[Pre-Chorus 1]
It’s your prerogative to want to get the farm work done while it’s still cool out, but…

[Chorus 1]
When I stop to think about it calmly,
I realize that while it’s a crucial matter,
Even if you make a careless slip-up,
Things usually work out in the end.

[Verse 2]
I’m trying to get breakfast ready here, and it’s a total nuisance.
I feel like going out there to give them a piece of my mind,
but I decided to prioritize breakfast for now.
I had rinsed the rice and measured the water last night. But…

[Pre-Chorus 2]
I just realized I forgot to set the timer so it would be ready this morning.

[Chorus 2]
When I stop to think about it calmly,
I realize that while it’s a crucial matter,
Even if you make a careless slip-up,
Things usually work out in the end.

[Verse 3]
I hurriedly set it up, checked the brown rice setting, and hit the start button.
The display said it would take an hour and ten minutes.
But it actually took an hour and forty minutes;
by then, the side dishes were already done, so…

[Pre-Chorus 3]
Since the last ten minutes were just for steaming,
I stopped the cycle early and switched it to “keep warm.”

[Chorus 3]
When I stop to think about it calmly,
I realize that while it’s a crucial matter,
Even if you make a careless slip-up,
Things usually work out in the end.

[Bridge]
As I ate my breakfast, I thought:
Since I usually end up eating the rice last anyway,
Today I actually got to eat it fresh out of the cooker.
It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

[Final Chorus]
When I stop to think about it calmly,
I realize that while it’s a crucial matter,
Even if you make a careless slip-up,
Things usually work out in the end.

[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
“It’s some baked goods,” he said,
Handing me the box.

[Chorus 1]
Instead of standing still and overthinking,
Let’s clear the minds and take action.
Acting with a light heart is so important;
It has a way of coming back around to you.

[Verse 2]
I thanked him for his hard work and accepted the small box.
When I opened the cardboard box.
I found baked goods inside.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
I put them in the refrigerator and headed outside.

[Chorus 2]
Instead of standing still and overthinking,
Let’s clear the minds and take action.
Acting with a light heart is so important;
It has a way of coming back around to you.

[Verse 3]
It was a return gift for the sweet potatoes and perilla leaves I had sent.
I hadn’t paid for the sweet potato seedlings or the perilla seeds.

[Pre-Chorus 3]
The only thing I paid for
Was the shipping cost.

[Chorus 3]
Instead of standing still and overthinking,
Let’s clear the minds and take action.
Acting with a light heart is so important;
It has a way of coming back around to you.

[Bridge]
I sent crops I’d grown without spending money,
And they came back as delicious treats.
A happy reward born from taking action.

[Final Chorus]
Instead of standing still and overthinking,
Let’s clear the minds and take action.
Acting with a light heart is so important;
It has a way of coming back around to you.

[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
But then again, when it rains,
I can’t actually do the farm work.

[Chorus 1]
The world is instantly wrapped in a sheet of white.
Rain, rain, rain falling from gray clouds.
I wish it would just keep falling like this,
But nature doesn’t always go the way we want.

[Verse 2]
We can’t create artificial rain clouds,
Though we can predict when they’ll form.
The autumn rain front moves in,
And the rain begins to fall.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Then again, we don’t know why
That autumn rain front moves the way it does.

[Chorus 2]
The world is instantly wrapped in a sheet of white.
Rain, rain, rain falling from gray clouds.
I wish it would just keep falling like this,
But nature doesn’t always go the way we want.

[Verse 3]
This rain will eventually stop,
And the sky will clear up.
And so today too.
I water the fields

[Pre-Chorus 3]
This endless watering –
How long will it go on?

[Chorus 3]
The world is instantly wrapped in a sheet of white.
Rain, rain, rain falling from gray clouds.
I wish it would just keep falling like this,
But nature doesn’t always go the way we want.

[Bridge]
Even with scientific progress,
We cannot create rain clouds,
It would require immense energy –
Extracting energy from the rain clouds.

[Final Chorus]
The world is instantly wrapped in a sheet of white.
Rain, rain, rain falling from gray clouds.
I wish it would just keep falling like this,
But nature doesn’t always go the way we want.

[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
If I only eat beef,
My nutrition will be unbalanced.

[Chorus 1]
I eat to live.
I produce to eat.
Keep life simple.
A simple life.

[Verse 2]
It’s the same with pigs,
And chickens seem manageable.
But then I’d need a poultry farm.
Fish require a boat.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
And a boating license, too.
If it capsizes and I drown, I’m done for.

