Pacemaker

My father had to get a pacemaker put in. He had some problems with his heart. So I arranged for him to get an operation. After the operation, the doctor said to me, “The battery of the pacemaker will work for seven years. Seven years from now, let him have an operation to install a new battery.”

I started to worry. Seven years? Would I remember that?

I don’t know about your country’s system. In Japan, we have to update our driver’s license every five or so years. The police stations send us postcards to remind us. If we own cars, we need to get car inspections every two years. The car companies call us when it is time. How about passports? No one informs me when I need to update my passport. I am not a good passport holder. I have forgotten to update my passport many times over the years.

I didn’t know whether pacemakers fell in the same category as driver’s licenses, car inspections, or passports. If I forgot about the need to change the battery after seven years, my father would die. It was very frightening.

I actually can’t remember how we solved the problem. I think it is possible my father passed away before the seventh year. On the other hand, he was hospitalized many times before he passed away. Perhaps the hospital remembered to change the battery. I don’t remember. I do know that he didn’t die due to a low battery. So we must have solved the problem somehow.

We should have a system that can send reminder messages to our future selves.

 

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Where Is the Original?

Let me tell you about an old Japanese animation: Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo was released in 1978. I was eight. I watched the animation on TV and loved it. It was a large-scale and dynamic story. Historically famous people appeared in it. The characters moved around the world. Even the White House Chief of Staff appeared in it. It included scenes that were inappropriate for children. I mean erotic scenes and violent scenes. I was a child. So of course, I loved those scenes.

Let me introduce the story: Lupin’s enemy was Mamo. Lupin killed Mamo many times, but Mamo returned every time. Actually, the different Mamos were clones. In the climactic scene, Lupin thought he had burned the final Mamo to death. He assumed that that was the original Mamo. But then he found a small machine in the burned remains of his body. So he suspected that that was not the original. So where was the original? 　

By the way, I usually write about caregiving for my mother. You don’t know much about my experience as a caregiver for my father. It was actually harder than caregiving for my mother: He needed hemodialysis, he struggled to walk and to hear, and he was stubborn.

I’m not joking. His stubbornness was the most difficult aspect of caregiving for him. I was always afraid of him. I always needed to butter him up in order to start caregiving.

One day, he passed away. I had taken care of him for sixteen years, during which we had lived together. Those had been the most humiliating days of my life, and they had finally ended.

After the funeral, we moved to the crematorium. Then, following the cremation, we had a ceremony. The family members met his ashes and bones. I had already experienced this a few times. So, there should have been nothing to be surprised about. But there was.

There was a small burned machine in my father’s ashes. Why? I was confused. I imagined all sorts of possibilities. Then I remembered Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo.

Suddenly, it hit me: Maybe my father was not dead! This might be one of his clones! Where was the original?

Actually, that wasn’t it. The machine in the ashes was his pacemaker. I had almost forgotten that my father had had some heart problems. He’d had to get a pacemaker. I had arranged for the operation a few years before. But that was my first time to see the pacemaker itself.

Ultimately, my father was not a clone. But a part of his body was a machine. So we could have called him a cyborg.

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Japanese

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My Mother Used to Say

 

 My mother used to say, “When you evaluate a person, you should not mind what the person usually says. Watch carefully how the person reacts when a negative thing happens.”

 My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

 My mother had a friend who was like a right-hand woman. Her husband is a professor at a university. She always said beautiful things.

 The day my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the right-hand woman and I were in the consulting room at the hospital with my mother.

 On the way from the hospital, the right-hand woman suddenly yelled at me. She verbally abused me. She took her anger out on me. For the next twenty years, she never helped with caregiving for my mother.

 I have an elder brother. He is three years older than me. He always said beautiful things. I told him that our mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He suddenly yelled at me. He verbally abused me. He took his anger out on me. For the next twenty years, he never helped with caregiving for our mother.

