  On Wednesdays thru Fridays, my work starts at 12 noon so I can either take an early lunch at home or a late lunch at work. For sure, my breaktime during these days will almost always include a trip to the Japan Foundation library at the Pacific Star Building.
When I'm there, I practice my Katakana and read Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen. It has been a while since I jotted down something I read from a book. Here's one now from Kitchen: Sotaru had said that even though she'd been seeing him for a year, Yuichi's girlfriend didn't understand the slightest thing about him, and it made her angry.
She said Yuichi was inacapable of caring more for a girl than he did for a fountain pen. Because I wasn't in love with Yuichi, I understood that very well. The quality and importance of a fountain pen meant to him something completely different from what it meant to her. Perhaps there are people in this world who love their fountain pens with every fiber of their being - and that's sad. If your not in love with him, you can understand him -------------------------------- The conversation we just had was like a glimpse of stars through a chink in a cloudy sky. 
