There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

by Kikuko Tsumura

I wanted a job that was practically without substance, a job that sat on the borderline between being a job and not. The sort of job where there was no chance of a genteel old lady with more time on her hands than she knew how to deal with showing up out of the blue and saying, ‘You look so tired!’ and ‘We’re counting on you!’ Above anything else, I wanted a job I could do alone.

Nobody’s life was untouched by loneliness; it was just a question of whether or not you were able to accept that loneliness for what it was.

Whoever you were, there was a chance that you would end up wanting to run away from a job you had once believed in, that you would stray from the path you were on.

‘Accepting those ups and downs, choosing to take on difficult jobs – that’s what life is about.