 I always say stupid things. But I never yelled at anyone, even when I knew my mother had Alzheimer’s disease. Anger should not be taken out on someone. From that day on, I lived with my mother for fourteen years. After that, I found a good nursing home. I commuted there every week for six years. I was the chief mourner. I built her grave.

 The right-hand woman and my elder brother were my mother’s favorite people. But I don’t know what they were doing while my mother was in crisis. Maybe they were busy saying beautiful things to do beautiful things.

Now, I am very happy that I almost lost contact with them.

 

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Japanese

Picture by Mono Abe

Banzai Three Cheers

 My parents hated banzai three cheers. They had memories of WW2. Many Japanese died saying banzai. My parents didn’t have a good impression of banzai three cheers. Some Japanese liberal people tend to hate banzai three cheers.

 Some people love banzai three cheers. However, I don’t see people doing banzai three cheers these days. When I was a child, I saw banzai three cheers in my town, at places like railway stations, or on TV.

 Sometimes it has political meaning. So, I am very careful to say banzai in a public place.

 One day, when Japan started the Reiwa era, my wife and I visited my wife’s parents’ house. We married two years before that day. I had built a good relationship with her parents. But I didn’t know them very well. 

The TV showed us the ceremony to celebrate the beginning of the Reiwa era. We ignored the TV and were chatting. But the ceremony had an atmosphere suggesting that they would start banzai three cheers soon.

 I felt a shudder. I had never talked with her parents about politics. I couldn’t guess whether they would do banzai three cheers with the people on TV or ignore them. Marriage is not just between husband and wife. I have to keep a good relationship with her parents. If I made a mistake in those kinds of fields, the mistake could cause serious problems.

 A person on TV screamed, “Banzai three cheers!” I recognized that both of her parents were ready for the banzai movement. Then my wife’s father, mother, and I said, “Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!” while raising our hands.

My wife was surprised at us and said, “What are you? I am scared.” My wife was not interested in banzai.

I thought I had a narrow escape. My parents-in-law love banzai three cheers. At that time, my father had already passed away. My mother already had Alzheimer’s disease. There was no need to care about their political ideas.

 I recognize that banzai three cheers is a kind of old call and response. I think it is the same as a singer saying, “Are you ready?” and the audience saying, “Yeah!” at a concert. Someone says, “Banzai three cheers!” and the other people say, “Banzai,” three times with their hands raised. It is said that the very first banzai three cheers were started by some students in 1889. Some students started it with a college vibe. I think it did not have a strong political meaning in the beginning.

 Banzai spread quickly. It has a long history. Now, some people hate it and some people love it. Maybe it is too old. Someone will invent a new type of call and response in the future.

 Japanese

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Retirement

I am now old enough to think about my retirement: We have to retire while we can. If we miss the chance to do so, many problems follow. 

My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease when she was sixty-five years old. She was self-employed. She was also successful and famous. Her job had no retirement age, so no one could make her stop working.

All of the people around her, including me, were confused. She believed she could continue her work, but that was impossible. All the people around her except for me turned their backs on her. I took care of her for twenty years. She lost the opportunity to retire. However, I don’t recommend excessively early retirement.

I know a historical figure who retired too early. I think it might have been a mistake. The ancient Roman Emperor, Diocletian, was a good emperor except for his killing of many ancient Christians. He tried to keep Roma safe.

Diocletian created an efficient system to defend Roma: the tetrarchy. He divided the empire into four parts and put an emperor in charge of each part. It worked. The Roman Empire became peaceful again. He retired when he was fifty-five years old.

Diocletian gave the four empires to younger successors: emperors. These successors were not his blood relatives. He built a palace for his life in retirement. His hobby was gardening. He was not interested in politics any more. He enjoyed his hobby. What a wonderful life!

However, Diocletian’s successors started civil wars. They wanted to decide who among them was the real emperor. The Roman Empire ended up in chaos again. Diocletian had a wife and a daughter. They hovered in the chaos and were arrested. Eventually, they were executed. 

