Many years had passed since I last listened to this mixtape, and when I played through it recently, it struck me as ironic. Particularly song No. 12, “We Have All the Time in the World.”
If you’ve read my memoir, The Same Moon, you know that Hideo is the book’s primary love interest, and we did not have all the time in the world. We met in 1994, when I moved to Japan and into his company’s dormitory. We started not-dating that September, followed by dating a few months later. It was, as they say, complicated.
Hideo made this mixtape early in our relationship, probably when we were still not-dating. Given that our conversations were a mix of Japanese and English, I remember listening to it and wondering, Does he understand all of these lyrics? Put another way, given that I had no intent of falling in love in Japan, I also wondered, How worried should I be?
Take a listen with me, and enjoy a trip to the mid-1990s, as recorded by a young man in rural Japan!
Sometimes you have to run far, far away to find your way home.
Sarah Coomber 
Aww, mixtapes are a dead art, and it’s pretty romantic that he did that for you. I’m fortunate to have grown up in that era, so I can definitely relate to the feels of having a mixtape. What a great share, Sarah!
Thanks, Stuart! Have you saved your mixtapes? I can’t part with those old cassettes — even though I rarely listen to them anymore!
I have to say, creating playlists — particularly for yoga classes — has satisfied my mixtape hankering. I have dozens of playlists on my app, and now they’re always with me! Not quite the same as mixtapes, because I’m constantly tweaking them, but still great for creating a mood. 🙂