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

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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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