Diocletian was almost the only emperor who retired by choice in that period. I think giving up tremendous power is difficult. Many dictators hold on to power as long as they can. Diocletian was probably an unselfish person. He didn’t choose his successors from among his blood relatives. I think he tried to be fair.

If he had been a greedier person, he would have tried to be the emperor for as long as he could. And if he had chosen his successors from among his blood relatives, it is possible his wife and daughter would not have died tragically. 

Retirement is difficult. 

Japanese

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Marco

One day, my wife came back from the salon. Her new hairstyle was like that of Marco in an animation.

Let me guess how old you are. If you thought of Marco Rossi from 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, you might be the same age as me. It was originally an Italian story. Japan made the TV animation in 1976. In it, Marco’s hair is very short with cute bangs. It is a good style for an active woman.

If you thought of Maruko from Chibi Maruko-chan, you might be younger than me. The animation started in 1990. “Marco” and “Maruko” are pronounced similarly in Japanese. It could be a nickname for a girl in Japan. Her hair is bobbed. It is also a cute hair style for women.

If you thought of Marco the Phoenix from ONE PIECE, you are much younger than me. It started in 1999. Marco the Phoenix is immortal, but he is getting old. He needs glasses for the aged. His hairstyle is a long faux hawk. I am not sure this hairstyle is good for a woman.

My wife’s new hairstyle was like that of Marco from ONE PIECE: a long fauxhawk. My wife loves radical hairstyles.

I loved Marco the Phoenix and her new hairstyle. But her mother didn’t like it. My wife is a strong woman, but her mother is stronger. Her mother scolded her very much. Please imagine the situation: If you have a daughter and she comes back from the salon with a long faux hawk, you could be shocked. During that time, my wife had to wear a cap whenever she met her mother.

Perhaps the different versions of Marco had the same issue: something to do with their mothers. Marco Rossi from 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother traveled for long, looking for his mother. Maruko’s mother sometimes scolded her. As for Marco from ONE PIECE… I haven’t watched an episode in which his mother featured. But if she was alive, she might have said, “I don’t care whether you are the Phoenix or not. Quit being a pirate. Get a real job.” And Marco might have responded, “Mom, this is my life, and I need to figure it out.”

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Japanese

Picture by Sue Hoshino

A New Type of Cucumber

I eat vegetable salad at every dinner for my health. One day, my wife had to work until nighttime. She is a stage lighting artist. People who work in theater need to work late.

I prepared my dinner by myself. Of course, I made my salad. I love to put cucumber in my salad. I found a strange cucumber in our refrigerator. I thought it might be a new type of cucumber. Maybe my wife bought it for me. I felt it might be supergood for my health. I added the cucumber to my salad.

My salad was ready. I ate it up. The new type of cucumber was harder than the old type of cucumber I knew. But it was delicious.

The next day, my wife had a day off. When she was at home at dinner time, she would prepare our dinner. So she started to cook our dinner. Then she asked me, “Do you know where the zucchini is?”

I had never seen that kind of vegetable. I answered, “I don’t know. Maybe it is under or behind something.”

My wife solved the mystery. The criminal was me. I had eaten up the zucchini, thinking it was a cucumber. Oh! That was the zucchini!

Let me tell you some very important information. If you heat zucchini, it is more delicious. But you can eat raw zucchini. I am living proof of this.

Japanese

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The Oyashirazu Coast

When I was a university freshman, I traveled in east Japan by bicycle. I reached the Oyashirazu Coast in Niigata Prefecture. “Oyashirazu” generally means wisdom tooth in Japanese. “Oya” means parents. “Shirazu” means don’t know. Generally, a wisdom tooth grows when a child becomes an adult. So the parents don’t know that the child has a wisdom tooth.

In this case, though, it has a horrible meaning. In the old days, there was no good road in Oyashirazu. People had to walk on the beach by the sheer cliff. The rough waves would carry people away from the beach. Many people died. So, if a family was traveling in Oyashirazu, even if waves carried the parents away, their children could not afford to care. If the children tried to help them, the waves would kill them too. Similarly, parents let the waves carry their children away.

