When I was a teacher, I used to tell my friends about the kind of guy I wanted to spend my life with, the one whom I would pray for at marriage shrines all across Japan. My friends were all married. Maybe that’s what made them say to me, “What you want doesn’t exist.” I felt naive, like I couldn’t even hope for what I wanted. It wasn’t like I was asking the universe for superficial things like must be this tall, must be this good-looking, must earn this amount of money. God, can’t a girl ask for a man with a good heart? One who makes her feel safe? Do those things not exist anymore?
So years passed and when nothing happened in my love life, the married people became smug married people. Even I began thinking that they were right. I began to believe that what I wanted didn’t exist. Then one day, I was watching Document 72 Hours on NHK World. It’s a documentary program where they film in one place for 72 hours and interview the people who frequent there. I didn’t realize it at first but as the show went on, I realized that they were filming in Ito-ya. For those of you who love stationery, it’s a 12-story stationery dream in Ginza with a cafe on the top floor that uses the lettuce that they grow on the eleventh floor.
At one point, the interviewer approached a man who was looking for special stationery for his girlfriend of three years. He was going to propose to her and wanted to find just the right one that she would like. We later learn that ten months into dating, this man’s girlfriend got seriously ill and had to be hospitalized for six months. During that time, she was unsure if they should continue as a couple. After all, what kind of future could they have in her condition? But it didn’t matter to him. Regardless, he really cared about her and wanted to marry her. He wrote her many letters during that time. And he told her that he loved her no matter what. Luckily, she had an operation and eventually recovered. He said that she still has all his letters and will take them out every once in a while to read them.
HIs story gave me hope. Here was a man who had the chance to bolt, to choose an easier path with someone else, but didn’t. He chose to stay with her and he chose her. That loyalty and sincerity was inspiring. So yes, good men are out there in the world. They exist, people! And are willing and ready to love women like me. It definitely renewed my resolve that I can have what I want. Happy Valentine’s Day to all the people who believe.