Here's a toshinose renai hora banashi (yearend love relationship horror story) -- always a favorite topic of conversation during the season's more casual nomikai (drinking parties).

Sachie (32), was seeing a guy four years her junior. Friends had warned her of the pitfalls of dating a Toshishita-kun (Young One), but Sachie paid no heed. After all, it's so fashionable for women in their 30s to be seen in the company of a Young One, preferably wearing mineral-wash jeans and a down jacket from United Arrows.

And then . . . a disaster that struck in winter. One night, as Sachie was relaxing at home after a hard day at the office, the Young One showed up at her door with a book she had forgotten at his place a couple of nights ago. This would have been a nice gesture, but he had a young woman in tow, who was dressed to the nines and sporting kira-kira meku (glitter makeup) -- a surefire sign that this woman was not yet 30.