Now, there is a nice road for cars. You might think it makes things easier, but I have had a terrible travel experience on it. Even now, almost no one lives around the Oyashirazu Coast. On that day, there were no street lights, and, unfortunately, it was raining heavily before I arrived in Oyashirazu. The sun had set. It was dark. Moreover, my bicycle light got soaked. If a light gets soaked, it will never work unless it is waterproof. Mine was not waterproof, so I had to ride in complete darkness.

I could see the edge of the road near me. I rode alongside it. Sometimes a car would pass me. All the cars would use high beams. They would dazzle me then I could not see anything afterward. I rode for about ten kilometers. They were the longest, most horrible ten kilometers of my life. I feared my own mortality.

Once the Oyashirazu Coast road was behind me, I called home. My mother answered the phone. When I heard her voice, I felt relieved. It was the Oyashirazu Coast, but my mother relieved my fears.

 

Japanese

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My Story Returned to Me

I post my stories almost every week. I originally shared these stories with my theatre friends during breaks. Some of my friends said, “You are the most attractive actor during our break time.” That was not a compliment.

One day, a friend of mine was narrating a story during one of our breaks. The story was actually my story. I had narrated it to another theatrical group before. He told the story as if he were the one who had experienced the situation. So my story came back to me. Frankly, it was more interesting and more sophisticated than mine. I smiled and listened. I wasn’t angry. I reckoned that, if my story had spread, it must have been interesting.

There are similar folktales around world. Some of them could be born spontaneously in different places. Some could spread from one place to other places. These kinds of stories are likely to be localized and sophisticated.

If I were a professional storyteller, this could be a problem. But fortunately, I didn’t care about profit or loss.

When I read social media, I see the same content posted in different forms by different posters. The repeated content is very interesting. Everyone wants to post it in their style. I think there should be good ways for the original poster to get some benefit.

 Japanese

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The First Experience

When I was a high school student, a friend of mine said, “This morning, when I was taking the bus, I saw an old man standing. So I offered him my seat. But he yelled at me, ‘I am not that old!’ I’d assumed I would be praised.”

At that time, I thought that some old people were strange. I had to be careful when I offered my seat to an old person.

Now, I am over fifty. My senior friends have already had the experience of being offered young people’s seats. I find that I understand how the old man felt.

A person never realizes that they are old on their own. One day, suddenly, someone pronounces, “You are old!” That could happen to me soon.

Will I act properly then? A young person may offer their seat to me. Will I smile and accept that offer? Will I say, “Thank you,” to that person? I am not sure. Life is a succession of first experiences, and I have failed at most of my first experiences.

I think I might scream at the kind young person.

Ours is also a difficult age.

Japanese

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Waving a Hand

When I was young, I was a stage actor. I was on stage at mini-theaters. Some productions were broadcast on TV.

One day, I was walking around. Someone waved at me from a shop. I didn’t know who he was. But he could have been an audience member of my show. He might have recognized me and waved.

Wow! I was finally a celebrity! I thought I had to be friendly. So I waved back at the person. Then I noticed he looked surprised.

I walked to the shop and looked closely. Then I realized he was not waving. He was a clerk at the shop. He was wiping the window.

I was so embarrassed that I wanted to disappear.

I never did become an actor who was so famous that everybody would wave at me.

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Japanese

Picture by Shiho Mayuzumi

 

The Wheel Pose

　When I was an elementary school student, I was good at P.E. I was not good at ball games, but when it came to other activities, I was at the top level in my class.

I was good at muscle flexibility. Of course, I could do the wheel pose. Furthermore, I could stand up from the wheel pose. Only a few of my classmates could do that.

When I was over fifty, I thought I need to do something for my health. I bought a book about yoga. I decided I would do one pose every day.

