Nu Bom Park

昨日の入賞スピーチを再現してみます。

Do you know where the Nul Bom Park is?
"Nul" means "always" and "Bom" means "Springtime" in Korean.
Now you can guess.
Yes, it is in Korea and located about 50km away from the capital city of Seoul.

This is the most impressive place in my life, because it is the palce I first met my wife 36 years ago.

At that time I worked for the Japanese Embassy in Korea as a young Diplomat.
I had a good friend temporarily working with me.
He was Mr. Kobayashi, married but very good at being friends with young girls.

One day in October 1977, he invited me to an athletic meeting for the Japanese poeple living in Seoul.
This was because he had no cars available while I had a nice one.
I drove him to the Nul Bom Park where the event was held.
There were more than 500 poeple in the Park enjoying attractions such as Bread Eat & Run Race, Baloon Breaking Game, Beer Drinking Competition, Blind Running Race etc.

During these attractions we noticed a young lady taking many pictures of the games.
After the meeting was closed, Mr Kobayashi walked to her and said,
" Hellow Miss! Where are you from?"
" Me? I am from the magazine publishing company in Seoul."
" Well, nice to meet you. I work for Japanese Embassy. This is my business card. Keep it."
" Nice to meet you too, Sir. And this is mine."
" Oh! You are a reporter, Momoe San."
" Yes I am, Mr Kobayashi."
" This is my friend Takki who also works for Japanese Embassy"
" Nice to see you, Takki."
" Very nice to see you, Miss Yamaguchi. As we are going back to Seoul now, may I give you a ride to the city?"
”You are so kind, Takki. I am happy to go with you, gentlemen."

Thus three of us went back by a car driven by myself.
On the way to the city Mr. Kobayashi was so busy with appealing himself to her.
So I had no chance to speak to her.

A few days later I got a phone call from Miss. Yamaguchi.
She said over the phone;
" It was very kind of you to take me back the other day. I would like to invite both of you to a dinner tonight. May I?"
" Just a moment. I ask him. ... OK! We are wlling to accept your invitation."
Then we became closer and closer each other.

One month later Mr. Kobayashi finished his assignment in Korea and left for Japan.
I believe you can easily imagine the story afterward.

Whenever I remember this place, my heart is ALWAYS filled with SPRINGTIME.