When my brother highly recommended this Japanese drama to me, I didn’t take him seriously. Why should I?
He hates drama. Unlike me, I’m a drama junkie since young. The only reason he watched Japanese drama is to drool at the actresses. He loves Japanese girls so much that he swear to marry one. His obsession with everything Japanese started…( I can’t remember when but let’s just said he’s a Japanese hardcore fan) I nearly choke while drinking water when he said he cried watching this drama. My superb macho brother cried? I must be having some hearing ( was chatting with him on MSN) eyes problem. Is this the same guy who laughed like hyena during sad show and went hyper watching all the Saw movies? Unbelievable. As a result, I watched the drama to see what the hype all about.
Thus…
2 weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, my eyes went swollen for the first time ever due to excessive crying. I cried for 5 hours straight, finishing packets of tissue in the process. The night before, I cried too. Uncontrollable. Tears started rolling down my cheeks as if it were not mine. Now I realised why he cried. It’s just so heart wrenching. My hearts ached at how human life can be so fragile.
I’m angry at how life sometimes turned out to be completely different from what we want.
I’m angry at how certain diseases choose their victim.
I’m angry at the limitations of human’s capabilities.
1 Litre of Tears is based on a true story which followed the journey of a 15 year old girl named Aya Kitou. At the tender age 15, Aya was diagnosed with a rare disease called Spinocerebellar Degeneration, a diesease which eventually affects her nervous system. She’ll slowly experience mobility and speech difficuilty and later succumbs to coma state and finally death. Sadly, till this day, there’s NO cure for this degenerative condition which last for the remainder of the patient’s life.
Anybody who had this disease may think of dying and giving up hope. I’m sure I’ll. But not Aya, she leads her life to the fullest till her death at the age of 25. During the 10 years, she did not spent it by mourning or go on a blaming spree. She continue living and kept writing on her diary until she no longer has the ability to hold a pen. The diary was something like a reminder and motivation for her not to give up. Throughout her struggle to find hope, she shed tons of tears many many times. Her heartwarming diary was published shortly before her death and it went on to inspire people who had the same disease like her. Not only that, her courage and positive attitude towards life also touched people from all walks of life to live on no matter how small is the hope.
As I qoute her, “Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing”.
I managed to track this book down in Kinokuniya KLCC (Japanese Book Department) but unfortunately it was in Japanese. Only cost around RM28. If you know where to get the English version, please leave a comment as my brother is desperately seeking for it. Nonetheless, full translations of the diary can be found here and here, translated by the fans. If you want to watch the drama, it’s available for download at Kioku Konseki.
Like Aya, I shed 1 litre of tears too. It is sad to see her died but knowing that she lives life without regrets give me reasson to live on. With her courage in my mind, I’m sure I could overcome any obstacles in life just like her.
NEVER give up hope!
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