Hisashi Kashiwai

‘The idea of happiness pitching up in my life like that all of a sudden – it terrified me.’

‘But in my line of work, we don’t always get to give people what they want. In fact, sometimes we try and force something on them which they find downright unappealing.’

‘Well, you know what they say: sometimes the bitterest medicine works best.’

‘Exactly. The thing is, I only ever thought about it from the perspective of the person administering the medicine. If you want to stay healthy, sometimes you have to swallow a bitter pill – in other words, people should just sort of grin and bear things. I never stopped to think how it might actually feel to be on the receiving end. I decided to remind myself just how important it was to eat something you really like . . .’