A 90 year old man gives us this advice.

When trying to write this book review, I already realized that this text must be a failure.

After all, at this moment, all words and vocabulary pale in comparison, and they cannot properly express what I feel when my various moods converge, even if they can dance.

It is a pity that our language is not whiskey.

It's a good thing I'm bold enough and ignorant enough to have a childish idea floating around in my head: let's tell a story.

Listen.

01

You know what?

In Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, there is a place called Kurosaki-cho. There was an old man who lived here for more than 90 years. When he was over 90 years old, he spent his life saying:Please be sure to read.

He is Kenichi Sakamoto, a man who has given his life to love and touch - running a used bookstore for 70 years, with a wife six years his junior who loves each other.

The bookstore has a characteristic that every Thursday and Sunday is the store's day off for Aozora Books. Kazumi is also characterized by the fact that she doesn't seem to know what "scared" means.

The name of the bookstore is Aozora, and his wife's name is Kazumi, the love of Sakamoto's life. His greatest wish in life is to make good books and good people meet, and his wife **** life.

Despite having been living prostrate, Sakamoto's passion for life has never waned. Therefore, running a bookstore and writing love letters to his wife are the grandest sense of ceremony in his life.

It's easy to stay passionate about life, but how hard can it be for a 90-year-old man to remain energized by life?

Even in his 90s, Sakamoto still lives, learns, and loves.

This should be a hard thing to do, and to be rude, many of us won't live to be 90.

But Sakamoto is different, not only did he live to 90, but his life continues in countless others. Because they know that Sakamoto's "life store closes the big reward" in the lucky people have their own.

02

The opening of Aozora Books in 1946 was a last-ditch decision by Mr. Sakamoto.

After the end of the Second World War and the surrender of Japan, Sakamoto saw his family starving and moved towards a business of selling books.

This led to what became the used bookstore, Aozora Books.

After that, the bookstore moved from a busy neighborhood to the suburbs, and its turnover dwindled to one-fifth of what it had been. When Sakamoto was in his 80s, he suffered a cerebral infarction and lost the sight in his right eye. Age kills mercilessly, and his wife is unfortunately seriously ill.

So, Sakamoto began to make Thursday and Sunday every week as the store closed. On Thursdays, he would clean up the store, and on Sundays, he would take a day of complete relaxation, read a book, and spend time with his wife Kazumi.

Every day off, Sakamoto writes down his ideas, draws them, and puts them on a poster that says, "Today is a day off.

Each poster was a love letter to his wife and his life, and it was a heartwarming work that touched all of Japan. After that, some enthusiastic people collected more than 200 posters and organized a poster exhibition, which gradually became known to the public, and a TV interview with him began.

In his nineties, Sakamoto was suddenly famous, and to Sakamoto, it didn't matter whether he was noticed or not, as long as he still loved life enough.

The sudden change in his life is a spice that makes life more interesting. In the face of this honor, Sakamoto said, "The number of people who want to read after reading the poster will increase by even one."

Faced with a suddenly busy life, he said, "It's really something."

03

The Green Sky Study is filled with love from beginning to end and everywhere.

In addition to the posters that move people, Mr. Sakamoto also enthusiastically recommends books to people, collects old books at a high price and sells them at a low price, and tries as hard as he can to get more young people to read more.

This process is inherently great, and great behavior naturally attracts more people - young people who can't afford to buy books, middle-aged people who haven't gone to school, and famous literary figures are all regulars at the Aozora Bookstore.

Interesting people meet interesting people eventually, and so do Mr. Sakamoto and his friends. Striving to run his life running a bookstore, he has made long-lasting friendships with famous writers such as Seiko Tanabe, Ikari Yamamoto, and Yasutaka Janai.

Yasutaka Janai describes him in A Movie History of Delinquent Boys as a kind and generous "big brother from the old bookstore"; and Ikari Yamamoto, after meeting him for the first time, called and said, "If it's okay, let's be friends from now on!"

Sakamoto wrote directly to Seiko Tanabe because he liked her, saying, "Teacher, I like you so much."

In addition, due to the physical inconvenience, there are many things that can not be done, but the Aozora study room has been run.

Because the store had help every day, Ms. Miyatake helped him close the door every evening, rain or shine. Someone brings canned water every late afternoon and asks if there is anything they can do to help.

......

These friends are the most valuable assets in Mr. Sakamoto's life, and the strongest proof of his love of life.

