We were walking at high noon earlier (we had to buy some stuff at Akachan Honpo and hubs had to go to office after that so we had no recourse but to brave the heat), our faces almost frowning because of the heat. But the heat didn’t seem to affect the smile that an old man in his bike gave us, who stopped by beside us and shortly cooed at Yui. We are used to this so we also stopped walking. He greeted konnichiwa and then talked to us. It took me a while to recognise him, other than that his kind smile look familiar. I was still racking my brain trying to recall who he was when he handed me a wooden toy for Yui. Keeping with the Japanese way, I opened it immediately and gave it to Yui.

Seeing the wood reminded me who he was – he was the owner of the furniture shop a few blocks away our house where we bought almost all of our home furnitures.

And remembering him reminded me of those “early days” when we were just filling up our apartment, just a few days after the big earthquake. There was actually a couple times that we were in his shop and the big quake’s aftershocks were rattling the furnitures. And every now and then we visited his shop, with the most recent being us looking for another umbrella stand to replace the one that was broken which we also previously bought in his shop.

He was explaining that the toy is handmade in Japan and safe for babies to bite. I know well. These handmade Japanese toys are so well-crafted and safe that I wish all of Yui’s toys are such. But they’re just so expensive. We only bought one for Yui, also handcrafted and made of rice.

Asuka koubou though, the one Watanabe-san gave, is more expensive than the rice rattle. However, the price of the toy is not the point here. What was really impressive was how he gave the toy to us.

He was biking (to somewhere) but when he saw us, he went back to his shop and hurriedly caught up with us. Done in the noontime heat. Think 35 degrees Celsius. And that smile he had while talking to us would always be remembered.

And since we had it while we were mobile, this will always be with us when we’re mobile.

Thank you Watanabe san. You’re utterly remarkable.