Unlucky Age

 

Yakudoshi is a traditional Japanese idea that 42-year-old men must be careful of because many bad things happen at that age. Thus, some places hold special festivals to avoid unfortunate events. It depends on the area, but most festivals are organized by people who are 42 years old.

My town also has a festival of this kind. I took part in this festival a few years ago.

In the shrine in my town, they light a bonfire every day during January. Many people in Japan come to shrines in January. In the cold winter, the bonfire gives people warmth. People can also put old talismans into the bonfire.

The bonfires need tons of firewood. And who collects the firewood? The Yakudoshi guys do!

We did it on a Sunday morning in December, when we were in Yakudoshi. In the shrine is a small forest. We walked around the forest and collected firewood. We also found fallen trees and cut the trees for firewood. One of the best ways to avoid bad luck is working for shrines or society. This is one of our activities when we are in our unlucky age.

However, some members started to show signs of fatigue on their faces about one hour after we started to work. They were the white-collar workers who got good marks in school. For blue-collar workers, who always physically worked outdoors, collecting firewood is just an easy job. But for the white-collar workers, it was hard work.

A Yakudoshi lifestyle would bring about many effects on us. This firewood-collecting activity is not just a religious event. It could be a warning from our wise ancestors:

“You assume you are smart. But you do not exercise, and you don’t have a healthy body. Now you can’t keep up with others!”

 

Picture by Gorippa

My Mother and Curry

 

A doctor said, “A good caregiver for Alzheimer’s disease must be a good actor and be a good detective.”

A “good actor” means someone who has the ability to listen to the patient’s repetitive stories with fresh reactions. Furthermore, sometimes the caregivers must lie to calm the patients down.

A “good detective,” on the other hand, is someone who can figure out the patient’s mysterious behaviors. It stands on a possible theory related to dementia symptoms and consent. On the surface, Alzheimer’s patients behave meaninglessly. But if you analyze the behaviors carefully, you will find that they have certain causes for manifesting. If you find the reasons why they do, you might find solutions.

In my mother’s case, she always bought curry roux every time she went shopping. We already have tons of curry roux in our house, but she would not stop buying it. If you are a good detective, you can tell why she kept doing this.

My mother was not only a housewife but was also self-employed when she was young. Sometimes she needed to work late, same thing with my father. Someone needed to prepare dinner for us children. In this situation, curry roux helped our family. If my mother made curry and rice, we can cook curry rice by ourselves. In those days, we didn’t have a microwave, so curry rice was a warm dinner only for the children. For my mother, curry roux was essential in keeping her job and family.

We detected the cause, but we couldn’t find the solution. All this despite explaining to her, “Your children are all adults now. They can cook any dinner by themselves.”

“There are tons of curry roux in our house.”

“First of all, you don’t have a job now.”

These didn’t make sense to my mother.

So I let her buy curry roux as much as she wanted. Then I gave the curry roux to my friends, relatives, and neighbors. Whenever I give them curry roux, some people are moved to tears. They quickly understand why an old retired female worker needed to buy curry roux.

There are many good detectives in our society.

Picture by takagix

Dieting with an Apple

My worst experience happened a few months after my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

In those days, I was on a diet. I have tried many kinds of diets, but I couldn’t find an effective one. Then I thought of an original diet method. It was inspired by my favorite Japanese TV animation, Tomorrow’s Joe, a story about boxers. In the story, a boxer needed to lose weight to fight his rival. He practiced extremely hard, but he ate only one apple a day. As a result, he beat rival but died right after the match. All Japanese boys in my generation cried our eyes out when he passed away.

I can’t do the same diet method because I don’t want to die. I modified it a little bit. I ate breakfast and lunch as usual, but my dinner was just an apple. I wanted to take a bite out of a chilled apple after taking a bath, so I put an apple in the refrigerator every day for dinner.

             But my mother ate one of my precious apples during the daytime.

             After a long day, after taking a bath, I felt extremely hungry. As I was humming the theme song of the TV show, I thought of the chilled apple waiting for me. But there was no apple!

I have lived together with my mother for over 10 years. I have experienced many irritating incidents because of her illness, but this one was the most infuriating.

I said, “Don’t eat the apple in the refrigerator!”

My mother replied, “I didn’t eat any apple!”

It was no use because she couldn’t remember. I put an apple in the refrigerator every day, but my mother ate them all. I told her, “That apple was the one that I bought. So you should not eat it!”

My mother replied, “No! The apple was the one that I bought!”

Alzheimer’s patients tend to tell blatant lies that put them in an advantageous position. The caregivers need to know that. I already knew that theory, but accepting it was difficult.

