Photo/Illutration Junior high school students copy the Vox Populi, Vox Dei column. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A reader’s letter sent to The Asahi Shimbun’s “Koe” (Voice) section caught my attention, leading me to visit Fukuoka Prefecture to meet the author and see her notebook.

Its pages were filled with trembling, unsteady characters—each line formed with painstaking care. The handwriting testified to the sheer difficulty of the task. What it conveyed, above all, was a fierce resolve not to give up.

This spring, Yoko Arai, 77, fell down the stairs and suffered a spinal injury. Despite her physical limitations, she transcribes the Vox Populi, Vox Dei column every day, using hands that no longer move freely.

She wears a brace on her right hand and fits a sponge around her ballpoint pen to thicken the grip. She pauses at each punctuation mark to reread the sentence, commit it to memory and then write it down. It takes her about an hour to complete the fixed 603 characters.

As one of the authors of this column, I can only bow my head, feeling humbled and awestruck to the point of silence. When I asked why she puts herself through such a demanding daily routine, Arai answered simply: “Because it’s a promise.”

While she was hospitalized, her husband, Hideo, passed away suddenly. It was some time later that a cardboard box was found in her house. Inside were clippings of this column—saved for her every day from the start of her hospitalization until the day he died.

Transcribing the column had long been part of Arai’s life. Even if her husband rarely spoke about it while they were together, it is hard not to imagine what he hoped for: that she would recover and one day hold a pen again.

“I have to live up to his wishes,” she said.

She can now manage to eat by herself using a spoon. Her next goal is to transfer to her wheelchair and use the bathroom without assistance. And eventually, to walk on her own two feet again.

At the facility where she now lives, Kiyoko Suizenji’s signature song, “Sanbyaku Rokuju Go Ho no March” (The march of 365 steps), was playing the other day, its buoyant message insisting that small daily efforts add up.

“Life is a one-two punch/ Let’s dream without stopping our steps/ A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step/ Let’s believe it begins there.”

Her rehabilitation and her transcription work proceed at a slow pace. But she is, indeed, moving forward.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 14

* * *

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.