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Preventing Senility, 1992
My maternal grandfather lives with my parents in their house in Kobe.
Even though he is not sick, grandfather stays in bed all the time, so my father and mother get upset about this every day. And he is gradually getting senile.
Every time I go back to Kobe, I also get depressed, so I wondered if there wasn't something I could do. I decided to play shogi (Japanese chess) with him, a game he used to play all the time. When he is sitting at the shogi board, he sits up straighter and has more confidence. And he is still pretty good at the game. This may be too much exercise for his brain, however, because he goes back to bed and goes right to sleep after we finish playing.This is a problem, so I must play in a way that does not stimulate him so much that he gets tired.
I like playing shogi with my grandfather in this strangely careful way.