I hadn’t known that the wheel pose was also a yoga pose: Urdhva Dhanurasana. I tried it. Shockingly, I couldn’t do the wheel pose.

I lay on my back. Then I tried to lift up my body. But my back never left the floor. It was impossible to stand up from the wheel pose. I was shocked. Was this a symptom of aging? The result of no exercise?

From that day on, I have tried to do the wheel pose every day. A few years have passed since then. Do you think I can do the wheel pose now?

I can do it easily. I am on the way to regaining my lost ability. I want to be able to stand up from the wheel pose some day.

Dear friends of my age, don’t give up!

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Japanese

Picture by Hinageshi

 

The Story of Ming Lan

 I am watching Chinese TV dramas to study Chinese.

 I will introduce one that I recommend.

 The Story of Ming Lan.

 I already introduced The Knockout a few years ago. The Knockout is a story about a policeman fighting the mafia. Man against man. The Story of Ming Lan is about a woman fighting a woman. Women against women. Originally, the story was a novel. The author is a woman.

 The story describes many kinds of fights between women. Sometimes young women fight for a man to love. There are fights between a wife and her mother-in-law. Fights between sisters. Fights between a mother and her daughter. Fights between relatives. Fights between wives who have the same husband. The setting is the Northern Song Dynasty. Polygyny was common in high-class families.

 Polygyny! Stupid men, including me, might envy that. But if you watch this drama, you will think polygyny is the worst system ever. The heroine, Ming Lan, was born as the daughter of the third wife. Of course, the wives always fight each other. The children always fight each other. The family belongs to the upper class in society. But Ming Lan’s status in the family is not strong. The family members are too many, and their relationships are too complex.

 Ming Lan is a super smart girl. But she needs to hide that. She pretends to be a stupid girl for her life’s sake. If her enemies find out, they could kill her.

 One of the points I love about this drama is that there are no superstars from history. Of course, there are famous people, powerful people, and great people who show up in the drama. But those people are not historic people. The superstars in history have been studied for a long time. If a drama describes a superstar, the scriptwriter needs to get busy writing the historical facts. I want to enjoy a period play as a fictional drama. Some period plays look like educational videos from history class. But in Ming Lan, there are wonderful people who were never recorded and studied in history. These fictional people give the writers freedom of imagination. However, I think the writers and the crew did their background research very well. Everything that happens in this drama could have happened in this period.

 The other point I love is the atmosphere of this drama. It has a lived-in feeling. Japanese period plays can be influenced by kabuki theater. Chinese period plays can be influenced by Peking opera. I also love these traditional period plays. But sometimes those traditions make the direction and acting too strong. Audiences these days tend to love natural direction and acting.

 In The Story of Ming Lan, every actor and crew member tries to create a natural atmosphere. As if they live in the world. So, most of the conversations happen while doing something. The actors talk while walking, working, eating, and so on. These are difficult and bothersome to do.

 Most of my readers are theatrical people. So, there is no need to explain that saying lines and doing other things at the same time is so difficult. They must practice a lot.

 You might think Chinese dramas contain a lot of physical action scenes. Actually, most of the fights in this drama are not about sheer strength but rather battles of wits. Most of the characters are highly smart people.

 The direction and acting are elaborate. Not too dramatic, but there is reality. I recommend watching.

 There are seventy-three episodes. But I guarantee it is interesting from beginning to end.

 It was on air in 2018.

Japanese

Picture by Koketa

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Professional Baseball Player

 Most Japanese males love baseball. Most of them played baseball when they were boys. I was one of them.

 When I started playing baseball, I immediately realized I was not good at it. I was the worst player on the team. I hated that.

 Of course, I was never interested in joining my school’s baseball club. I have never even thought about being a professional baseball player. A professional baseball player is not my dream.

 But one night, I dreamed a strange dream.

 In the dream, I was a professional baseball player. Of course, I belonged to Nagoya’s home team, the Dragons. I was in the locker room. The game would start soon. But I had a problem.

