One Litre of Tears - My inspiration.

I don’t think a lot of people on here watch Japanese dramas (more maybe they do, I don’t know) but I would like to take the time to write about an amazing, inspirational, and heart-warming drama called “1 Litre of Tears”.

I actually watched the drama awhile ago, but ended up not watching the SP until today. The drama was inspired by a real person and is based off of her diary that was published two years before her death. It is about a 15 year old girl named Ikeuchi Aya (the real girl’s name was Kitou Aya) who is diagnosed with a very rare and very cruel disease called Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) – a disease where the cerebellum of the brain slowly deteriorates to the point where the person affected can’t walk, speak, eat, and eventually (in some cases) cannot move most parts of their body. What makes the disease so cruel is that the mind is not affected at all. People who suffer from this disease will want to walk, talk, etc, but are unable to do so. You can find more information about the disease here or here if you want.

Aya is a bright and active 15 year old girl when she is diagnosed, and the drama does an amazing job of showing the pain, anger, and confusion she goes through after finding out. The things that happen, the way the characters react, the things they say, etc, are so realistic that I almost felt as if I was watching the real thing happen to the real girl. It was heartbreaking to see the way the public reacted to Aya as her symptoms grew worse, snickering and whispering behind her back because she was walking abnormally, or how her classmates complained that it was too troublesome to have her in the school because it took an extra 5 to 10 minutes to help her up the stairs and to the classroom. Even so, throughout the entire drama, Aya kept a smile on her face and kept writing inspirational words in her diary every day. The drama shows the frustrations not only Aya, but her entire family went through trying to come to terms with what exactly was happening. It even showed how much of an obstacle it was for Aya to write after her disease had progressed to the point where she couldn’t walk and could barely speak. Even though I cried at least once during every episode, I also smiled because of how much courage Aya had to fight through her disease and live on. I believe the message Aya and this drama was trying to send wasn’t just to inform us about this horrible disease, but was also to tell us all that no matter what, we need to keep moving forward.

“It’s ok to fall down.
Anyway, we can still get up, isn’t that a good thing?
While falling down, look up at the sky.
The blue sky high above my head seems so wide and limitless.
Can you see it smiling at you?
I am still alive.”

I suggest this drama not just to any Japanese drama fans, but to everyone. Although it’s sad at times, it also makes you take a good look at yourself and the things around you. No matter what is going on in your life, no matter what you’re going through, you have to keep pushing on. You can’t give up, no matter how big the obstacle is. Even when you feel like collapsing from the weight of the world, you have to stay strong. Take Aya’s words to heart and live on… always, live on.

I might not be able to portray the message like Aya could, but I truly believe in her words and always will. Whenever I get down, I think of her struggle and I am able to pick myself up because of it.

(You can read the English translation of her diary here or here. I’m pretty sure the translation on xanga is incomplete, but the one on blogspot is complete. Even if you don’t want to watch the drama, please consider reading her diary.)

Kitou Aya
July 19, 1962 – May 23, 1988
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