Letter from Boston Good Luck, Yohei By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
ヨーヘイ、がんばれ 大学院での研究やそのほかの活動に忙しい雅子さんですが、その合間を縫って年に何回かニューヨークの実家に帰省します。今回の帰省には、家族や昔の友人たちに会うだけではなく、ある特別な理由がありました…。

Boston is close enough to New York that I can go home by bus, but too far away for me to want to make the trip more than a few times a year. Although the details of my schedule vary from year to year, I do make a point of going home at least twice a year: New Year's and summer vacation. I've been living in the Boston area for almost four years, so I've taken quite a few Greyhound trips by now.

I'm home right now, again. It's always nice to see my parents, my three brothers and my local friends, but I had a specific reason to make this trip now. Sure, I had to renew my passport in New York, but I really wanted to say goodbye to my middle brother, Yohei. He is leaving for college in Japan. He's 18 and he graduated from Keio Academy of New York ― the high school that I attended ― a few weeks ago. He'll be attending Keio University in Tokyo and he's going to Japan in the middle of July.

I'm close to all of my brothers, in spite of their differences. Yohei's the type of guy who'd take off to the supermarket at midnight just to check out the groceries. He'd suddenly decide to make some tea (a fine English-import Earl Gray) and then calmly tell me his theory on why he's stopped growing (too much caffeine). Whenever somebody would smoke in the house, he'd stomp over to our rumbling air cleaner and swiftly switch it on. He's always been an eccentric.

I remember that when he was in elementary school, he closed his eyes and shut himself up into his own little world whenever his teachers called upon him. Some of them thought he was disrespectful ― or that he couldn't speak ― because of this. In a way, he's just as headstrong today, but this trait is considered a blessing, not a fault. It seems that he notices everything that's going on around him, but that he isn't affected by the group mentality. This makes him a very refreshing teenager.

Since I go to Japan only once every three years ― and I don't know how often Yohei will be visiting the States ― it's likely that I never will see him more often than I have in the past. This makes me a bit sad, since I don't know him too well. This is due partly to our age difference, but it has more to do with the fact that I've lived away from home for the past four years. I don't know what he was like in high school. When I look at his yearbook, I realize that the Yohei I know is probably very different from the one who lived in a dorm and who was voted Most Peaceful by his classmates. I don't recognize most of the names of the friends who have written him messages. I am startled by the content of those messages. Even the prose and pictures he's selected for his personal section surprise me. By looking at the yearbook, I can only guess that his high school years were happy ones ― and now I can only hope that his years in Japan will be fruitful as well.

Graduation period can be sad, but as I mentioned a few weeks ago, it's also a time in which people re-evaluate their personal goals and their relationships to others. I find something very pleasant about simply sharing a bunk bed with my brother and yelling at him to wake up about 20 times before he actually does so. Neither of us likes to have his or her picture taken, but we've had pictures taken together. I think graduation period makes people softer.

I'm going back to Boston tomorrow in order to start studying for my general physics exam. My trip has lasted less than a week. In spite of the brevity of the trip, however, I feel that I've accomplished a lot. I walked around New York City and my hometown in New Jersey with my friend, Mike, who is taking it easy during this period between Harvard commencement and his new job in Japan. I met up with my old friend Ryuji. I'm planning on taking a quick trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art before boarding the bus in the city tomorrow, since the museum is currently holding a once-in-a-lifetime display of Utamaro's "shunga."

Most importantly, however, I got to see my brother. I will miss him dearly, but in the process of saying goodbye, I think I've gotten to know him better.

Shukan ST: July 11, 1997

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