a fruit tart, please.’

  ‘And I’ll have another coffee,’ said Takashi. This struck him as odd, as he’d only ordered a coffee, yet Yuriko was actually planning to eat something. He thought that she must have been stressed, but she looked well enough.

  ‘How long are they staying in Kyoto?’ he asked Yuriko.

  ‘Three days. They wanted to do some sightseeing and catch up with friends.’

  ‘Will they be visiting Jun and his family?’ Takashi asked.

  ‘You might as well know the truth, Takashi. Haruka and her mother are going to Kyoto to discuss wedding plans with Jun’s family,’ Yuriko replied with hesitation.

  Takashi felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Determined not to show his shock and disappointment, he straightened his back and stared straight into Yuriko’s eyes. ‘Well, I thought Haruka and Jun were getting serious. Tell Haruka that I wish her all the very best and I won’t bother her again as she’s obviously in love with Jun and I refuse to interfere.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Takashi,’ said Yuriko.

  ‘There’s nothing to be sorry about,’ he replied.

  ‘Surely you can still be friends,’ she pleaded with him.

  ‘No, we can’t,’ Takashi replied firmly.

  The fruit tart and Takashi’s coffee arrived and he sat gloomily looking into his drink. Yuriko, who was usually so loquacious, now sat there eating her cake trying not to drop any crumbs on her skirt. She was looking and acting differently today, but he couldn’t figure out the reason for this. It wasn’t just the fact that she was eating something. He thought her hair looked nice and her makeup looked more natural, but that wasn’t it. He noticed her face was a little fuller, but that wasn’t it either. Yuriko was more at ease with herself – that’s what it was, he decided.

  ‘You didn’t come especially to Omotesando just to meet me, did you?’ Takashi asked her.

  ‘No – I wanted to do some shopping nearby, and so it wasn’t a problem for me to come here.’

  ‘Thanks,’ he replied. Yuriko was telling the truth. Next to her on the seat were several shopping bags covered in designer labels. He looked at her with envy. Her family had so much money and she could have whatever she wanted.

  Takashi finished his drink and gave Yuriko the excuse that he had a lot of study to complete. They said goodbye to each other at the door of the coffee shop. Takashi needed to be alone.

  He walked to the station feeling like a bubble of anger was once again fermenting inside of him. He felt like a pressurised rice cooker that was letting out short bursts of steam from the lid.

  This feeling inside him remained there over the next twenty-four hours. He left his mobile off so he couldn’t take any calls. He channelled all this negative energy into studying for his upcoming exams. This was his driving force and surprisingly enough, he thought that he’d do better in his tests because of the way he felt inside.

  Takashi barged through each hour like a bullet. The time passed by quickly, and his only direction now was to concentrate on his studies and his career. He felt that he’d been stupid to allow himself to get tangled up in feelings for a girl when his future was at stake.

  Recently, Takashi had been sleeping all day and waking at nine at night. He would venture out into the dark to buy something to eat such as a ready meal from the convenience store. He’d eaten so many meals from there while he was studying that he’d now acquired a real taste for those bland microwave dinners. His favourite at the moment was a pack of two hamburgers in sauce at the wonderful price of just ¥398. Takashi knew he could live pretty well between his home and that store, and though he wasn’t on friendly terms with the people that worked there, they certainly recognised him and gave him a nod when he walked through their sliding doors.

  He’d been sleeping so much lately that his mind was foggy when he woke up. If he’d finished his studying, he’d try to watch some late TV, but he wasn’t able to follow the programmes properly. His mind was elsewhere, and he was getting more lethargic during the day. Sometimes Takashi could not help but think about Haruka. Will I just become a fleeting friend on the road of life? he’d often think to himself.

  CHAPTER 18

  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 int
o 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.’