 I couldn’t find my uniform shirt. I couldn’t remember what I had done with my uniform after the last game. I could have brought it home to wash it and forgotten to bring it back. I couldn’t borrow a uniform from my other teammates. Because each uniform had a number. My number was fifteen. I couldn’t play as a different number.

 I saw a laundry lady. I thought she might know where my uniform was. It was possible that I had not washed it at home. She could have forgotten to give it back to me after laundering it. I asked her where my uniform was.

 Then she got angry and scolded me: “Did you take it home? What a brat!”

 I was shocked that she didn’t show any respect to me, a professional baseball player!

 The game would start soon. But I was still in the locker room. I decided I would play half naked. Optimists would say I was half dressed.

 I went out of the locker room. When I had almost reached the field, the laundry lady called after me, waving some article of clothing. She said, “Wear this, brat!” I thought it might be the uniform.

 Actually, it was a uniform. And the uniform number was fifteen. But there was a problem. It was not a baseball shirt. It was a tank top for a basketball player.

 It might be better than half naked. But would a professional baseball player wear a tank top on the field? I thought about that. Then I woke up.

 After waking up, my first thought was, “Who has uniform number fifteen in the Dragons now?” It could be a message from the dream world. If I support the player, I might be happy.

 I checked who has number fifteen.

 Actually, no one has the number right now.

 Dragons uniform number fifteen is permanently retired.

 The player who had the number was the first “Mr. Dragons,” Michio Nishizawa.

 He was a great pitcher before the war. He needed to go to war as a soldier. He was injured. He had to give up pitching. After the war, he became a great hitter. He was a two-way player.

 We know Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani as two-way players. But we should not forget the tragic time-lag two-way player, Michio Nishizawa.

 I was relieved I didn’t wear that uniform number, because that number is too heavy for me.

 I wish the late Michio Nishizawa will support the Dragons now.

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Picture by SUZUKI

 

Body Language

　When I was a high school student, I felt that studying a foreign language was bothersome. Actually, I was not a good student. When my classmates and I had a bad grade in English, we all told ourselves, “Relax! We will not need a foreign language. Because if we need to communicate with people from abroad, we can use body language.” We comforted each other.

When I was a university student, I traveled to Kyoto by myself. Everyone loves Kyoto.

I forgot the name of the temple, but I watched a shocking scene there.

There were a couple. They might be from abroad. They were walking around. There were also two high school girls. They stood in front of a small house.

One of the girls said, “Come here,” using body language to the couple. The couple got angry, glared at them, turned back, and got out of the temple.

Okay, here is the question. What happened between them?

I had studied English for a long time, so now I could solve this miscommunication. I could help them. But as you know, I was not a good language student at that time. I couldn’t help them.

I wrote, “Come here,” with body language. If you are familiar with Japanese culture, you might already know the answer. Japanese’s “come here” gesture and the English-speaking world’s “come here” gesture are upside down. It was not the beckoning sign. If an ordinary Japanese person invites you with the gesture, he or she waves the fingers with one’s palm facing down, bringing them toward one’s body (like the famous Maneki-neko lucky cat), but it means “go away” in the English-speaking world.

From the couple’s point of view, this was a sad incident. They came from abroad. They were enjoying an old temple, but a high school girl expressed “go away” to them in a gesture. They love Japan, so they visited Japan, but they could assume they were not welcome by the young girls. This might be a shocking experience.

I could understand the situation, but I couldn’t speak English. So I couldn’t take care of the couple. I talked to the high school girls because they were almost crying.

They said there were mysterious stones in the small house. They wanted to explain about the stones to the couple. Instead of that, they explained that to me.

There were three stones in the small house. They were different sizes. The big, middle, and small. All of them were handheld sizes. One of the girls said, “If you caress a stone, it will become lighter. If you hit a stone, it will become heavier.”

Actually, I couldn’t believe that story, but I tried.

