There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

by Kikuko Tsumura

the amount of time a self-employed person spent at home was not to be underestimated.

but something about her manner suggested that underneath all the friendliness lay a vast lake of obstinacy.

If you notice anything at all about her behaviour – I’d only met her for the first time today, so it stood to reason that I would notice practically everything she did.

I wasn’t so convinced that fatigue from looking for a wife was a valid reason for depression, but at least it seemed unrelated to the job.

‘We think it’s important that people enjoy themselves when they’re eating crackers.’

My lunchmates had plentiful intuition and a total absence of mercy.

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. Put another way, everyone was lonely, and it was up to them whether they chose to bury that loneliness through relationships with other people, and if so, of what sort of intensity and depth.