Every year, I find myself wondering how many more cherry blossom seasons I’ll get to see with the person I love. I wonder if we’ll still be able to see them next year. I want to go cherry-blossom viewing together again next year.

Maezawa from the president’s office will answer this one, too. Thank you for your question. > What could I say to make him feel more positive about the years he has left? “Years he has left”? (lol) He’s not saying it because he’s become pessimistic. It’s simply that, now that his life expectancy is realistically approaching, those kinds of thoughts naturally come up. For example, in 1947, the average life expectancy was around 50 for men and 54 for women. (It has steadily increased since then, reaching 80.75 for men and 86.99 for women in 2015.) So if he’s already lived past the average life expectancy of that time, he may find himself reflecting on how much longer the two of you can be together. He’s probably past the age where he’s afraid of dying. He’s not saying it because he’s scared—he’s simply realizing that, realistically speaking, he’s reached an age where it wouldn’t be surprising if he died soon. I think any response would be fine. Saying, “You’re still young, so you’ll be totally fine~” is perfectly reasonable if he’s younger than today’s average life expectancy. And even if he says, “I’m not young anymore,” he may not actually mind hearing it. If what he means is that he’d like to see the cherry blossoms together again next year, you could simply say: “I’d like to see the cherry blossoms with you again next year, too.” I think that would be more than enough.

I’m Taro, a male member. I think your reaction was perfectly fine as it was. When men say things like that, I think about half the time they’re just trying to convince themselves. I doubt he was expecting anything from her, especially since she’s young. It would actually be amazing if she suddenly came up with the perfect answer. She’d practically be a guru—her middle name would have to be the Dalai Lama or something. If you wanted to argue logically, you could say, “Research into preventing aging is advancing rapidly. Some scholars even say that in a few years, the progress of anti-aging technology will outpace the rate at which people age, and humanity will effectively become immortal!” But if that came from a young girl, it would somehow be creepy instead（笑） Still, life isn’t just about length—it’s about density, too. A year packed with all kinds of experiences is worth many times more than a year spent sleepwalking through life. In that sense, Inception is actually pretty interesting. So you could say, “Even though I’m young, I don’t know if I’ll still be here next year. But what matters is living fully in the present, right? It’s the density that counts. So why don’t we make the density of tonight’s bed incredibly high?♡” That would be creepy too, though（笑） So I think the right answer would be something like: “Nooo, don’t say things like that! We’re going cherry-blossom viewing again next year! They say idiots never catch colds and live a long time, so I’m probably going to live forever. But I want Papa to live a long time too, so you should become an idiot as well!” He’ll realize that talking to her was a mistake, and the conversation will return to normal. P.S. Being able to talk about old age and death with an elderly person is an incredible thing. Normally, it’s impossible. Whatever you say will just feel like an act, and they’ll see right through you. But even if you’re young, if you’ve ever faced death firsthand, you may have something meaningful to say. I don’t know whether it would all line up perfectly, but if you have that kind of experience, I’d definitely encourage you to talk about it. When two people genuinely confront each other like that, there’s undoubtedly some kind of truth in it.

I’m Aya, a female member. Ahh, that’s rough… He’s really lost himself in those romantic feelings, huh? I think “I hope we can see them again next year!” would be just fine. That papa isn’t in love with you—he’s intoxicated by the feeling of being in love. Whenever a papa says something overly romantic like, “I wonder how many more years I’ll be able to see the cherry blossoms with you,” I find myself cooling off… It makes the age gap between us feel even more obvious, though I can kind of understand where men are coming from. And it’s not limited to this—papas sometimes make self-deprecating comments that remind you of their mortality, like wondering how many more years they can stay active. When that happens, I smile and say, “Don’t say things like that.” I don’t usually tell them, “You’re still young!” Any flattering lie would probably be obvious to a man with life experience. Rather than laying it on thick, just smile and gently chide him a little—it tends to get a better reaction. Good luck!

I’m a male member, and my username is Paper Airplane. Girls often say things like, “I want to see the cherry blossoms again next year,” or “I want to do/go to ___ again next year,” so I’m wondering if saying, “I want to ___ too,” would sound natural… This isn’t bait, right??

I’m Kazu, a male member. No one knows the right answer, so why not give a safe, neutral reply like, “That sounds nice. Let’s come cherry-blossom viewing again next year”?