Miyori's collage みよりちゃんのコラージュ (sumida, japan)

Posted by timothy sullivan (Tokyo, Japan) on 21 October 2008 in Art & Design.

Yuko and I went to one of the parks around Tokyo this past weekend to enjoy some badminton and Frisbee in the nice autumn weather. While we were thwapping around the shuttle, I noticed that we had a little admirer following us around--shyly running around us, watching us play.

Thinking that perhaps she wanted to play with us, I smiled, offered the racket handle out to her, knelt down a bit to her eye level and asked in Japanese: "Would you like to try?" She immediately averted my gaze, walked away without response, but lingered nearby, watching us.

At length and after a few invitations, when Yuko and I sat down on a nearby bench, the little girl approached us, sitting down at the opposite end of the bench. Yuko asked, "What's your name?" Shyly, she answered, "Miyori."
"How old are you?"
"Six." (Though to me she looked not even three or four.)
"Do you have any other brothers or sisters?"
"Yes--four. All older than me."
"Is your mom here?"
"No."
"Your dad?"
"He's at work."

She folded her hands in her lap, looked down at her feet and rocked them back and forth gently--and then said everso quietly, "I'm lonely."

For me, that soft-spoken admission nearly broke my heart.

It was quite obvious that this little girl had been taught not to talk with strangers, but nevertheless her loneliness had overcome her mother's instruction. Feeling as a human, I invited her to try and play badminton with us--or frisbee; she replied, "I'm a kid; that's an adult game--I don't know how to play." I said there wasn't any problem with that; Yuko gave her a racket--which proved to be too heavy for her to hold.

(To be continued)

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