[Chorus 2]
I eat to live.
I produce to eat.
Keep life simple.
A simple life.

[Verse 3]
I’ll grow vegetables.
The field costs 5000 yen a year for 800 square meters.
And seeds are 300 yen a packet.
A hoe costs 5000 yen.

[Pre-Chorus 3]
An electric weed whacker costs 50000 yen.
But the electricity to run it costs next to nothing.

[Chorus 3]
I eat to live.
I produce to eat.
Keep life simple.
A simple life.

[Bridge]
Since making money in the primary sector isn’t very efficient,
I realized the solution was not to sell the produce.
With no income, I don’t have to pay taxes, either.
Still, I do need a bare minimum of money to survive.

[Final Chorus]
I eat to live.
I produce to eat.
Keep life simple.
A simple life.

[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
Here, insects have eaten the leaves.
I snap off the okra pods by hand.

[Chorus 1]
The forecast calls for rain soon,
Towering thunderclouds rise,
The sun sets in the western sky,
A crescent moon hangs high above.

[Verse 2]
There are pods 15 or 20 centimeters long; they weren’t there yesterday.
I wonder when they grew so big.
Eighteen plants in total – a bumper crop every day.
I fill the watering can and bucket with water again.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Water the bitter melon, red perilla, upland rice, black soybean edamame,
and corn, one by one.

[Chorus 2]
The forecast calls for rain soon,
Towering thunderclouds rise,
The sun sets in the western sky,
A crescent moon hangs high above.

[Verse 3]
I pick the perilla flowers and leaves and drop them into the bucket one by one.
There is so much. I stop when the bucket is about eighty percent full.
I harvest the sweet potatoes. Tracing the stems down from the leaves to find the base.

[Pre-Chorus 3]
I pull up hard on the base to extract the potatoes.
I drag them over to the edge of the field.

[Chorus 3]
The forecast calls for rain soon,
Towering thunderclouds rise,
The sun sets in the western sky,
A crescent moon hangs high above.

[Bridge]
I thought I had planted cucumbers around here,
But from beneath the sweet potato leaves,
A single yellow cucumber appears.
I snap it off.

[Final Chorus]
The forecast calls for rain soon,
Towering thunderclouds rise,
The sun sets in the western sky,
A crescent moon hangs high above.

[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
When I asked if they had it, I was told-unfortunately-
That the maker had retired due to old age.

[Chorus 1]
Overthinking usually gets you nowhere.
So it’s best to act as soon as the idea strikes;
Though for important matters, sleeping on it
And taking a fresh look helps avoid bad judgment.

[Verse 2]
You can’t beat the aging process,
So that part couldn’t be helped,
But it was a shame
That the flavor wasn’t passed on.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
An elderly man I didn’t know greeted me;
I thought he was the driver of a bus parked in the lot,

[Chorus 2]
Overthinking usually gets you nowhere.
So it’s best to act as soon as the idea strikes;
Though for important matters, sleeping on it
And taking a fresh look helps avoid bad judgment.

[Verse 3]

I need to change my motorcycle’s oil;
The rear tire still has plenty of tread left,
So a tire change can wait a while,
But the vehicle inspection is coming up in a month.

[Pre-Chorus 3]
As I let my thoughts wander,
I realize there’s so much to be done.

[Chorus 3]
Overthinking usually gets you nowhere.
So it’s best to act as soon as the idea strikes;
Though for important matters, sleeping on it
And taking a fresh look helps avoid bad judgment.

[Bridge]
The September breeze is cool,
And the forecast calls for rain this afternoon;
The sky doesn’t look like it right now,
But it pays not to let your guard down.

[Final Chorus]
Overthinking usually gets you nowhere.
So it’s best to act as soon as the idea strikes;
Though for important matters, sleeping on it
And taking a fresh look helps avoid bad judgment.
[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
When I looked inside the envelope, I found two lottery tickets for the Harvest Moon festival.

[Chorus 1]
On a moonlit night,
The whole neighborhood
Joins in the revelry –
A simple country pastime.

[Verse 2]
This year, the Harvest Moon falls on September 25th;
It is a traditional Japanese event where people gaze at the “mid-autumn full moon” –
Considered the most beautiful of the year – while giving thanks for the autumn harvest.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Since I live alone, I wondered if he had mistaken my house for another.

[Chorus 2]
On a moonlit night,
The whole neighborhood
Joins in the revelry –
A simple country pastime.

