What did you think or feel after writing and reading this poem?

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If this poem were turned into a song, what would it sound like?

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“Dear Future Me” is a series in which Shohei Koyama—poet and owner of JIYUCHO — delivers poetic words in Japanese and English, like letters to his future self that trace the subtleties of everyday life. I hope this becomes a place like your mailbox where postcard poems arrive.

You can read the previous series
“This Morning’s Drawing” here→

Daily

2025-10-09

A shelf once lined with toys in an old Tokyo neighborhood
a voting box from an election long ago in America
a lightbulb bought in Osaka
a work desk that has always been here

Today they all bask in the sun of the twenty-first century
I watch them though I have not even lived half a century
Visitors come
our eyes meet
we smile at a moment that will never come again

About this piece

What did you think or feel after writing and reading this poem?: This day that will never come again.
If this poem were turned into a song, what would it sound like?: Maybe it’s a folk song.

About JIYUCHO owner Koyama

Began writing poetry as a student. Deeply moved by Shuntaro Tanikawa’s Two Billion Light-Years of Solitude, where physical laws were expressed in beautiful words. While wandering the world, continued writing poetry and founded a company at the age of 27. In May 2018, released TOMOSHIBI POST, a web service that allows people to send letters to their future selves. In August 2019, opened JIYUCHO in Kuramae, Tokyo. In December 2023, opened FUTO, a poetic café and second location. In August 2024, published the poetry collection The World at Last, with You and Me. Graduated from the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science. Studied abroad in Seattle, Washington, USA, for one year during university.

Links of the owner Koyama