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It came to my attention when I went downtown today to get some of my personal affairs sorted, that Loft Sakae will be closing. This is Nagoya's biggest Loft location, spanning five floors. I made an unexpected, and unplanned video, and I made a post about it on Twitter here.

For those of you local to Nagoya, or if you will be passing through the area, you have between now and June 30th to get the closing sale deals, and your final memories in. It sucks that this is happening, but it's not unexpected. The store had been scaling down their selections for quite some time. They even gutted their art section, much to my dismay.

All is not lost though! Another Loft location opened in the NOVA building in downtown Sakae. It has a modest three floors, and it is within walking distance of the original Loft location. At the time of its opening, it struck me as weird to have another location so close to the main one. It's a lot like the trope about how there always seems to be a Starbucks across the street from one another. But, now we know why.

Even as the world changes around us, we can still hang on to those memories forever. I can't stress enough to document everything! Just like the world around us, our memories are fleeting too. By maintaining records, we can always refresh our memories, and pass them on to the next generation.

The upload that I am posting to YouTube still has another 40 minutes to go, so I thought now is a good of a time as any to post an update. Like my last update, this last week has become a blur with all my days blending together.

Yesterday evening came and went on a high note. I was listening to Until You Loved Me by The Moffatts. I had forgotten how much I love that song. I came up with an idea as I was listening to it, and it brought a smile to my face. It even made me have more of a spring in my step to the point that other people noticed, and reacted with positivity.

I didn't mention in my previous update, but I had my first challenging student that I've had in a while. Truthfully, I've never seen a child so angry to see me! This student had a scowl on their face, and was actively giving me a thumbs down. I had never seen this in a child in all the years that I've been teaching here, so this as shocking to me.

Truthfully, I didn't realise that a thumbs down had such a negative connotation here until a training session that I attended last year where I learned that in the Japanese context, it means "Go to hell." Prior to this session, I used the gesture regularly to communicate "I'm not so good," when teaching children. Much to my surprise and dismay, nobody corrected me! Since then, I found that a better gesture to communicate that is to put both of your hands on your cheeks, one after the other, and cock your head to one side.

Back to the situation at hand, this gives you some perspective as to why I found it so shocking. No matter what I did, this student refused to respond to me, and put in no effort when I tried to play games with them. In exasperation, I finally asked them in Japanese what his deal was. Their first response was, "ゆいずらい, (hard to say)." Upon further discussion, the student told me that they hated English and they wanted to see their previous teacher. Sure enough, I saw the student again this past weekend as I was leaving when my shift was over. I'm not sure what else I could have done here, so I welcome any feedback from other teachers for advice on how to connect with students who have shut down and refuse to connect with you.

When I was teaching during this last week or so, I had two other students unlock some memories that I haven't thought about in years. I can't remember the first interaction from last week, but earlier this week another student showed up with a face full of marker. I asked them, "Did you get into a marker fight?"

Back when I was in elementary school during the 1990s, Mister Sketch markers were popular school supplies right behind Crayola markers. I remember a common trick that my classmates played was opening a scented marker, and telling another student to smell the marker. When the other student complied, they were met with ink on the nose. The embarrassment was palpable, and you only ever fell for this once if you didn't witness it happen to someone else.

Skip ahead to my early twenties at one of my previous jobs. I wasn't there for when the story took place. But allegedly, some of the people who came before me had a silent marker fight when there was a live customer on the phone during a training session. These predecessors were all covered in marker by the time that my supervisor disconnected that call.

I couldn't help but laugh when I recounted this story to my student. It was like, How old are you? 20 something? Are you in 幼稚園 (ようちえん, kindergarten)? My student seemed to enjoy it too, after some clarification in Japanese.

This last week, I also started another book that started at me from my shelf for several years now - Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It's a story about time travel that comes a host of rules. But one rule that that we would expect, that if you return to the past, you cannot change the present.

I often live with my head in the clouds. I've always been kind of a dreamer with my head in the past, but I think that the pandemic encouraged it tenfold. Part of me dreams of going back to the 1990s when times were simpler, and less chaotic. Opinions on this issue seem to be divided on the 90s subreddit. There, it is often it is said that we look back on the past with rose coloured glasses, and that the 90s weren't objectively better than the present day. I maybe only agree with half of that statement. When 9/11 happened, that was when our innocence in our collective conscious was truly lost. While Columbine and the school lock down drills that followed served as a preview of what was to come, I was still sheltered to the point that I never heard of the terminology terrorist attack that has become so prevalent in the 24 hour news cycle that we have today. I think that the difference is that since the Y2K era ended, we've become more desensitized to the chaos around us.

While I would love to go back to the past, the danger in that is that we miss out on the present, and the people that we share our lives with today. In the interest of not diving too deep into current politics on my blog, I think that sharing our favourite memories and doing our best to relive them in the present can provide some relief. It brings me so much joy to share my nostalgia with a whole new generation of kids. Even just simple things like breaking out my Laurentien coloured pencils or a Pentel Pianissimo mechanical pencil to complete a project, sharing my favourite songs, and my favourite moments from past cable network broadcasts.

On Saturday afternoon, I went to one of my local music shops where I tested out and electric guitar for the first time in my life. I can't remember the demo model that they had on hand, but it most definitely would take some getting used to due to its weight. My aNueNue guitar is so lightweight in comparison! But playing the guitar lead of If Life is So Short on electric sounded so smooth and satisfying. As a kid I dreamed of having an electric guitar, but my parents had this stupid and arbitrary rule that I wasn't allowed to have one until I got good at it. Looking back, I think their reasoning was the same unspoken reasoning that I wasn't allowed to take up the drums as my first instrument choice. I'm still miffed about that!

I appreciate that as an adult, my destiny is in my own hands now. But revisiting an instrument to learn how to play it here is likely infinitely more challenging than back home. The spaces here are smaller. The walls are so thin that I can hear when my neighbours cough. I practise my acoustic guitar without a pick to keep the noise down, and I'm appreciative that my neighbours haven't complained about me at all. The transition to electric down the road will undoubtedly require headphones because that external amp ain't happening. What about learning drums in Japan? It seems like an impossibility. 

While I was at the music shop, I discovered the kalimba, and spent some time there working out the Mother 3 Love Theme given that the 17 year anniversary of the game just passed on April 20th. This instrument sounds so romantic! But, I can't quite place where I've heard it before. I was surprised to find that the startup costs aren't that much, and it may compliment my guitar beautifully. When I researched the instrument online when I got home that day, I was surprised to find that there is a whole online community around the instrument. Someone even did a cover of Miss You Like Crazy.

*None of this content is sponsored.