However, in his 90s, Mr. Sakamoto still hasn't figured out one question - how should he spend his life?

He said, "Before the end of my life, I still want to read, to learn, and to be taught."

This comes from love.

04

Mr. Sakamoto, who did not drink or gamble, wanted to write a novel, and got to the third line but could write no more. He said, "All my life, I was destined to be only a reader."

In this way, he read all his life. The only thing he can do is to read.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with being a reader. If Sakamoto is a reader of books for his whole life, then Kazumi is Sakamoto's reader for his whole life.

They met on a blind date.

They met on a blind date. Before they met each other, Sakamoto had been on 27 blind dates, and there was a kind of stereotype that women are all like that.

But Kazumi is completely different. Sakamoto said she is "the embodiment of purity", "as if I do not know what it means to be afraid", "even if the road is not straight", which is a person who loves another person absolutely irreplaceable! The highest good words.

Because of his poverty, Sakamoto says that Kazumi is sorry to have married him, having given her only one gift in her life, and she is on the verge of jumping for joy.

In Sakamoto's eyes, she was "impeccable", but she was so jealous that she once ignored him for almost two weeks.

From then on, writing love letters became Sakamoto's daily routine for the rest of his life.

He wrote:

There are a lot of unbelievable things in this world

But they are all going in the right direction

So we are happy as a couple now

Maybe something bad will happen at some point

So be humble and be careful and be kind to others

My greatest happiness is that I met you

And a lot of friends

He also said, "I'm very happy to have met you, but I'm very happy to have met you. And many other friends

You can't lose to the heat today either

05

Sakamoto and Kazumi didn't lose to the heat, even when she was seriously ill.

In 2009, Kazumi suddenly developed a high fever and went to the hospital, only to discover a tumor growing behind her peritoneum that she had missed.

The children did everything they could to get their mother, Kazumi, to a caring hospital to help the terminally ill in their final days.

Kazumi, however, remained cheerful and seemed unafraid of death. She smiled and said, "What kind of good karma am I getting to live in such a nice place?"

This was the most painful time for Sakamoto, as the person he loved the most in his life collapsed, and he "fell into a state of exhaustion" every day.

So Mr. Sakamoto drew the hand-drawn poster for which he is best known:

Today's rest Sorry

A loved one is facing life and death

I'm going to be with her ......

Please forgive me for my capriciousness

But life goes on. The drive from the bookstore to the hospital takes an hour, and beds are tight plus companion beds are expensive, so Sakamoto has to replace his original love letters, written on small pieces of paper, with hand-drawn postcards that he sends to the hospital.

He wrote:

For others, life is very important

Just as important is their time

Life is lost, and it can't be undone

Just as irretrievable is their time

Don't forget the goodness of it all

So, you're going to have to hurry up and get better

You don't have time for this. >

You don't have time to cry

Sakamoto has written Kazumi love letters all her life, which she's read all her life, but never replied to. After being hospitalized, Kazumi wrote the only letter back to Sakamoto, and she said:Please wait for me to go back next time.

This ultimately failed to materialize.

06

After his wife's death, Sakamoto kept up the habit of writing love letters to life to his wife.

He continued to love life alone at Aozora Books, and when his grandson said he wanted to come and take care of him, he said, "Are you kidding, I'm not doing it."

"I just need Kazumi to supervise me," Kazumi said, staying with Sakamoto, always. He says it's fine, except for the infernal loneliness he sometimes falls into.

In his nineties, Sakamoto is still alive and well - he wakes up at six o'clock, eats breakfast at seven o'clock, goes to the hospital for an infusion from eight-thirty to nine-thirty, and then the bookstore opens irregularly for business.

In his nineties, he used the last strength of his life to say:

"There is only one time in life, please meet with good books"

"Don't be the one you hate"

"I still want to read, learn and be taught"

On July 2, 2016, Mr. Sakamoto passed away peacefully at the age of 93 years old. But people will not forget, will not forget that he once wrote at the age of 90:

Ninety years old is already the most advanced age of life

Even so

The question at the age of eighteen, "How should life be spent?"

has yet to be answered

And so, today, he is still trying to live

with his mind set on reading and his heart set on the path of righteousness

Perhaps it is the last struggle of a small, insignificant man

Mr. Sakamoto, at 93, has not yet been able to get an answer to this question, even as he is approaching his death.

He just spent his life interpreting the answer - trying to live is the answer.

(Article first appeared on the public website Drunkard)