Walk through any Japanese neighborhood on a sunny morning, and you’ll see them: balconies full of shirts, towels, futons, all swaying gently in the wind. About 80% of American homes tumble-dry their laundry in a machine. In Japan, most of us still hang it outside. Not because we can’t afford dryers. We just like the way the sun does it. Clothes that smell like the afternoon. Sheets that feel like they’ve been somewhere. My grandmother said the sun disinfects better than any machine. I used to think that was just an old saying. Now I live alone, and every clear day, I find myself hanging shirts on a pole, talking to no one, missing her.