All play and no work makes You a dull girl.

Well, it took an unusually long time, but in looks like Japan is finally getting used to the idea of hunkering down and self-isolating for a while. However, for many musicians this housebound period started a long time ago when large-scale performances were shut down in February.

And for pop stars and idols, the transition from dancing on stage in front of hundreds of adoring fans to sitting at home and finally getting around to fixing that wobbly doorknob can be rocky. Luckily, thanks to social media, we can keep tabs on these celebrities to make sure they’re doing okay. For example, let’s check in on idol and actress You Kikkawa (@kikkawa_you on Twitter) and see how she’s holding up.

▼ “158 pieces”

See, she’s found a perfectly normal way to keep her analytical skills active and maintain a healthy diet.

Furthermore, as the minutes spent at home begin to stretch out and feel like hours, simply eating a strawberry barely puts a dent into one’s daily routine. So, why not pluck out each individual seed, count them, take photos, post them to social media, then eat it?

▼ For Japanese language learners it’s a great way to practice our “tsubu” counters, used for very small granular objects, especially when teardrop shaped.

By they way, that corn one was interesting, because I’m pretty sure that a single ear almost always has an even number of kernels. At least, I think I heard that on NHK one time, but odd numbers are possible sometimes, kind of like finding a four-leaf-clover. Maybe that’s what happened here, or the way it appears to have been cut might have…sigh.

This is our life now, isn’t it?

Let’s see what other people are saying.

“I hope she does cod roe next.”
“Is she okay?”
“I thought corn was supposed to have an even number of kernels due to cell division.”

HA! I thought so! Sorry, moving on…

“She clearly likes to be exact.”
“She should do this on YouTube and make some money on the side.”
“I can relate. The other day I was trying to calculate how many slices of bread I’ve eaten in my life.”
“You shouldn’t play with her food.”

Fans of Kikkawa might not be surprised at her above-average level of patience. One of her claims to fame is possibly having released the longest single of any Japanese idol. Her 2015 song “Hana” clocks in at an impressive 17 minutes and 31 seconds.

It looks like we’re far from being out of the woods yet, but fortunately for her, there’s a whole world of food that can be carefully taken apart and its components counted.

Hopefully, she saves completely disassembling an onigiri and counting each grain of rice until closer to the end of this pandemic though. It can only go downhill from there.

Source: Twitter/@kikkawa_you, Hachima Kiko
Featured image: Twitter/@kikkawa_you
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