世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ

Socrates in Love, also known as Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World (世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ Sekai no Chūshin de, Ai o Sakebu) is a Japanese best selling novel written by Kyoichi Katayama which was published by Shogakukan in April 2001 and aired on August 26, 2006 in Japan.

A seventeen year old Sakutaro Matsumoto stands on the red earth of Australia (Ayers Rock, so called the center of the world) under its blue sky. The colored sand runs through his hands and a tear appears on his cheek. An enduring devotion and heartbreaking loss of the love of his life, Aki Hirose, to leukemia. No matter how hard he cried out for her and she will never ever come back again.

Time flies, it's 2004 and he has been living in a world trudges through everyday existence without her for seventeen years, as if half of him died with her since then. One day, the last tape of Aki's audio diary  suddenly unearthed, leading him returning to his  hometown in the south to see his old high school for the last time before it's demolished and where he first met Aki.

A bittersweet tale of young love story unfold through his memories ... ...

“It’s not the parting or the absence that’s sad.

You love them, and that’s why saying good-bye breaks your heart.” - Kyoichi Katayama

世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ

(在世界中心呼喚愛 - Crying Out Love In The Centre Of The World)

朔と亜紀

I can tell by the tears that my heart's in a crush

And it's just as I feared – that it never will hush

If it wasn't to be then why can't I break free?

If the truth wasn't spoken – why was I so broken?

I don't live without you – I still think about you

And I can't live with you – with this negative view

And I know exactly where it all went wrong

For my love for you was… far, far too strong

My love was so strong that it had to go wrong

And then I took a road that became far too long

And I can tell by the tears, I'm a fool to remember

But I know by the years that I can never surrender

First Love

Got to know the song from watching the Japan romance drama series - Majo no Jōken (魔女の条件) ("Terms of a Witch") of 11 episodes which released in Year 1999.

In the show, Matsushima Nanako plays Hirose Michi, a 26 year old young and pretty high school math teacher, who is engaged to a middle-class office worker, uncertain of her love for her fiance but feeling pressure from her father being a man of a great stature and influence in society to do what is expected of her.

Kurosawa Hikaru who cast by Takizawa Hideaki, a 17 year old boy frustrated by his home life with his single mother and having been expelled from many high schools for bad behavior and enters Michi's class as a new transfer student.

Michi, being young and idealistic, tries to be the good teacher and makes it her aim to reform Hikaru. As the story progress, they realize that they both equally scornful of the constraints of society and eventually, their relationship grows with this common bond that draws them close. What follows is a heart-wrenching story of forbidden love where Michi must face society's judgement for corrupting a minor, abandoning her fiance and disappointing her parents and co-workers. Things become even more complicated when Michi soon discovers she is carrying Hikaru’s child ... ...

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,

while loving someone deeply gives you courage. - Lao Tzu

FIRST LOVE - Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル)

Saigo no kisu wa

Tabako no flavor ga shita

Nigakute setsunai kaori

Ashita no imagoro niwa

Anata wa doki ni irun darou

Dare wo omotterun darou

You are always gonna be my love
Itsuka dareka to mata koi ni ochitemo

I'll remember to love
You taught me how
You are always gonna be the one
Ima wa mada kanashii love song
Atarashii uta utaeru made

Tachidomaru jikan ga
Ugokidasou to shiteru
Wasuretakunai koto bakari

Ashita no imagoro niwa
Watashi wa kitto naiteru
Anata wo omotterun darou

You will always be inside my heart
Itsumo anata dake no basho ga aru kara
I hope that I have a place in your heart too
Now and forever you are still the one
Ima wa mada kanashii love song
Atarashii uta utaeru made

You are always gonna be my love
Itsuka dareka to mata koi ni ochitemo
I'll remember to love
You taught me how
You are always gonna be the one
Mada kanashii love song
Now and forever

FIRST LOVE - Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル)(English Version)

Once in a while
You are in my mind
I think about the days that we had
And i dream that these would all come back to me
If only you knew every moment in time
Nothing goes on in my heart
Just like your memories
How I want here to be with you
Once more

You will always gonna be the one
And you should know
How I wish I could have never let you go
Come into my life again
Oh, don't say no
You will always gonna be the one in my life
So true, I believe i can never find
Somebody like you
my first love

Once in awhile
Your are in my dreams
I can feel the warmth of your embrace
And I pray that it will all come back to me
If only you knew every moment in time
Nothing goes on in my heart
Just like your memories
And how I want here to be with you
Once more
yah yah yah

You will always be inside my heart
And you should know
How I wish I could have never let you go
Come into my life again
Please don't say no
Now and forever you are still the one
In my heart
So true, I believe I could never find
Somebody like you
My first love
oh oh

You will always gonna be the one
And you should know
How I wish I could have never let you go
Come into my life again
Oh, don't say no
You will always gonna be the one
So true, I believe I could never find
Now and forever