A chilly, rainy day in Tokyo. While the World Series kicked off across the Pacific, I had my own kind of championship to attend—a small but meaningful international conference where I served as session chair.
It was a cold day, with a steady drizzle that made it easy to catch a cold if I wasn’t careful.
Even though it’s late October, I thought wearing a trench coat might be too much. Fortunately, my wife insisted, and she was right.
Autumn seems shorter these days. Japan feels less like a country of “four seasons” and more like just two—summer and winter.
I headed into Tokyo early in the morning for an international academic meeting.
“International” in name, but in reality it was a modest conference among Japan, China, and Korea—around seventy or eighty people gathered in the hall.
With online participants included, the total number was probably much higher.
I was assigned to chair one of the sessions, so I reviewed the program carefully on the train.
Still, switching suddenly into English is always challenging. Understanding alone took all my focus.
Out of curiosity, I had tried brushing up on a few phrases in Chinese and Korean using a language app, but “ni hao” and “annyeong hashimnikka” never came up.
Luckily, the discussion went lively enough that I didn’t need to speak much. Everything went smoothly in the end.
I even attempted a small academic joke—but it fell flat.
My pronunciation was probably to blame.
Meanwhile, today marked the opening game of the World Series.
It started at 9:00 a.m. Japan time—exactly when our conference began.
And when things were heating up around 10:30, I was right in the middle of my session, completely absorbed.
Funny how priorities sort themselves out in our minds without any conscious effort.
After my session ended, I finally checked my phone.
The Toronto Blue Jays had crushed the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11–4.
Snell was shelled early, and even Shohei Ohtani’s first World Series home run couldn’t save the day.
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