"The Riverside"
This story was told by Jan Scott-Frazier on episode #225: The Riverside
Synopsis
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In 1988, Jan is 22, and an aspiring animator who’s moved to Japan to go to school for the craft. She lives at the edge of Tokyo, by the Tama river, goes to school all day, and washes dishes in a restaurant at night; she’s exhausted and stressed out. She starts taking walks along the river late at night, to soothe herself, and begins seeing a young woman, night after night, who stands at a railing, staring out at the river and crying. Jan watches her, and feels intense compassion; she wants to comfort the woman, but isn’t sure how. As she’s plotting how she might be able to make contact without intimidating the woman or seeming like a stalker, the woman disappears; later, Jan discovers with deep sadness that the young woman took her own life.Themes/Keywords: alone, animation, animator, anime, artist, compassion, contact, crying, depression, follow, following, foreigner, glbtqia, grief, help, illustration, Japan, kevin's pick, Live, living abroad, loneliness, lost, midnight, mystery, river, sadness, suicide, Tokyo, trans, Trans storyteller, transgender, transwoman, walk, walking, weeping, woman
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