<figure id="attachment_417484" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417484" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="60c04421"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/be1ab9153cabda3fde505f5cdbc2f2cc.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417484" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration by Kanda-san</figcaption></figure>
<h2> A turning point in my life that would be the first time</h2>
<p> It was dusk one evening in February. I was on my way home from the nearest station and approached my usual five-way intersection. A small five-way intersection with no traffic lights. There, two boys with school bags on their backs said to me, &#8220;Bye! See you tomorrow! Bye bye! They turned their backs to each other and started walking in opposite directions. They were both in the third grade of elementary school.</p>
<p> As one of them passed by me, he muttered in a small voice, &#8220;Oh &#8230;&#8230;,&#8221; as if remembering something, and stopped. Then, as if determined, he turned around and shouted to his friend who was moving away from him. Hey,&#8221; he said, &#8220;do you go to cram school?　Do you go to cram school?&#8221; I asked. He stopped and turned to his friend. I asked back, &#8220;What?&#8221; I asked back. Do you go to cram school?&#8221; When I asked again, he looked puzzled by the sudden and unconnected question and replied, &#8220;&#8230;&#8230; Kumon! He replied, &#8221; Kumon! I asked again, &#8220;I see. What about cram school?&#8221; He asked. I don&#8217;t go to cram school! My friend said, &#8220;No, I don&#8217;t! Then the boy, after a short silence, said, &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to &#8230;&#8230;! and started walking again. Seeing him, my friend also started walking again.</p>
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<p> As I watched the whole thing from the side, my heart tightened in my chest. February is the month when the sixth graders take the entrance exam for junior high school. For elementary school students who may take junior high school entrance exams in the future, this is the time when their parents question whether or not they will start attending cram schools to study for the exams, and whether or not they have the will to take the exams in the first place.</p>
<p> When I was a child, it was common for children to start attending cram school in the spring of their fifth year of elementary school to prepare for junior high school entrance exams. However, today&#8217;s children start cram school much earlier. It is common for children to start attending cram school from the third or fourth grade, and some families even start from the early grades of elementary school.</p>
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<p> My own guess is that the boy was just now asking, &#8220;Do you want to take the entrance examination for junior high school? Will he attend cram school?&#8221; and &#8220;Will he attend cram school?　But there is no way he can make a decision yet. What is an entrance examination?　What is it for?　What is cram school?　Is it fun?　You don&#8217;t really know, but you are probably feeling the pressure of having to make a decision that will somehow affect your future. That&#8217;s why you must have gathered up the courage to ask your trusted friends about it.　But you couldn&#8217;t talk to them because you knew that Kumon is the only school you go to, right?</p>
<p> I couldn&#8217;t help but imagine that much. It was a turning point in his life, probably for the first time. With her tiny body and brain, she is struggling to find some kind of answer. I felt so much love for her, and I wanted to help her out of her anxiety and hug her and tell her it was going to be okay. I was surprised that it was so unlike me to think like this, but that&#8217;s how I felt.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" I am 12 years old."></div>
<h2>The willfulness and true feelings of 12-year-old Aika</h2>
<p> I took the junior high school entrance exam because I failed the elementary school entrance exam. At that time, my local school was a school for those who had failed the entrance exam. Therefore, I had no intention of attending the same junior high school as those children, and naturally, I chose to take the junior high school entrance examination and started attending cram school.</p>
<p> I thought I would smile and be overjoyed when I got the acceptance I had longed for. But in reality, I cried. I was surprised, and then I realized. The truth was that studying was hard for him.</p>
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<p> I could not talk with my classmates in elementary school at all. I couldn&#8217;t understand a word they were saying about a TV show they had watched yesterday, because I had been so busy studying that I hadn&#8217;t seen the show. At the time, I thought to myself, &#8220;I&#8217;m not like those kids who watch TV! But I think I was really lonely.</p>
<p> I knew that my parents had been fighting because of my studying for the entrance examinations, and that my brother was being told by my parents, &#8220;Be quiet! I knew that my parents had been fighting because of my studying for the exams, and that my brother had been getting angry with my parents for &#8220;being quiet! When I thought that passing the exam would put an end to all that, my 12-year-old self was so relieved that I burst into tears.</p>
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<p> I wonder if that five-way street boy has made up his mind. My guess is that he will start cram school this spring, at least according to his parents&#8217; wishes. And for the next three years, he will spend his days studying. It must be hard for him. If I could stop him, I would. But I don&#8217;t have the right to do that to a child from another family. So I want him to do his best. Or rather, I have no choice but to do my best.</p>
<p> In my case, I really hit it off with the friends from junior high school that I met after the hardships I went through, and even now, at the age of 44, they are still my closest friends. So I have no regrets about taking the junior high school entrance exam, and I definitely hope you are smiling now, three years from now. I wish that every time I pass that five-way intersection.</p>
<figure id="attachment_417485" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417485" style="width: 3004px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-417485 size-full" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/695002d97b11ca3cd791054813aeec37.jpg" alt="" width="3004" height="3734"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417485" class="wp-caption-text"> © Kazuki Shimomura</figcaption></figure>
<p> Aika Kanda was born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Gakushuin University with a degree in mathematics, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003, and left in 2012 to become a freelance announcer. Since then, she has been active mainly in variety shows, and currently appears regularly as the main MC of the daytime TV program &#8220;Poka Poka&#8221; (Fuji Television Network).</p>
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<p> Her first book, &#8221; <a href="https://amzn.to/4dbWKKN">Where are you going on the road called Royal Road?</a> is now on sale by popular demand!</p>
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<p> From the March 28, 2025 issue of &#8220;FRIDAY</p>


 Aika Kanda

 Aika Kanda says that her heart tightened when she heard a conversation between two elementary school students. She imagined them at a turning point in their lives, taking the junior high school entrance examination for the first time. She then looks back on her own experience of taking the junior high school entrance exam and gives them encouragement.

Free Announcer Aika Kanda “Go for it, Boy of Five Forks!

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