Mysterious Stink – Finding “Yoyu” [Excerpt 27]

After solving the bathroom door problem, we got good at noticing what else bothered us, and it became a game to try and find a solution that would make everyone happy. Finding and solving these minor irritations gave us something to celebrate.

However, there was one small irritant that stumped us for days. Every morning, we noticed that something smelled like an old towel full of bacteria whenever we walked past Otosan’s room.

Already a pro at finding Otosan’s hearing aids when he lost them, I was confident I could find the source of the mysterious stink. And I did. You’ll never guess what it was!

Listen to the latest excerpt above to find out what caused the stink. And, then after that, why Otosan’s feet (not the source of the stink, by the way) caused me so much grief.

If you are interested in hearing the rest of my experience with Otosan, please subscribe. I share a new section each week.

And, if you’re new to the story, you can find the playlist here and start listening from Excerpt #1.

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About the book, Finding “Yoyu”

A few years ago, we moved my husband’s parents from a rural part of Japan to live with us in Tokyo in our tiny 800 square foot (73 square-meter) condo. My book, Finding “Yoyu,” is about what it took to decide to move them. It’s also about navigating the Japanese health care system and finding an appropriate nursing home for my mother-in-law while helping my father-in-law transition from a lifetime of farming to retirement in the big city. It’s about how we discovered he had Alzheimer’s and my husband had stage 3 colon cancer. It’s about how I managed to support these two men and keep (or find!) my yoyu all while going through a career change.

What is yoyu?

Yoyu is a Japanese word to express whether or not you have enough wherewithal, capacity, or bandwidth. It’s often used in phrases such as “I don’t have enough time.” Or, “I can’t afford that.” You can also use it to express your wherewithal physically, mentally, and emotionally. When you say, “I don’t have yoyu,” in Japanese, everyone infers from context what you mean. Though I am fluent in Japanese, I didn’t really get the full meaning until I met a cashier who didn’t have yoyu.