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Masanori – Conversation Lesson

Kristin: It was great to see Masanori again. It’d been five years. I think he was 1-1/2 or 2 years old when we saw him on Maui.

AJ: Yeah, so he’s grown a whole lot since then.

Kristin: Yeah.

AJ: Yes, yes, yes.

Kristin: 7 years old now. I know, it was amazing, too, that he actually remembered Joe from such a young age.

AJ: Yep. Yep, Yep.

Joe: The big man.

Kristin: Yeah, he’s such an interesting little guy.

AJ: Yeah, what’s interesting, because, y’know, when you saw him already at age 1-1/2, y’know, he was obsessed with, at that time, seeds, avocados, plants. Because you saw him in Hawaii. But now, of course, y’know, he continues to be obsessed with nature. I mean his big obsessions now are cicadas in the summer and then acorns in the fall and spring. And then just almost anything in the natural world.

He’s kind of into beetles now, too. But not just into them like any normal kid, obsessed, obsessed. It’s hard to explain how obsessed he is about these things.

Joe: Well, actually, I don’t know if it is really hard because we saw those pictures that Mayumi had and it was insane just how many of those acorns there were. I mean, you could fill up a bathtub with these things.

AJ: Well, I think Tomoe said he has collected, they weighed it, 50 kilos of acorns. So that’s 100, roughly a 100 pounds of acorns, in their apartment in bags and boxes.

Kristin: And I think she also, Tomoe was saying last night, that they counted the cicada shells, I think it was the cicada shells.

playground in the nearby park, because they live right next to, like the next building next to us. So we’ve got like a park. They do have trees that have lots of acorns, which is, he’s into the acorns. And then those trees also have cicadas in the summer. So when the cicadas are gone, because the cicadas then, they all die in the summer and the larva go dig down into the ground and hibernate, basically. But then, so then he switches to acorns in the fall.

Joe: Y’know, what’s great is his enthusiasm has really spilled over and it’s, well, maybe that’s not the best way to put it, but he’s actually got everyone else involved in helping to support his obsession.

Y’know, I mean…

AJ: Well, even other kids.

Joe: …I heard that the grandfather, like Tomoe’s father, his grandfather was actually helping him.

AJ: Oh, always does, yeah, yeah, yeah, all the time. Whenever they visit the grandparents. So his grandfather always takes him out to either look for cicadas or now it’s acorns since we’re more in the fall/winter. So they go out and they collect acorns together. And other kids, too, this summer. So he was out, me and…he and I would be out there trying to catch them and then other kids in the playground started looking and getting interested. And then we noticed like a week or two later, we started seeing other kids with nets. And they’re like running around and they’re also collecting them.

Joe: Well, he’s got you involved, too.

AJ: And me, too.

Joe: There’s another great example, y’know? And I’m sure Mayumi is involved as well, y’know? But I think what will be interesting is to see if his interests carry over from childhood into adulthood and if his level of enthusiasm is sustained.

AJ: Yeah, y’know, because of course, everybody, because he’s so interested in the natural world and plants and bugs at the moment, I’ll be shocked if he goes into accounting or something unrelated.

Y’know, there’s kind of a natural assumption that, yeah, when he gets older he’s going to go into something in the natural sciences, but who knows, because you never know. Because he might not. He might suddenly in middle school get interested in business or, I don’t know, whatever, art. So it’s hard to know, but at least it seems at this point that that is going to continue because it started at age 1-1/2. He’s 6-1/2, almost 7 now, right? So he’s getting close to 7 and he’s still, it’s only getting stronger. But you’re right. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as he gets older.

Joe: Well, y’know, another part of this that I find interesting is that it’s not as though there was someone who was, y’know, getting him interest…piquing his interest in these things. Y’know? I mean… AJ: No one pushed him, no adults really encouraged it, right.

Joe: Yeah, because a lot of the time when a child has some sort of interest, it’s often because they’re…they see someone else interested in it and they see that person as a positive role model and they start mimicking that person, or they do it as a way to get closer to that person.

AJ: Mm.

Joe: Like, y’know, an example is when he wanted to go to jiu-jitsu with you.

AJ: Right.

Joe: He just wanted to do something with you, right?

AJ: Yeah, yeah. He’s not all into jiu-jitsu, that’s right. And it didn’t really click. He just wanted to be with me, right. Exactly. So this, but the thing with the plants and the bugs and the natural world is something that just comes from…I don’t know where it comes from, it comes from him though for sure. Not some natural affinity.

Kristin: Well, I think it’s so fascinating and I’ve never known of a little kid to be so focused and obsessed with something.