Japanese with anime voice: episode32
Hello, I’m Sachi.
April 16 is Women’s Marathon Day. 46 years ago today, Japan’s first full marathon for women was held. The highest age of participants at that time was 71 years old! It’s seriously amazing that someone that old as my mom can run a full marathon.
I think my mom was about that age a few years ago. I was really surprised when she suddenly said, “I want to run a marathon, too. In the end, I told her not to do it, and she didn’t participate in the marathon, but now I think that I shouldn’t have stopped her. I don’t think anyone else should have had any say in what he or she wanted to do. I should have supported her as much as I could. I feel a bit sorry about that now…
I worry too much. I assume that my mom is too old and worry too much in my own imagination. I think this is really bad. There are people in the world who start yoga when they are sixty, and there are people who start using computers. Whether they are 70 or 80, people around them should not stop them from doing what they want to do because of their age.
When I was a child, and even now, my mom never once opposed me when I wanted to do something.
The image I had of my mom up until now was not that type of person. She was good at sewing, could do both Western and Japanese sewing and knitting, was a good cook, and was a typical woman who was raised to be the complete opposite of me. She is more of an indoor person. My mom thought she was happy to be at home with her grandchildren and in a good neighborhood. So, I thought that if she had to live in a different environment from the one she was in now, she would lose her energy.
But recently, when I started talking to my mom about these things, her ideas were actually different from what I thought they were. In her opinion, the current environment is not everything, and no matter where she goes, she will find something she wants to do at that time. I have never seen my mom change her environment before, like going to study or something. I just couldn’t imagine her doing that, but she wanted to do all kinds of things if she could. But until now, she just hasn’t been in a position to do so. Now, she may no longer have any intention of participating in the marathon, but if she still wants to run, I will do my best to support her next time.
She is over 70 years old, uses her smartphone, watches a lot of YouTube, and even sends me videos on LINE saying she recommends this or that. And she seems to be interested in social networking lately. She asked me how she could see Instagram and Facebook, which she often hears about. The other day she sent me a selfie. It was a pretty good one, too. She doesn’t seem to like having her picture taken. She says she just wanted to show me the kimono she was wearing. Still, a selfie is a selfie. Don’t you think she should be an influencer by now?
I can’t imagine my mother taking up social networking, but maybe she will unexpectedly become a popular account. Maybe if I let her try social networking seriously for a year or so, she might learn more about it than I do. She might even say she wants to try programming next. If that happens, I won’t be able to keep up with her.
There are so many people these days who are in their 60s, divorced and now enjoying life alone on YouTube, or in their 70s, using Photoshop to create interesting images. There are even people who graduated from American universities at the age of 80. I heard that she was someone who couldn’t English at all before she went to college. I think that’s her? I don’t remember who it was, but there was a elderly lady in her 80s who wanted to learn the violin when she was 60 years old, but she gave up the idea because she thought it was too late considering her age. But now she is 80, and she said that if she had taken violin lessons then, she could have enjoyed it for 20 years, which would have been a waste of time. She regrets that she should have done it when she thought about it.
When I hear such things, I am ashamed of myself for having once thought, in my late 20s or early 30s, that starting now would be a waste of time due to my age.
From the perspective of someone in their 80s, people in the 20s and 30s are still just young kids. I think it’s important to try anything when you feel like it. And if there is someone who wants to try something, it is important to warmly watch over them and support them, rather than criticizing or opposing them based on your own selfish thoughts. It is not for me to say. Yeah, right. I’m sorry. My mom said that she is interested in English as well. But I would rather learn Spanish with her than English. I don’t think anyone would imagine that a grandmother from the countryside of Japan could speak Spanish. And she did it without studying abroad. She started studying when she was in her 70s. If she can do this, she will be an influencer for sure.
