Production Story of Under the Tree of Peace: In the Hospital Waiting Room

An article I wrote previously.

I have compiled the production story of Under the Tree of Peace into a magazine.
If you are interested, please take a look at this as well.

The lyrics can be found here.

Konishi-san, I have been trying hard to force this series to connect to
#WhatAreYouTalkingAbout
, but please forgive me for the fact that this series alone is not
#WhatAreYouTalkingAbout
, even though I am seriously adding the hashtag to it <m(__)m>.
I am posting this because it is an important story that I want everyone to know about.

Accompanying someone to the hospital once a month is
very long.

Waiting an hour for blood tests, then waiting another two hours normally,
I used to wonder how I would spend those three hours in total.

And, since I wasn't that close with my father-in-law at the time, I started listening to his stories from the past often.

My father-in-law has a habit of zoning out sometimes
and staring off into the distance.

But when he talks about the war,
it is striking how he speaks of that sorrow fluently,
as if it were yesterday.

Please view the lyrics here.

When Father went back to pick up Grandmother,
that dugout was already gone.

He said that his grandmother, who was fleeing with him, was separated from him along the way.

"When I went back, she was gone."

He said that and tried to smile a little.

He tells it like a funny story for my sake, but
it probably isn't a funny story for my father-in-law.

I didn't know what to say.

I could only
take notes.

Amidst the bustling atmosphere of the waiting room,
I wondered if it was okay to listen to such a story.

Thinking about it now,
perhaps I was able to listen because it was there.

When you try to face things directly,
sometimes they are too heavy to put into words.

In a place like this, they just spill out.

I am a Naicha (mainland Japanese) and
have lived as part of the 'generation that only knows' about the war in Okinawa through documents.

Things I saw in textbooks.
Things that were broadcast on TV.
As events of the past, in some distant place.

But.

When it is spoken by the person right in front of you,
it suddenly becomes 'now'.

It is not a distant story,
but the time this person has lived.

Perhaps those lyrics came to me after listening to my grandmother's story.

I feel like I also sensed the strength of my father-in-law, who survived those days when it wouldn't have been strange to die at any moment.

Even if my father-in-law passes away, I intend to keep singing these lyrics

by changing the words to 'I feel the trajectory of the life you lived'
and live here in this moment.

I intend to keep singing it.

I thought the blue sea and the vast sky of Okinawa were beautiful.

But within that scenery,
there are also people who survived while running, hiding, and suffering.

That fact,
and the peace right in front of me now, I couldn't quite connect them.

Even though it should have felt like a sense of discomfort,

Before you know it, that becomes your "daily life."

I, too, could live in this modern world without hearing anything,
without ever knowing.

But, is that really okay?
Will you have no regrets?

The reason why that person "speaks that way" must surely be true.

Perhaps there are memories that can only be held onto
by speaking of them lightly.

That is why I...

Perhaps that is why I was able to ask my father-in-law so many times.

This song was born from the stories of that day.

As a Naicha (mainland Japanese),
touching the memories of my Uchinanchu (Okinawan) father-in-law,
I learned things for the first time. Things I didn't understand.

The time I was able to hear about so many things was in the hospital waiting room.

Have a wonderful day today as well!

May you and I both have the best luck and smiles (^^♪

Every day is a good day.

Announcement✨.•¨•.⭐️•¨•.¸¸⭐️•¨•.¸¸✨

I have been active as a singer-songwriter since June 11, 2025.
I would be happy if something remains with you from this story.
There is also a magazine where I collect the words that become songs from fragments of daily life.
Please feel free to take a look when you feel like it.

I have summarized various announcements here!

■standFM
Monday to Friday 7:00–7:30
Occasional stroll broadcasts on weekends

■Monthly Online Live!
I perform live in a virtual music space called Corom!
The next one is Thursday, April 23rd, from 20:00 to 21:00.
There will be a new song and an Uchinaaguchi (Okinawan dialect) quiz every month!!

■Yumenotane Broadcasting Station
Every Friday, Red Channel, 21:00-
Archives are available on Stand.fm!