Today, I played PC games with my son. Recently, due to my busy work schedule, I’ve had less time to play games with him than before. When he would ask, "Dad, can we play games together today?" I often found myself reluctantly saying, "Hmm, that might be difficult," prioritizing work or my personal time. However, I really want to cherish communication with my son. So today, I decided to cancel my work plans and spend time playing games together.

Today, we played a game called "RIDE5" with my son. This game is a motorcycle racing game that recreates motorcycles in real life, including engine sounds and handling. It feels like riding a real motorcycle. The race course is a real circuit track, such as Suzuka Circuit, and includes various types of roads, such as regular roads that are usually not used for racing.

We started racing right away at Suzuka Circuit.

Right from the start, I crashed my bike. Despite not having ridden a motorcycle for a while, I hadn’t expected to crash so quickly.

Meanwhile, my son kept pushing forward. I tried to regain my composure and accelerate, only to crash again. Things definitely weren’t going according to plan.

At one point, my son appeared behind me. As it turned out, I had fallen so far behind that he had lapped me.

Still determined, I kept trying to catch up, though I continued to crash repeatedly. Then suddenly, the bike wouldn’t accelerate even when I pressed the throttle. My speed dropped until I was barely moving at 30km/h.

Confused, I wondered what was happening. That’s when I heard my son call out, "Dad, you’re running out of gas!"

I had no idea we needed to manage fuel in this game.^[1]

Before I knew it, the race was over, and I had been thoroughly beaten.

We had a fantastic time racing together, and when my son asked, "Dad, let’s play again," I happily agreed. But there was actually a special reason why I chose to play games today.

A month ago, my son wrote me a letter during a school activity. The letter was written entirely in romaji and said "papamataissyonige-musiyou" (Dad, let’s play games together again). I’m not sure why he chose to write it in romaji, but I was determined to keep that promise, and seeing how happy it made him was worth it.

I believe that time spent playing with children is incredibly precious. While studying and extracurricular activities are important, I think memories of playing with parents are also essential for a child’s growth. I want to cherish that time and hope to spend more time with my son in the future.

I uploaded a part of our "RIDE5" gameplay video to YouTube. Have fun watching it!