Canker Sores and Wedding Bells

   “How's your mouth,” my girlfriend asks.

   “It still hurts.”

   “Sure takes a long time to heal, doesn't it?”

   “Yeah, this time especially.” I’ve had a canker sore for two weeks and it’s now the size of a one-yen coin.†

   “I'm always worried about your health and you diet,” she says.

   “Thank you.”

   “You know, if we lived together,

   “Ah-hah!”

   “If, if we lived together, I'd wake up early and cook you a nice Japanese breakfast. Then I'd wake you up . . .”

   “No you wouldn't. You'd oversleep like you usually do and have no time to make breakfast.”

   “B-but . . .”

   “And because you hog the futon and grind your teeth all night long, I wouldn't be able to get more than a few short naps in during the night. My back would be so stiff and sore by the time morning came around, that only after you got out of the bed, I'd finally be able to sleep. You'd rush off to work, forgetting about me, I'd oversleep and wouldn't have time to fix myself even the simplest of breakfasts. No, if we lived together, I'd be tired and hungry. Who knows what kind of chronic illnesses I'd end up with?”

†About the size of a one-pfennig coin.

Introducing HKT48

   'Tis a good day for the nerds of Hakata: the first twenty-one members of the newly launched HKT48 (Hakata 48) were announced in late October. They include, among others:

Yûko Sugamoto (菅本裕子), second year high school student.

 First year high school student, Chihiro Anai

Kyôka Abe (安陪恭加), second year junior high school student

Third year junior high school student, Mina Imada

Nao Ueki (植木南央), a second year junior high school student

 Another second year junior high school student, Sayaka Etô (江藤彩也香)

First year high school student, Chiyori Nakanishi (中西智代梨)

And, Maiko Fukagawa (深川舞子), who is in the sixth grade of elementary school.