Actually, it worked as the girl said. Somehow, I felt lighter when I caressed it, and I felt heavier when I hit it. I tried all the stones. I felt the miracle. The big stone, especially, drastically changed its weight. I was surprised.

I am not sure you can believe this story, but I think it would happen in Kyoto. Kyoto is a mysterious city.

The girls wanted to explain about these magical stones to the couple from abroad. The girls tried to invite the couple to the small house, but there was miscommunication. The couple got angry and went away. This was a sad incident for all of them.

Language includes body language. Our body language might not have common universal meanings. We use body language in daily life, but these could have bad meanings in a different part of the planet.

Studying foreign languages is bothersome, but we have to study them steadily.

Japanese 

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Memories Are Four-by-Three

Love Is Like After the Rain was a Japanese animated product. It was on air in 2018. Already, it is a kind of old animation.

When I was watching this product on TV, I was surprised by the direction in that.

Let me explain the story. There is a high school girl. She was a hopeful track-and-field athlete, but she had an accident. She had to give up being an athlete. She started to do part-time work in a family restaurant after school. She started to love the store manager.

The manager was forty-five years old, a middle-aged man.

I was almost the same age at that time. This story gave me encouragement.

The manager also had a sad story in his life. He was divorced. He wanted to be a novelist, but he was still a manager.

One rainy day, they met. The story went on with them showing their sad pasts.

There was a big difference between the girl’s past and the manager’s past.

They showed the girl’s past with normal pictures, but the point is the manager’s past. They showed the manager’s past intentionally as four-by-three-resolution pictures. Once, all the pictures in a TV show were in four-by-three. Now we are watching sixteen-to-nine resolution. When we look at the TV now, if the TV station is on air and has recorded old pictures, the picture changes to four-to-three. Then, we realized it was an old picture.

The animation crew used that effect as the direction. The girl and the manager belong to different generations.

I don’t know whether the direction worked or not, but I remember a similar direction.

Once, memories were all monochrome.

I remember a drama was on air with a colored picture. A character started one’s memory, and a monochrome picture started to show past incidents.

I think this direction is not often used these days. Maybe the younger generation hasn’t experienced monochrome movies and TV. This direction could be hard to take now.

My parents’ generation enjoyed monochrome movies when they were young. They might never think monochrome would be a symbol of the past. Furthermore, most people would forget about monochrome.

Now, we are enjoying social media. It will be a symbol of the past, and everyone will forget about it someday.

Japanese

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Egg Shop

　My wife buys eggs at a shop that specializes in eggs. Most Japanese buy eggs at the supermarket. I asked my wife why she buys eggs at the egg shop. She got mad at my question. According to her, it’s because of me.

 I lived with my mother who had Alzheimer’s for fourteen years. There are many difficulties involved in living with someone with Alzheimer’s. In my case, the lack of sleep was the hardest aspect.

 For someone with Alzheimer’s, when they wake up, it’s morning to them. My mother often used to cause trouble in the middle of the night. She always disturbed my good sleep.

 When I decided to get social welfare help, a care manager asked me one question: “If you use short-stay care and have some time to yourself, what do you want to do?”

I answered “I want to sleep.”

　If you suffer from a lack of sleep for a long period, you will be half asleep. Someone in that condition might talk nonsense. And they won’t be able to remember what they talked about.

 Apparently, when I was half asleep, I told my wife, “You have to buy eggs at a shop that specializes in eggs. Don’t buy them at a supermarket. The eggs from an egg shop will be fresh and delicious! You understand?”

 My parents never bought eggs from egg shop. I have never been to any egg shops in my life. I have no idea why I said this. I don’t even remember the incident.

 My wife obeyed my request. She started to buy eggs from an egg shop. She didn’t know I was half asleep at that time until I asked the question.

 My mother has already passed away, but my wife keeps buying eggs from the egg shop.

　Scientists study the brain and dreams. I have read those kinds of books. I have never read a book about being half asleep. They should study that phenomenon.