[Verse 3]
I thought about returning them, but I had no idea who the person was, so there was no way to give them back. I wasn’t going to go anyway. After all, while it would be nice to win a prize in the lottery after the tug-of-war, if I don’t win, I hand out tissues – so even if I go.

[Pre-Chorus 3]
I end up sitting by the roadside for hours,
Occasionally receiving some tea and snacks.

[Chorus 3]
On a moonlit night,
The whole neighborhood
Joins in the revelry –
A simple country pastime.

[Bridge]
He’s missing one lottery ticket, though.
Well, two houses were empty,
Leaving four tickets left over,
So he guesses it doesn’t matter.

[Final Chorus]
On a moonlit night,
The whole neighborhood
Joins in the revelry –
A simple country pastime.

[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
It’s not a huge problem, really,
But it’s good to do something different now and then.

[Chorus 1]
Completely clearing my mind,
Moving my body vigorously,
Following where my heart leads,
Following where the mood takes me.

[Verse 2]
I’d been eating nothing but vegetables,
Feeling a bit like a vegetarian,
So I thought I’d have some fish for a change –
And decided to go fishing.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Normally, I’d check the tide charts and head out at low or high tide.

[Chorus 2]
Completely clearing my mind,
Moving my body vigorously,
Following where my heart leads,
Following where the mood takes me.

[Verse 3]
I just attached the reel to the rod,
Threaded the line through the guides,
Tied a metal jig to the end of the shock leader,
And headed out the door.

[Pre-Chorus 3]
I had only a brief window of time before the twilight darkness set in.

[Chorus 3]
Completely clearing my mind,
Moving my body vigorously,
Following where my heart leads,
Following where the mood takes me.

[Bridge]
Standing on a small rocky outcrop at the river mouth,
I cast the metal jig toward the opposite bank.
The lure got no reaction.
It seems the fish aren’t home today.

[Final Chorus]
Completely clearing my mind,
Moving my body vigorously,
Following where my heart leads,
Following where the mood takes me.

[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
Okra pods grow so fast –
Reaching fifteen centimeters in just a single day.

[Chorus 1]
The summer heat lingers,
Yet the signs of autumn draw near.
Just as water soaks into
The parched soil of the field.

[Verse 2]
Since sunset comes a little earlier now,
I started my farm work an hour sooner.
Once I finish harvesting the okra,
I move on to picking the beefsteak plant,
Then pick the beefsteak plant flowers.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Thinking I’ll make fries with the white blossoms,
I keep snapping them off one by one.

[Chorus 2]
The summer heat lingers,
Yet the signs of autumn draw near.
Just as water soaks into
The parched soil of the field.

[Verse 3]
As the sun sets and dusk settles in,
Swarms of mosquitoes launch a fierce attack.
The coil hanging at my waist isn’t working –
Or so I thought, until I realized the fire had gone out.

[Pre-Chorus 3]

I beat a hasty retreat from the field,
Picking up my empty watering can.

[Chorus 3]
The summer heat lingers,
Yet the signs of autumn draw near.
Just as water soaks into
The parched soil of the field.

[Bridge]
I left my tools by the roadside,
And walked down to the sea.
The shoreline looked so close;
Was today a spring tide?

[Final Chorus]
The summer heat lingers,
Yet the signs of autumn draw near.
Just as water soaks into
The parched soil of the field.

[Outro]

[Pre-Chorus 1]
In the end, I planted three avocado pits in the field.
I hope they grow big someday.

[Chorus 1]
Long months of waiting will bear fruit;
Let’s wait patiently until then, not expecting too much, just glad if things work out.

[Verse 2]
Some accept them with genuine gratitude,
Those who try to peel and eat them right on the spot.
And those who heatlessly refuse, saying they don’t want them;
All kinds of people, a tapestry of human nature.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Some give vegetables in return,
While others take without giving back.

[Chorus 2]
Long months of waiting will bear fruit;
Let’s wait patiently until then, not expecting too much, just glad if things work out.

[Verse 3]
I briskly moved on from those interactions to tackle the most critical task:
The broad beans’ vernalization process.
The situation had worsened more than I expected.

[Pre-Chorus 3]
It felt like half of them had already failed;
I wonder how many will survive the cooling process,

[Chorus 3]
Long months of waiting will bear fruit;
Let’s wait patiently until then, not expecting too much, just glad if things work out.

[Bridge]
Not fixating on a single thing,
But moving steadily forward one step after another,
Helps spread the risk of failure –
A carefree attitude is just right.

[Final Chorus]
Long months of waiting will bear fruit;
Let’s wait patiently until then, not expecting too much, just glad if things work out.

[Outro]