personal essays:
Age is a State of Mind
By Audrey Shiomi
Back in 1999, I remember writing my first Ochazuke column on how horrible it was to grow old. Rafu Shimpo was my first job out of college and the strain of commuting and sitting in an office for eight-straight hours had taken its toll…
Molestors and Home Invaders
By Audrey Shiomi
About ten years ago I was molested while standing in a packed Tokyo commuter train. It’s a horrible but common experience in Japan; reports estimate one in three women in their 30s are victims of the crime. So when I told Japanese friends what’d happened, rather than fueling my cause for revenge, they only sympathized by saying, “Well, that’s too bad.”
In the days that followed, I’d play the scene over and over in my head. What could I have done differently? Why didn’t I do anything? Did the crime really happen?…