Heavy snow since this morning
Wondering if I should cancel my lunch in the afternoon.
The coldest memory in my life.
It was exactly ten years ago.
Every year in Nagoya, on Christmas Eve, there is a fireworks display at the Port of Nagoya. It’s a bit of a winter tradition.
I arrived there two hours before the event to get a spot with my closest friends. Hats, earmuffs, scarves, down jackets, we were fully prepared as if we were about to go skiing.
We pulled out a plastic sheet and sat down. We were elated to have secured the best position, but only for a few minutes.
It was getting cold, cold, cold. The cause was my butt sitting on the cold concrete. Yes, I had thought about the wind and the nighttime temperatures, but I had forgotten about my sitting butt.
In less than thirty minutes, my whole body would start to shake and shiver from my buttocks down my spine, and my whole body would start to shake and shiver. Even the hand holding the bottle of hot tea that served as a warmer was shaking.
I looked to the side and saw that someone close to me was also shaking. I took off my down jacket and offered it to him as a sheet.
The people nearby looked at me as if I was their savior and thanked me, but their joy was short-lived as an unbearable coldness overtook me. There are only 30 minutes left until the fireworks. But even if the fireworks are spectacular, it probably won’t get warmer.
I thought I would freeze to death if I didn’t force myself to warm up, so I headed out to get some hot food. However, there was already a long line at the kitchen car. Everyone was fully clothed, and I was the only one without a jacket. Even after a short wait, my body starts shivering. I decided to buy a body warmer. But when I went to the convenience store, there was also a long line. The warmer was sold out. I took a short break, relieved to be able to warm myself up a little. I don’t want to go back to that place again…but I can’t make the people close to me wait.
I bought the worst looking ramen that was available and hurried back to the venue, but the fireworks had already started and the bleachers were already jammed. I had to say “excuse me” at least a hundred times before I could get there.
When I managed to get back to the place I had secured, I found someone close to me holding himself with both hands, desperately enduring the cold. The place we had secured with plenty of time to spare had been considerably encroached upon by the families and couples who had arrived later. There was only room for two people.
Then someone close to me notices me. The look in their eyes when they look up at me. It was as if the cold air of the world had been condensed to a single point.
Thus, our bodies were cold, our hearts were cold, and we couldn’t stand all the cold, so we gave up the fireworks in the middle of the show, caught a cold with flying colors, and slept for three days.
Yes, I remember it was really cold. It was not on the ski slopes or the top of Mt. Fuji, but when we saw the fireworks in winter, when our bodies and hearts were cold at the same time.
Mountain sleeping, snow-capped by the first snow
