Aika Kanda Shares a Glimpse into Everyday Married Life

If you could modify a part of your body, which would it be?

One sunny break during the rainy season, I woke up a little later than usual and had coffee with my husband on our home balcony. For the two of us, who are thankfully busy with work every day, it was a rare and precious moment.

A blue sky stretched out before us. Perhaps because it looked like the open sea, my husband, who loves animals, started talking about whales. Despite being mammals, whales can spend hours underwater while sleeping. I became intrigued and asked for more whale trivia.

Just then, I noticed something had landed on my husband’s thigh. It had wings, large eyes, and half its body was striped yellow and black… (a horsefly!). As I reached out to swat it away, it turned toward me. I screamed “Wah!” and tried to fend it off, but it kept coming at me again and again.

I’ve always been terrified of bugs, especially flying ones—their erratic movements are unlike anything human, and they scare me. Once I’ve been frightened enough, my fear meter breaks and gets overridden by anger. This time, too, I got so fed up with the persistent horsefly that I thought, “You wanna go?! Let’s go!!” I stood up, grabbed a nearby rag, and started flailing it around. The tide turned. Apparently, my movements looked exactly like the “Running Man” dance, and my husband burst out laughing. His laughter snapped me back to reality, and the situation was defused.

Then my husband said, “I always think this—but wouldn’t it be great if we could just blast wind out of our palms?” His reason: when he spots a rat in the street (which he absolutely hates), he wants to be able to blow it far away in an instant, so far he can’t even see it. True, that would work for bugs too. “That’s a great idea,” I said, and the conversation shifted to: “If you could modify a part of your body, what would you change?”

Actually, I’ve had my answer to this type of question decided ever since I was in middle school. In the anime Dragon Ball, there’s a scene where Shenron the dragon grants a single wish. Watching that, I thought I needed to be prepared—just in case my moment ever came—so I could state my wish clearly and precisely.

My one and only wish: “Make my lower legs 5 cm longer.” My height stopped growing in my second year of middle school—I stayed at 155 cm. I always wished I were taller, or at least had longer legs. But if I just said, “Make me taller!” I might end up freakishly tall. And if I said, “Make my legs longer!” my thighs alone might grow. So 14-year-old me decided to be as specific as possible: “Make my lower legs 5 cm longer.” That way, even when sitting, my legs would still look long.

Something I’d like to be able to emit from my fingertips

Next, it was my husband’s turn. He said, “I want to be able to make soy sauce come out of my fingertips.” Now that he mentioned it, I remembered he’d been saying this for a while. But I had the impression that what he wanted to come out changed depending on the time. That wasn’t ideal. So I proposed, “Let’s decide now!”

We tried to pick what should come out of the five fingers on his non-dominant (right) hand. Since he couldn’t settle on it, I suggested things like “What about your favorite miso soup or tonjiru (pork soup)?” But he replied, “Chunks bigger than my finger would pop out with too much force,” so that was a no-go. When I said, “How about your beloved rice?” he answered, “It would come out one grain at a time from under the nail and skin,” which didn’t suit his desire to eat a lot. While I was getting overwhelmed by the level of detail he was considering, he gradually clarified his vision: “It’s more like I want to add just a little bit of something I’m missing during a meal from my fingertips.”

Finally, we decided on these five: mineral water, carbonated water, soy sauce, lemon juice, and soup stock.

Mineral water was essential since he drinks a lot of it. Carbonated water was so he could immediately clean any stains on his clothes during meals before I could get mad at him. Soy sauce, lemon juice, and soup stock were things he often felt were lacking in bento boxes in dressing rooms, so being able to top them up from his fingers would be a dream.

Everyone has their own wishes. What matters is being ready to clearly and accurately express your wish when that moment comes, so it gets granted just the way you want. For that, everyday preparation is key. Now that my husband has figured his out, he’ll be able to seize the opportunity when it comes. Thinking that made it easier than ever for me to watch him leave for work that day. I really hope that someday, those flavors will come out of his fingertips.♡

★This essay series has been compiled into her first book, “Where Exactly Does the Royal Road Run?”—now on sale and receiving great reviews!

Aika Kanda was born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science at Gakushuin University, she joined NHK in 2003 as an announcer. In 2012, she left NHK and became a freelance announcer. Since then, she has been active mainly in variety shows and is currently a regular host on the daytime program Pokapoka (Fuji TV) as one of the main MCs.

From “FRIDAY”, July 11, 2025 issue.