This happened when I was assigned to a branch office in Osaka for two years after completing new employee training in Tokyo.

Humans are creatures who lie. What I found interesting about this whole situation was that one of the TV commentators tried categorizing lies: 1. Lies to hide your own wrongdoing 2. Lies to make yourself look better 3. Lies meant to bring someone else down 4. Lies told to help someone else Once again, humans are creatures who lie. I can honestly say that I live my life telling lies every day. I’m a piece of crap, and I lie too—a lying turd, haha. At the same time, humans are weak creatures. We’re tossed around by our desires and temptations. Then lies get tangled up in the mix, making everything increasingly complicated. That’s why people who can do the right thing in such circumstances are admirable. Saints and paragons of virtue are amazing. Ohtani, who lives without lying, is amazing too—Ohtani, go! Go! ♫ Still, most people aren’t like that, myself included. And since society can’t function unless we all keep doing our best together, I’ve been feeling lately that although wrongdoing is still wrong, I’d like to be more forgiving toward people who acknowledge their mistakes. Taro

You still remember what happened in Osaka, don’t you? However, the recent theft—or fraud?—case involving an interpreter in the United States is completely different in terms of when and where it happened, as well as the circumstances behind it. Apparently, humans naturally tend to connect things in their minds, but the matters you feel are related are fundamentally completely unrelated. If the news is going to bring you down, I think you’d be better off distancing yourself from television and the internet. News programs and websites are designed to stir up anxiety and keep people glued to the screen, thereby increasing ratings and site traffic. People often say it’s better to stay informed about the world, but more than 99% of the news consists of things you don’t actually need to know. Whether or not a war breaks out in the Middle East, unless there’s something you can do right now—such as putting pressure on the Israeli government, influencing the Japanese government, or helping Japanese nationals in Israel evacuate—it’s something to think about only when the situation comes within a range where you can actually take action. Whether someone is groped or injured in a neighboring prefecture has nothing to do with you. Even if we give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you want to study the news to avoid becoming a victim of crime, you should spend the time you waste watching half-baked news on actually studying how to protect yourself. Perhaps you’re able to spend the luxury of feeling depressed over the news because you place half-hearted expectations on other people. If you stop expecting anything from others altogether, you’ll have less unnecessary stress and be able to focus on what you yourself need to do.

I haven’t had any truly awful experiences with betrayal—just a PJ taking tens of thousands of yen from my wallet. I think, “It’s something someone else did, so it has nothing to do with me. All I can do is wait for time to heal everything.” That’s exactly the right way to look at it. Gambling, lotteries—only idiots who can’t calculate probabilities. Horse racing is fun, but even when I bet, I limit it to 1,000 yen.

In Ohtani’s case, I think it was unavoidable to some extent because he didn’t understand English well. That said, when it comes to being betrayed, embezzlement, or even criminal acts, I believe I’m also at fault for creating a situation that allowed those things to happen. In reality, the damage occurred because I didn’t manage things properly, and I regret that. Even if I’m betrayed or deceived, I still feel that it’s more important to keep believing and moving forward, accepting that possibility.