I thought of an idea: I should put two apples in the refrigerator.

But my mother ate both.

I just wanted to eat a chilled apple after taking a bath!

Finally, I found a solution. I bought a second-hand refrigerator and put it in the garage, which my mother was not interested in. I finally started my diet.

The Japanese government runs nursing care insurance, and it helps pay for some nursing care products. However, in this situation, it didn’t cover the second refrigerator.

 

Picture by Rien

TV Remote Control

 

My late father loved watching TV. He always watched news, baseball, and samurai drama. When Japanese television broadcasting had been digitalized in 2011, he didn’t like the new remote control because the buttons are too many, too small, and too complicated. If he pushed the wrong button, the TV just shut down or refused any other operation. He experienced difficulty moving his fingers because he had undergone kidney dialysis for over ten years. My father said, “They did the unnecessary.”

He started to hate digital TV itself. I looked for a new remote control online. I finally found the remote control for the elderly. It has only a few simple big buttons. He loved this.

After my father passed away, do we still need the remote control? Yes, we do. It is very easy to use. If you want to watch a satellite or cable channel, it is not useful. It can’t control any hard disk recorder. But if you want to watch terrestrial channels, it is easy. In a busy weekday morning, we want to quickly turn on the TV and change the channel. This is the best remote control ever.

Things these days have become too complex.

Taking out Trash

 

Terrible things happened in my life in 2007. My grandmother who lived with me passed away. My mother and my great-aunt were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the same time. My great-aunt didn’t have a child. After taking care of my grandmother for so long, I needed to look after two Alzheimer’s patients.

My mother and my great-aunt have difficulty taking out trash. In Nagoya City, where we live, there are strict rules about garbage disposal. We should separate and sort garbage as burnable, nonburnable, and recyclable. Trash collection depends on the day of week. If you take out the wrong trash on the wrong day, they refuse to collect. Even I forget or mistake the day. For Alzheimer’s patients, it is almost impossible to take out trash.

My mother and I lived together, so I took out the trash. But my-great aunt lived alone. Her house was full of trash. I visited her house every week to separate and sort the trash little by little. In summer, I put the bag of garbage in the refrigerator till collection day.

It was very difficult to make her take out trash. All had to be taken out by 8:00 a.m. It took me one and a half hours to get to my great-aunt’s house. I couldn’t visit her almost every morning, so I called her every day to remind her.

But it was not easy. Even if I called her, she could forget taking out the trash after hanging up. So I used to say, “Hi, Great-Aunt, today is collection day. I will wait till you take the trash out before hanging up. Please do it now.” Usually, she forgot I was still on the phone. I had to wait a very long time. But at least she could take out the trash.

The Nagoya city government is doing this complicated garbage collection system for recycling. Our slogan is “Be kind to the earth.” But this system is not kind to Alzheimer’s patients. How can we be a society that is kind to both?

Picture by makaron

Dinner with Mr. Tanaka

I had dinner with an old university friend. He made a restaurant reservation for us. We met in front of the restaurant and waited till it opened. He whispered to me, “I reserved as Mr. Tanaka to avoid inconvenience.” He is not Tanaka, which is a very common family name in Japan. I couldn’t understand why he had to use a false name. To avoid inconvenience? Then I finally understood why he did it.

His family name is very unusual. I have never met any other person or family with the same last name. When he first introduced himself to me, I couldn’t understand him. His family name is too unusual. I found out there are only about eighty people with the same family name in Japan. Only eighty? If his relatives were killed by someone three or four times, they would become extinct.

The people who met him for the first time, including me, always asked him, “Say it again?” “Is that your family name?” “How do I spell your name?” “Are you kidding?” He needed to answer these questions every time. It could be bothersome.

On the other hand, Tanaka is a very familiar family name. There are many Tanakas all around Japan, like the prime minister. Everyone can recognize it immediately. Moreover, its letters are easy to write, 田中. Even a first-grader can spell it. He loves to use “Tanaka” because it is the most popular and simplest family name. Tanaka is what he always wants to be.

My family name is Miura, which is also common. I have longed for an unusual one. But if I had an extremely rare name like him, it would be bothersome.

Picture by mounel

Crystallized Intelligence

About five years have passed already since my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Sometimes, she could not even spell her name.

One day, I was asked to take my mother to an event that her old friends organized at a hall downtown. We took the train, which was so hard for her since the stations were dangerous, complicated, and crowded. We left our house early because I thought our travel could take a long time.

