Only Yesterday Page #5

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Mom said it's nothing

to be ashamed of.

I guess so, but...

Like it or not,

a caterpillar must first...

live as a chrysalis before

becoming a butterfly.

Maybe I remember those days because

I am again going through a

chrysalis stage.

Something definitely changed

when I started working.

At work and at play we girls were

livelier and more spirited than guys.

It was like

we'd finally found our wings.

But looking back now,...

...maybe we were just

flexing them pointlessly.

Perhaps the fifth grade me

was tagging along...

...with a message for me to reflect...

...and rethink my life.

Anyway, I decided to sleep

the rest of the way.

Ouch!

Excuse me,

has the Tokyo train gone?

Was that your train?

No.

Taeko Okajima, right?

Yes, that's correct...

Thank goodness.

The car's this way.

Excuse me, but who are you?

You don't remember?

Of course you don't.

I'm Toshio.

Kazuo's second cousin.

Oh, I see...

What's so funny?

Nothing.

Sorry.

I thought you were trying

to steal my bag.

That's terrible.

Didn't I ask your name?

Yes, you did.

I just thought... sorry...

I beg your pardon.

No problem.

Where's Kazuo?

He asked me last night

to come pick you up.

It's been raining?

Yeah, but it'll clear today.

I should've used my Dad's car

but I like mine better.

It's a little tight.

May I leave it on?

Sure.

This is unusual music.

It's a Hungarian group.

Hungarian?

You know a lot about it?

A little. It's farmer's music.

I like it because I'm a farmer.

Cool.

Right?

Remember last year's party

at the farmhouse?

A bunch of guys

turned up, right?

Maybe you don't remember.

They came to check out

the girl from Tokyo.

I was one of them.

Watch out, jerk!

I heard you're picking safflower.

Do you dye fabric?

No. I'm just curious.

Safflower's kind of unusual.

Well, maybe not for you.

It's known as a famous

local product but...

...hardly anyone grows it.

- Wasn't it big in the old days?

- For the merchants, sure.

They got rich, but for farmers,

it was just another crop.

Do you know:
In time whose skin

will it grace, this crimson flower.

The famous Basho poem?

I read it before coming.

Is that so?

I only learned it last night.

I also read that the flower-pickers

couldn't afford to wear

the rouge they made.

Is that where you had the barbeque?

There'll be another this year, too.

Are market reforms making

agriculture difficult?

Absolutely.

As things go, Japanese farming

might just collapse,...

...all of sudden, one day.

But then again,...

...anything worth struggling for

will be hard work.

Isn't it the same in the city?

Yes.

But fewer people live for their work.

What about you?

Me?

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