My girlfriend broke up with me a week before ¥Ð¥ì¥ó¥¿¥¤¥ó¥Ç©` (Barentaindee, Valentine¡¯s Day). The proximity to the holiday didn¡¯t really make a big difference to me; it was »Ú¤·¤¤ (kuyashii, painful/frustrating) all the same.

She wasn¡¯t Japanese, so I was surprised to get a Japanese language lesson out of the ordeal. As I broke the news to people and began to go through the grieving process, I was impressed by the way my Japanese friends responded.

I¡¯d visited Japan for the first time in four years a couple of months prior, over the ¤ªÕýÔ (´Ç-³§³ó¨­²µ²¹³Ù²õ³Ü, New Year¡¯s) holiday, and had been excited to share news of the relationship with the friends I was staying with. They are a young couple, and I¡¯d shared an apartment with the husband in Tokyo years before. They hadn¡¯t had a chance to meet my previous girlfriends.