How do you feel about getting in touch with someone, a friend from your childhood, perhaps, whom you have not seen in quite a long time?
My brother, who runs a liqueur store in town told me that a friend of mine from junior high stopped by the other night.
Yuko and I used to be good friends as we both enjoyed the same type of music and shared a passion for staying up all night every Saturday night watching a TV show called All Night Fuji.
It is a variety show hosted by a bunch of female college students that came on after midnight that was wildly popular with young males who found the "girl-next-doorness" of these girls very refreshing and attractive.
Well, being junior-high students, it was out of the question for Yuko and I to watch the show together (You know, a Boy-Girl sleep over? ummmm....no.) but we would talk about the show on the following Monday at school and have a lot of fun.
Nowadays, there's always something on TV 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but back then, most TV stations went off the air sometime after midnight. That made All Night Fuji all the more special to us.
Since it was a popular show among students, they had many name musicians as guests as well as some up-and-comers. I remember seeing Cyndi Lauper on that show just after she'd released her first album here, and it was on that show when we first saw a singer by the name of Katsuhiko Nakagawa. We became fans of his instantly and bought his record the very next week. For those of you who follow Japanese Pop culture, he's Shoko Nakagawa (aka Shokotan)'s dad. He has passed on since then at a quite young age of cancer.
Although Yuko and I were not romantically involved, Nakagawa's first single 「窶堋ｵ・窶堙?・窶堙敖・窶堋ｽ・窶堋｢」 was OUR SONG. It was such a hokey euro-dance pop song but we loved the very hokiness of it. What was attractive about him was that it looked like he was in on the joke. And THAT was cool. lol
Anyway, as the time went by, the show gained in popularity and became mainstream, and we lost interest. Soon, we graduated , went to different high schools and lost touch.
I really miss those days and all the fun we had. It is funny that I would NOT want to see my ex-girlfriend from those days, but I would love to see Yuko again.
She told my brother that she had been living elsewhere but was back in Ashikaga now. It would not be that hard for me to find her phone number (assuming she is back home with her parents) and call her up... but I have no way of knowing what her "situation" is like. Is she single/married/separated/divorced? Would it be appropriate for me to just call her up? Even if I did and we got together, after having a laugh or two about the old days, would we have anything to talk about?
I guess I just miss "hanging with a friend" with no strings attached, without any pretentions. To tell you the truth, I have not made any friends since I came home to Ashikaga almost 2 years ago. I do socialise with people from work but when I am with them, I still have to keep up my.... "professional persona" if you will. lol
Being my age, most of my "old" friends have moved away, and the ones who are still here are married with families of their own. I have run into a childhood friend last year but the meeting was rather awkward. After telling each other what we were doing for work, we had nothing more to say. AND we were using Keigo!
My brother told me that she asked him to "say hello" to me. I have a feeling she did not ask him for my number for the very same reason I have not tried to contact her.
I have been hoping to run into her somewhere here in Ashikaga, looking for her almost unconsciously when I'm at a mall or in a supermarket. Everytime I see a woman my age, I think to myself, "Could that be her?". lol
The thing is, though, I am not confident that I would be able to recognise her.
I wonder if she still remembers our song and if she still thinks of me everytime she sees Shokotan on TV.
My brother, who runs a liqueur store in town told me that a friend of mine from junior high stopped by the other night.
Yuko and I used to be good friends as we both enjoyed the same type of music and shared a passion for staying up all night every Saturday night watching a TV show called All Night Fuji.
It is a variety show hosted by a bunch of female college students that came on after midnight that was wildly popular with young males who found the "girl-next-doorness" of these girls very refreshing and attractive.
Well, being junior-high students, it was out of the question for Yuko and I to watch the show together (You know, a Boy-Girl sleep over? ummmm....no.) but we would talk about the show on the following Monday at school and have a lot of fun.
Nowadays, there's always something on TV 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but back then, most TV stations went off the air sometime after midnight. That made All Night Fuji all the more special to us.
Since it was a popular show among students, they had many name musicians as guests as well as some up-and-comers. I remember seeing Cyndi Lauper on that show just after she'd released her first album here, and it was on that show when we first saw a singer by the name of Katsuhiko Nakagawa. We became fans of his instantly and bought his record the very next week. For those of you who follow Japanese Pop culture, he's Shoko Nakagawa (aka Shokotan)'s dad. He has passed on since then at a quite young age of cancer.
Although Yuko and I were not romantically involved, Nakagawa's first single 「窶堋ｵ・窶堙?・窶堙敖・窶堋ｽ・窶堋｢」 was OUR SONG. It was such a hokey euro-dance pop song but we loved the very hokiness of it. What was attractive about him was that it looked like he was in on the joke. And THAT was cool. lol
Anyway, as the time went by, the show gained in popularity and became mainstream, and we lost interest. Soon, we graduated , went to different high schools and lost touch.
I really miss those days and all the fun we had. It is funny that I would NOT want to see my ex-girlfriend from those days, but I would love to see Yuko again.
She told my brother that she had been living elsewhere but was back in Ashikaga now. It would not be that hard for me to find her phone number (assuming she is back home with her parents) and call her up... but I have no way of knowing what her "situation" is like. Is she single/married/separated/divorced? Would it be appropriate for me to just call her up? Even if I did and we got together, after having a laugh or two about the old days, would we have anything to talk about?
I guess I just miss "hanging with a friend" with no strings attached, without any pretentions. To tell you the truth, I have not made any friends since I came home to Ashikaga almost 2 years ago. I do socialise with people from work but when I am with them, I still have to keep up my.... "professional persona" if you will. lol
Being my age, most of my "old" friends have moved away, and the ones who are still here are married with families of their own. I have run into a childhood friend last year but the meeting was rather awkward. After telling each other what we were doing for work, we had nothing more to say. AND we were using Keigo!
My brother told me that she asked him to "say hello" to me. I have a feeling she did not ask him for my number for the very same reason I have not tried to contact her.
I have been hoping to run into her somewhere here in Ashikaga, looking for her almost unconsciously when I'm at a mall or in a supermarket. Everytime I see a woman my age, I think to myself, "Could that be her?". lol
The thing is, though, I am not confident that I would be able to recognise her.
I wonder if she still remembers our song and if she still thinks of me everytime she sees Shokotan on TV.