The autumn I was 23, we understood each other through kanji. Until that day.

I really think kanji is an incredibly efficient script.
It's a script that is truly efficient.

With just a single character,
you can hammer a massive amount of information into someone.
Moreover, for those who can read it,
it conveys meaning quite relentlessly and directly.

When I was studying abroad in Bristol, England,
I experienced that "power of kanji"
firsthand.

I was 23 at the time.

It was the first time in my life I had dyed my hair.
The person in charge was
a boy from Hong Kong who attended the same vocational school.
He had apparently already worked as a hairdresser back home, and his technique and sense of style were outstanding.

I was quite satisfied with the result,
and while looking in the mirror, I was feeling a bit giddy inside.

“Wow, I think I might look more sophisticated now♪”

In that mood, the next day,
I went to my English class.
Then, a Chinese girl saw me and
rushed over.

“It suits you so well! Better than before!”

She was usually fluent in English.
Yet that day, unusually,
she stumbled over her words, saying,
“Um... what was the word again...”

So I said, lightheartedly.

“It’s okay, try writing it in kanji. We can do that,
right?”

While studying abroad, she and I would occasionally have these “written conversations.” Through this writing, we had overcome many language barriers in English.

Even if the English didn't come out,
writing kanji somehow got the point across.
It’s an incredibly convenient cheat code for the East Asian region.

Then she had an “Ah, that’s it!”
look on her face,
and scribbled a single character in my notebook.

What was written there was,

“Old”

...Huh?

The autumn I was 23.
In a classroom in a foreign land,
I froze at a single kanji character.

“No, no, no!!”

Seeing my face, she hurriedly tried to follow up.

"It's not 'Old'! It's 'Mature'! It means 'fully developed'!"
"You know, like 💦, a calm vibe! It means you've become more adult-like!"

Ah, I see. I get what you're trying to say.

I get it, but.
Couldn't you have picked a different word?

No, really, kanji are so convenient.
Because a single character can convey even the nuances.

But sometimes, that information is so direct
that my mental state just can't handle it.

Under the overcast sky of Bristol.

As I touched my new hair color,
I quietly pondered the destructive power of the kanji for "old".

For a 23-year-old, it was a bit too intense.
🍡💇🍁

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