In Japan, special needs students are integrated into mainstream schools. I teach them once a month and sometimes ponder about their future, given the "Ice Age" employment situation now.

Koki finds English too difficult but he tries hard to enunciate these alien-sounding words; his positive energy is infectious.

I: What high school do you want to go to? He: I'm not going to attend high school. I want to help my father. I: So, what does your father do? He: He cooks food for old people. I: Wow, that's nice! What kind of food, though? He: I don't know (shrugged his shoulders)

His clean-cut way of approaching life touched me profoundly at this crossroad in my life. I hope I'll bring a part of his spirit with me back home as I foresee that I will grapple with unrealised ambition and untempered wanderlust. But more than anything, I wanna thank him for reminding me that academic brilliance really has little to do with conviction of spirit.