Other Days, Other Times (7)

Rearranging the bookshelves as I listened to the TV news, I came across a scrapbook with a black cover. It contained copies of boxing columns I had written for Gekkan Boxing Magazine and Shukan Shosetsu Shunju some 30 years earlier. I showed them to my friend Mr. Minagawa. “These are interesting. You should write a …

Other Days, Other Times (6)

(Cho-san continues his story of becoming a boxer. See Other Days, Other Times (5) for his introduction to the sport.) I heard cheers as I checked the map near Otakibashi Driving School. They came from Kyokuto Boxing Gym. People were crowded around an open window, watching a fierce sparring session going on inside. Kyokuto was …

Other Days, Other Times (5)

My cellphone rang as I was watching the news about the coronavirus.　 It was Mr. Yoshinaga, one of my former regulars: “You wrote on your blog that you trained as a chef at both Ginza Suehiro and Kudan Kaikan.[1] They’re both famous. Did you have connections?” One morning my father showed me the newspaper. He …

Other Days, Other Times (4)

I had removed my mask and was getting ready to leave when one of the trainees handed me a magazine: “Would you like to read it?” It was a copy of the February 13, 2021, issue of the Shukan Gendai[1]. Thinking there might be an article about boxing, I took a look. What caught my …

Other Days, Other Times (3)

There is no end to children committing suicide because they’ve been bullied. It seems like hidden bullying is a real problem. It wasn’t when I was a kid. One Sunday morning, the front door opened with a rattle and a woman from the neighborhood entered. “My child came home in tears! Cho-chan must have bullied …

Other Days, Other Times (2)

What’s happened to the bond between parents and their children these days? Many distressing incidents make me wonder. When I was a kid just after the end of the war[1], I used to lark around in burnt-out buildings and abandoned houses. The graveyard behind the black market also made a good playground. Even though my …

Other Days, Other Times (1)

In 2007, Champion was forced to close when the landlord decided to raze the building it had occupied for 43 years. Cho-san had been lining up his younger son Hiroaki to take over, but now Cho-san, his wife Hatsuko and Hiroaki faced a different future. They would receive compensation, but were left with the question: …

Those Days, Those Times, Those Guys (18)

“Telephone! It’s Imai-sensei.” Hatsuko called over to me as I was drinking a cup of coffee and checking the lottery numbers on the 150 or so New Year’s cards we’d received to see if we’d struck lucky. I had a bad feeling. He’d never phoned us at home before. Mr. Shigeyuki Imai had launched pantomime …

Those Days, Those Times, Those Guys (17)

Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed for a year. Fifty-six years ago, the year of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Champion opened as a late-night restaurant. In those days, a municipal ordinance required bars in the capital to close by 11 p.m., after which only restaurants serving …

Those Days, Those Times, Those Guys (16)

During the "stay-home" period to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the red album on top of the bookcase caught my eye. It was heavy. When I opened the thick cover, I saw the invitation to the party marking the 38th anniversary of Champion: INVITATION Our Champion opened in 1964, the year of the …