Reading the Ehime Shimbun and Reflecting on the Future of Young People and Our Communities — The Return of a Bookstore, the Governor’s Election, and the Art of Handwriting November 2, 2026 (Monday)Reiwa 8 — Life at Eden

This morning, before breakfast, I opened my ten-year diary to check my schedule for the day.

I realized that I had an appointment at Okushima Clinic’s urology department, which I had canceled once because of my hospitalization. Since the hospital had prescribed medication for my overactive bladder, I had simply left the matter as it was.

After my appointment, I thought I might also look for a simple iPhone case nearby.

Then I turned to this morning’s Ehime Shimbun.

There was no economics section today, so I read some articles I might not otherwise have chosen. They covered the increasingly early job-hunting process, the reopening of a bookstore in Gintengai, a questionnaire for candidates in the Ehime gubernatorial election, and the importance of handwriting.

Each article dealt with a different subject, but together they made me reflect on the future of young people and the life of our communities.

Who Are the Rules of Job Hunting Really For?

One article reported that Ehime University had held a job-hunting seminar for students’ parents.

Corporate recruitment activities are starting earlier every year. By the third year of university, internships have apparently become a form of selection in all but name.

According to the article, the rules governing job hunting have become little more than formalities, and those who begin earlier are increasingly gaining an advantage.

It reminded me of my days as a high school teacher, when the official starting date for job hunting was September 1.

Some local companies would contact the school’s career guidance coordinator before the official date, asking us to recommend good students.

Even when the school questioned this practice, saying that it was wrong to approach students before the official start date, the situation was ultimately tolerated.

As a result, some students who moved ahead early secured jobs before others.

Even back then, I wondered what the rules of job hunting really meant.

The process for university students seems to have become even more accelerated.

Of course, it is important to help students and their parents understand how to approach job hunting. But what is being done to ensure that companies themselves follow the established rules?

To protect young people’s studies and university life, shouldn’t we also be looking at the recruitment practices of companies themselves?

A Bookstore Returns to Gintengai

Another article caught my attention: a bookstore had reopened in Matsuyama’s Gintengai shopping arcade for the first time in about four years.

The bookstore, called Honmaru, is a shared bookstore owned by the writer Ms. Imamura.

The idea came from hearing high school students say that they wanted a bookstore.

Each shelf is curated by an individual shelf owner, offering a variety of new and used books, along with collections reflecting each person’s interests and themes.

I was surprised that such a large shopping arcade as Gintengai had been without a bookstore.

When I lived in Shizuoka, I watched small neighborhood bookstores disappear one after another. Some were absorbed into larger stores, while others relocated. Eventually, only a handful remained.

There are probably many reasons for this, including declining interest in reading and the spread of digital books.

My own eyesight has deteriorated, and with cataracts, glaucoma, nearsightedness, and other problems, there was a long period when I hardly read at all.

Even so, since moving to Eden, I have read Miura Shion’s The Great Passage and Aoshima Tatsuko’s Atonement of the Boys on Kindle.

The pleasure of reading remains the same, whether we read paper books or electronic ones.

But browsing a bookstore and unexpectedly picking up a book is a pleasure that only a bookstore can offer.

I am glad that a place where young people can discover books has returned to the heart of Matsuyama.

I hope Honmaru will be loved by the local community and remain there for many years to come.

Reading the Candidates’ Questionnaire for the Ehime Gubernatorial Election

Today’s Ehime Shimbun also featured a questionnaire for candidates in the gubernatorial election.

Each candidate presented policies addressing population decline, employment for young people in Ehime, childbirth and child-rearing support, and the relocation of older people to the prefecture.

The proposals included assistance with student loan repayments, financial support for starting salaries, childbirth bonuses, household support services, and free medical care and school lunches for children.

If implemented, these would certainly be welcome measures for residents.

However, what concerned me was the lack of explanation about how these policies would actually be carried out.

If the government is going to help repay student loans, who will qualify, and for how long?

Would a childbirth bonus be a one-time payment? How long would families be able to use household support services?

If medical care and school lunches are to be free for children, where will the funding come from?

I remembered my rehabilitation therapist telling me that having two months of free school lunches for their children had been a great help.

It certainly helps a household budget. But if the program ends after two months, it is different from a permanent policy.

Population decline cannot be addressed simply by listing attractive promises.

How will Ehime create jobs, wages, and child-rearing environments that make young people want to continue living here? How will it ensure that older people have access to reliable medical care and nursing services?

I wanted to see not only the direction of each policy, but also its funding, timeline, and implementation plan.

I Want to Continue Valuing Handwriting

The last article I read was about handwriting.

Around 70 percent of people said they had opportunities to write by hand in their daily lives. Meanwhile, about 80 percent believed that the habit of handwriting should be valued.

What surprised me was that the highest level of support came from the youngest group, those aged 16 to 19.

Perhaps young people who have grown up surrounded by digital devices have come to appreciate the value of writing by hand.

I, too, sometimes find that I can no longer write kanji that I once knew well.

I can read them, but I cannot write them. The characters appear in my mind, yet my hand cannot reproduce them. I have to look them up before I can write them correctly.

And yet, sometimes, a character suddenly comes back to me, and I can write it from memory.

Experiences like these have recently made me want to take up calligraphy again.

We have our own writing system.

Kanji, hiragana, and katakana each have their own history. When written by hand, they can also express individuality and emotion.

I believe it is important to embrace digital technology. But I also hope that education will preserve the experience of handwriting rather than allowing it to disappear.

Perhaps it is precisely because I am beginning to lose the ability to write that I want to value handwriting once again.

What It Means to Read the Newspaper

As I read this morning’s Ehime Shimbun, I thought about young people’s job hunting, local bookstores, the future of the prefecture, and our written culture.

What these articles seemed to share was a common question: How can we protect the things that cannot be measured by convenience and efficiency alone?

Young people should be able to work and study with peace of mind.

Our communities should have places where people can encounter books.

Everyone should have access to systems that allow them to live securely.

And the culture of writing by hand should continue.

I believe all of these things are important for the society we are building.

Today, I will have breakfast and then head to Okushima Clinic.

My life after leaving the hospital is gradually beginning to move forward again. I read the newspaper, reflect on what I have read, and continue with another day.

That was my Monday morning.

#EhimeShimbun
#ReadingTheNewspaper
#JobHunting
#TheFutureOfYoungPeople
#Gintengai
#HonmaruBookstore
#BookstoreReopening
#EhimeGubernatorialElection
#PopulationDecline
#ChildcareSupport
#Handwriting
#Calligraphy
#LifeAtEden
#LifeAfterHospitalization
#DailyReflections
#Kanon