Driving back to reality!

so much for a brief escape from reality...
Joined my friend's plan to see our classmate's 45 days old baby. Oh boy, these creatures are the cutest things on earth, aren't they?
Yesterday at the barbecue party there were two three year olds and a one year old. These guys just run and fool around like crazy (no offense... I mean the "cute" kind of crazeeee), but hey, they're just adorable. And these are kids of my friends!!
...I really feel I'm missing some kind of life here. At least some of my best friends are having a life I once dreamt of...

Well, it was another beautiful day today. After I took my friend to Narita Airport I had a four hour drive back home without using the highway. Though there were heavy traffic on the way, it was quite comfortable just because I didn't have any reason to rush. After going through the Narita Kaido (Route 296) , as I moved into the Chiba Kaido (Route 14), I rode past a familiar block...
It was where I used to visit frequently at night when I was in my first year in Tokyo!

Japanese journalists use a somewhat troublesome way of gathering news items. "YO-UCHI" (meaning "night attack" in Japanese) as we call it, is a traditional way of getting exclusive info in Japan. It's very simple...but not simple as it seems! We just go to the residences of sources to talk to them and draw out exclusive stories. But whether the sources kindly respond to our ambushes at night, just depends on how reliable the relationship is. This is the real hard part... Many times you get yelled at, and turned down. But sometimes by repeating the visit, or sometimes by doing it in the morning, the relationship gets better and conversations start. Sometimes you never get to speak to the source even though you ambush the house for years...

Four years ago, as a news reporter covering police work, I was doing these kind of ambushes night after night. The block I passed by today at Funabashi was one of the spots you could find me, four years ago, waiting outside for the source to come back home. The Ramen restaurant I used to eat in while waiting was gone already...
Four years... that's history for me...
At that time of my life, I had a dream to marry a girl, whom I later proposed to... The road to marriage didn't go well and I initially lost my dream. But reality went on, and the road of life continued. Lots of regrets, but exciting discoveries too. Well at least I have a chance to do it again! I'll go on, just like I did today continuing on the Chiba Kaido, which runs through the area I've covered as a reporter four years ago.
A run through many memories I can't forget, back to reality that will start from tomorrow... again!!