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Every now and again an old man called Mr. Kishida came to our house when I still lived in my hometown. He would show up, give me some money, chat a little while with my grandparents, and leave. That had been a pattern of his visit ever since I could remember. If he visited while I was at school, he never forgot to leave some money for me. I wondered what Mr. Kishida was, who always gave me money for no apparent reason. I asked my grandfather and found out that he was my grandfather’s best friend at junior high school. When his family was moving to a far-off town, he wanted to stay because a renowned high school he had hoped to attend was in our town. My grandfather told my great grandfather about how smart Mr. Kishida was and he could go to that school if he stayed. My great grandfather took him in and took care of him in place of is family. My grandfather and Mr. Kishida had lived together like brothers until Mr. Kishida finished the renowned high school that he successfully got in. While Mr. Kishida moved out for the university, completed it and got a job in a town where his family lived, my great grandfather passed away and my grandfather became a farmer to succeed the family. Mr. Kishida had felt an obligation to my great grandfather all those years. As the only way to repay it, he paid a visit and gave me a little money. Even after I left home to be a musician, my father sometimes sent me some money or commemorative coins that Mr. Kishida had brought for me. I got some of the Japanese first five hundred-yen coins from him. In the early days that I lived in Tokyo as a musician, I had constantly had difficulty in making a living, and one day, I had become clean out of money. I ate out at a restaurant where I was going to pay with my credit card. At the cashier, I was simply told that they didn’t take a card. The waitress knew me as a frequent customer and she let me go home to get cash. The thing was, there was no money at home either. Then, Mr. Kishida’s five hundred-yen coins occurred to me. I turned the drawer inside out, found them, and returned to the restaurant where I handed shiny commemorative coins. Mr. Kishida repaid his obligation in an unexpected way…
