Why aren’t we talking about @xatacysm and his brother Darnell who co-founded @dartshtajio more?!
This is #blackrepresentation we need in the anime industry!
https://t.co/rxkVic0NA0
Me and this random Japanese guy I met at a late-night izakaya in Shibuya got into the deepest, wildest conversation.
We started talking about life regrets and somehow ended up on this story that blew my mind.
Japanese guy (sipping his beer): You know, I read this story online about a young foreign girl, only 22, with terminal bone cancer.
Spread everywhere, She already beat it once, lost a leg, went back to work… then it came back hard. Doctors gave her weeks or months.
Me: Shit… that’s heavy.
Japanese guy: But she decided zero fucks, Had like £2k in the bank, no house, no nothing. So she took out credit cards, good score before, maxed them on whatever she wanted, Said the debt dies with her.
Bought fancy crab at a seafood place, sentimental gifts for her family with her handwriting, donated big to food banks, animal shelters, and the cancer charities that helped her.
Me: *laughing in shock* She really said fuck it?
Japanese guy: Exactly! People were mad about the banks losing money and she replied ‘at least you get to live.’
Legend, She even said stop asking for money or pushing Jesus on her.
Just wanted to enjoy apples, cheese, little treats, watch TV, and be with family while she still could.
The bar auntie who was eavesdropping jumped in:
Auntie: That girl has more balls than most salarymen I know, In Japan we have people who work until they drop.
She chose to live loud while she could, I respect it. If I got bad news tomorrow I’d buy all the limited edition KitKats and give them to neighborhood kids.
We ended up buying another round and talking for hours about what we’d do with limited time, one guy said he’d confess to his crush at work, another wanted to eat at every Michelin spot.
The Japanese guy raised his glass:
Japanese guy: To that girl, May her last days be full of good food and peace, And fuck the credit card companies.
That conversation stuck with me.
I accidentally uncovered one of the funniest secrets in my parents' marriage.
My parents have been married for over 30 years.
Every summer evening, without fail, they'll spend an hour outside together watering plants, pulling weeds, trimming bushes, and fussing over their yard.
The landscaping around their house looks like something out of a magazine.
I've always assumed it was my dad's thing.
A few years ago, I was helping him outside and asked how he got so into gardening.
He laughed.
Dad: Honestly?
Me: Yeah.
Dad: I've never really cared about it.
Me: What?
Dad: Your mom loves it.
Dad: I just like spending time with her.
I remember thinking that was one of the sweetest things I'd ever heard.
Fast forward to this week.
I stopped by while my dad was out of town.
My mom and I were sitting in the kitchen talking when the yard came up.
Mom: You know, I never actually cared much about gardening.
Me: ...what?
Mom: Your dad loves it.
Me: No he doesn't.
Mom: Of course he does.
Me: Mom...
Mom: What?
Me: Dad told me years ago he only does it because he thinks you love it.
She just stared at me.
Then I stared at her.
Mom: You're kidding.
Me: I wish I was.
So we started digging.
Turns out when they first started dating, both of them wanted to seem interesting and outdoorsy.
Dad told her he enjoyed landscaping.
Mom pretended she did too.
Dad saw her enthusiasm and doubled down.
Mom saw his enthusiasm and doubled down.
And somehow neither of them ever admitted the truth.
Thirty years later they're still out there every evening watering flowers neither one of them actually wanted.
Just because each thinks they're doing something nice for the other.
Me: So what are you going to do?
Mom: Nothing.
Me: You're not going to tell him?
Mom: Absolutely not.
Me: Why?
Mom: Because now he'll think I've been lying for 30 years.
Me: You have been.
Mom: Exactly.
I haven't told my brothers.
I haven't told my dad.
Honestly, I don't think I ever will.
At this point it's less of a misunderstanding and more of a renewable energy source powering their entire marriage.
To all my American friends:
You guys are actually terrifying 😂🇺🇸
CoCo Ichibanya has over 1,500 stores across Japan.
Japan’s total population is 120 million. Tokyo alone has 14 million people.
Yet the #1 highest-grossing CoCo Ichibanya store in the entire country is in Okinawa — a prefecture with only 1.46 million people.
Why?
Because American service members stationed there regularly order multiple full plates per person like it’s nothing.
One American = multiple Japanese portions.
We always knew you guys had big appetites… but damn, you’re single-handedly making a small island the curry capital of Japan.
Respect.
And please keep eating. We’re impressed (and a little scared).
Which one of you is responsible for this? Drop your CoCo stories below 👇
According to psychology, being the "good, low maintenance" child isn't a sign of innate maturity. It is a survival strategy known as parentification or fawning. You subconsciously recognized that your caregivers were too emotionally overwhelmed, volatile, or fragile to handle your age appropriate needs. You swallowed your own childhood and became invisible just to keep the peace
Me: I think my Japanese landlord believes I’m either a criminal or deeply incompetent.
Friend: What did you do.
Me: I tried to change a light bulb.
Friend: How do you mess up changing a light bulb.
Me: I don’t know, man, the apartment fought back.
my first week living alone in Osaka, light in kitchen dies.
simple task, normal adult responsibility, go to convenience store, buy light bulb with complete confidence despite understanding approximately 3% of the packaging.
come home, unscrew old bulb.
new bulb does not fit, okay fine, go back outside, buy another bulb.
this one fits, victory.
turn switch on, entire apartment loses power.🤦😂
silence, complete darkness.
somewhere in the distance a dog barks like the universe itself is disappointed.
Me: .…interesting.🤣
ten minutes later there is knocking at my door.
landlord standing there in full emergency mode.
tiny elderly Japanese man wearing slippers and concern.
Landlord: Daijoubu?!
Me: I think I attacked the electricity.
he walks inside, looks at light fixture, looks at breaker, looks at me, with the expression of a man trying to understand how I survived childhood.😂
Landlord: You put wrong bulb.
Me: Yes.
Landlord: Very wrong bulb.
Me: I’m gathering that.
he fixes it in literally twelve seconds, light comes back on.
Landlord: Okay now.
Me: Thank you so much.
he starts leaving, stops at door, turns back very slowly.
Landlord: You cook?
Me: …sometimes.
Landlord: Maybe don’t tonight.
@BIackEyeSMITE So I'm actually guilty of this, I don't wanna put people out or have them go out of their way for me (thanks childhood conditioning 🙄) because I feel selfish if I do - even if they offer. I've been learning to give definitive answers but I still have that internal reaction
@BIackEyeSMITE I genuinely enjoy your work stories, the world building is peak and I wanna know if this is the one who asked you to reevaluate your standards 😂