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 (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 (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 (13)

I was standing in front of the Yujiku movie theater looking at the schedule when I heard someone call out, “Master!” I turned around to see a man about my age. “How’s it going?” he asked, approaching. He’d been a Champion regular. I remembered he was a movie buff, but I couldn’t recall his name. …

Those Days, Those Times, Those Guys (6)

A variety show was airing on TV when two guys in their 30s walked in. “What?! No baseball?” one of them said straight off the bat. “Quick, change the channel!” shouted the other. I fixed them with a blank look. “Sorry, our TV doesn’t show baseball.” They glared at me. “Feel free to go somewhere …

Those Days, Those Times, Those Guys (2)

One morning Mari-san called to say there was an article that mentioned Champion in Tokyo Shimbun. I fetched the newspaper from the mail box, spread it out on the table and began turning the pages. I soon found the article—a small color photo showing Champion occupying the corner of an old building had caught my …

Those Days, Those Times, Those Guys (1)

The regulars had all kinds of jobs. There were hairdressers, bankers, writers, movie directors, actors, sports journalists and more. There were university students, too; most were from Waseda, followed by Hosei, Sophia and Tokyo universities. Their different occupations gave them their own way of looking at things, but they shared a liking for boxing and/or …

Those Days, Those Times (7)

There was a light rain the night So-kun showed up for the first time in ages. William So was an overseas student from Singapore who worked part-time at the Ohsho restaurant chain. He spoke Japanese, English and Chinese, but other than Chinese his language skills weren’t that good. He couldn’t pronounce the ‘TH’ sound in …