 How are the eggs from the egg shop? They are good, but I can’t tell the difference between them and the eggs from a supermarket. I don’t think there is any need to buy eggs at an egg shop.

 Messages from dreams can be mysterious. We should study them. Messages from a half-asleep person can also be mysterious. But we shouldn’t study those closely.

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Japanese 

Picture by Urelzita

We Assumed It Was a Joke

 

 My wife’s sister is working in London as a nurse.

 Sometimes we talk on Skype.

 When the pandemic started, the hospital my sister-in-law was working for didn’t have enough PPE. They had just one size. There were bigger and smaller nurses in the hospital. Only my sister-in-law fitted the PPE they had. So, she took care of the very first COVID-19 patients in her hospital. She became the most experienced nurse there. After that, she moved to a hospital that specialized in COVID-19 cases.

 In those days, the TV news informed us about the pandemic all day every day. At that time, there were about one hundred patients in Japan.

 My wife and I talked to her sister on Skype, telling here, “There are about one hundred patients in Japan.”

My sister-in-law said, “There are over five thousand patients in the UK.”

 Unconsciously, my wife and I laughed. We assumed she was joking. There were too many patients for it to be true.

My sister-in-law scolded us. It wasn’t a laughing matter. She was working on the front line dealing with COVID-19. She would never tell that kind of joke.

 Sometimes, the worst situation sounds like a joke.

 Now, we have survived the pandemic. My sister-in-law went back to her original hospital.

 We hope there will never be a pandemic again.

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Japanese

Picture by Tsuneo MP

 

Warning Sound

　This is a memory from when I was a child.

 One summer night, someone didn’t close the door of our refrigerator. We slept through the night. The next morning, we found a disaster had occurred. I remember my mother cleaning the refrigerator and dumping food that had gone bad. She was almost crying.

 These days, we don’t experience that kind of disaster very often. Modern refrigerators make a warning sound when someone leaves the doors open for a while. When we clean the refrigerator, we need to open the door for a long time. In this case, the sound gets very annoying.

 One day, I opened the door of our refrigerator. My wife was watching TV. I left the kitchen. I heard a sound, so I assumed I hadn’t closed the door. I returned to the kitchen. I checked the refrigerator. But the doors were closed. The sound was not from the refrigerator. What was it? Then, I heard the same sound again. I froze. Which home appliance was warning me? What was happening?

 Actually, the sound was coming from the TV. My wife was watching a fencing match on TV. In a fencing match, if a player gets a point, a machine makes an electronic sound. The sound is similar to our refrigerator’s warning sound.

 When I was a child, the only talkative home appliances were the radio, the record player, and the TV. These days, all appliances are very talkative. When I hear a mysterious electronic sound at home, I start to worry. If it was the sound warning us of a gas leak, it would be dangerous.

 Why are our refrigerator’s sound and the sound used in fencing so similar? I guess the designer of our refrigerator might have been a fencer.

 Japanese

Proofreading by Claire　ProofreadingServices.com

Picture by freehand

Kitty

  

I have three cats.

 One day, my wife’s father found a kitty on a street. We took in the kitty temporarily. We called him Rain because my father-in-law found the kitty on a rainy day.

 My wife and I talked it over. We wanted to welcome Rain into our family. But we already had three cats. One more might be too many. We decided to find someone who could take care of Rain. 

 We thought we should take care of our cats and Rain separately. Rain had to go someday, so we thought it best if they didn’t become friends. We gave him one room. We made it so the other cats couldn’t enter that room. They never met him.

 But they could sense him. After Rain came into our home, all three of the cats became very nervous. We could feel their anxiety. Cats are delicate.

 Finally, we found new owners for Rain. We believed that they were good people. My wife and I felt relieved.

 Rain left our home. The new owners were going to give him a wonderful new name.

 A few hours after Rain left, our three cats’ moods changed drastically. They started to relax.

 Maybe they also felt relieved.

　

Japanese

Proofreading by Claire　ProofreadingServices.com

Picture by Taka