Fortunately, we had a smooth travel to the venue. The event had not started yet when we arrived. A few event staff were doing last-minute preparations. In the hall was a piano with a chair. I asked my mother to sit on the chair since we had walked quite a long distance, and then I started talking with a member of the staff.

Suddenly, my mother started playing the piano. It was not perfect, but I could tell what song she was playing. She had difficulty remembering dates, times, and people, but she could play the piano. I was doubly shocked because I did not know she had musical experience. Apparently, she learned to play the piano when she was young.

Doctors call this crystallized intelligence. Most Alzheimer’s disease patients can perform behaviors they repeatedly practiced when they were young. Some types of intelligence are crystalized through repeated practice.

In my mother’s case, this intelligence was playing the piano. What about me? I was a member of a drama club in high school. I practiced tongue twisters a lot. When I get old in a facility and I am given an opportunity to stand on-stage, I would recite tongue twisters.

It would not be cool. My caregivers would be surprised because I could be loudly speaking meaningless words, and then they would isolate and place me a detention room.

I wish I learned how to play the piano.

 

Picture by Frog

Master of Comedy

 

I lived in Osaka in the beginning of the 2000s. I wrote scripts for young semiprofessional comedians. I had an opportunity to observe a closed rehearsal, where young comedians were nervous because they invited a famous “master of comedy.” The great old master of comedy had dignity. He was not friendly.

He watched the young comedians’ skits and jokes and then gave them some advice. He sharply criticized some of them. Some of the comedians almost cried.

Then a weird incident happened.

A young comedian sang a popular song while playing his guitar. Unfortunately, the master did not know the song. He assumed that it was original and criticized it.

The young comedian tried to explain that the song was not originally his, and he was stunned that the master kept complaining about the bad lyrics.

It was so hard not to laugh because I was also young then. Recently, however, I came to understand the master of comedy because I am middle-aged already. I don’t know the hit songs nowadays. And even if I listened to the newest hit song, I would not understand why it is so popular.

At that time, as an observer maybe I should have whispered to the master, “Master, he is covering a popular song.” But I did not because he was so scary.

We cannot stop ourselves from growing old, but we can avoid becoming a scary old man. I may not become a master in any field in the future, but I would gladly accept that and be loved rather than be respected but feared.

Picture by Hanaboo

 

Scary Thing Pigeons in the Temple Are Afraid Of

 In the beginning of the 1990s, I was a university student with a part-time job as an actor. The private universities in Nagoya produced a promotional video to attract high school students from other regions. The story of the video was based on the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A high school girl named Alice happened to visit Nagoya and had an adventure. I played the role of the Cheshire Cat, who introduced to Alice the beautiful places in Nagoya. The title of the story was Alice’s Adventures in Wonder Nagoya.

While we were filming in Osu Kannon, a famous temple, the director said, “I want to film a scene in which all the pigeons start flying away.”

Many pigeons were roaming around the temple. I tried to make them fly by yelling and chasing them, but they just ran away from me. The pigeons in the temple were tame, and people could feed them with food sold there.

The cameraman had an idea. We asked some grade-school boys to run to a flock of pigeons. It worked very well. The pigeons that had ignored me flew away together. The director was finally able to take the scene that he wanted.

Why were the pigeons scared of the little boys but not of me? Maybe they knew how cruel children could be. They know human behavior very well.

In the original story, Alice was a very delicate child, but not all children liked her.

 

Picture by osame

Mao Asada and I Staring at Each Other

 

 Mao Asada was one of the best figure skaters. She lived in Nagoya City, where I also lived.

During the second half of 2000’s, my gym closed down. I had to visit many places to find a new gym where I could work out.

One day, in a gym, a trainer walked me around to show their facilities. She unnaturally stopped at a spot and looked at a woman who was working out using a machine. That woman was Mao Asada.

The trainer didn’t say anything but silently suggested, “If you join our gym, you can work out with Mao Asada.”

However, during those years, I didn’t watch TV, so I didn’t know who she was. I just thought, “Who is she? She looks familiar.”

Moreover, since I worked as a teacher that time, I needed to memorize many names and faces of young students. I thought, “She must be one of my students. I am sure she knows about me. I’ll just wait till she remembers me.”

How rude of me! I stared at the famous world-class athlete, thinking, “You have to remember about me. I must be your teacher.”

She looked back at me, and we stared at each other for a while. Of course, she did not remember me because she was not my student. When she looked away from me, I thought, “What a rude student! She just ignored a teacher. I really have to remember her.”

However, I couldn’t remember her. We left the spot after. Later, the trainer said she was Mao Asada, but I didn’t know who she was then.

From 2012 onwards, I have been watching TV again. Now I am well-informed about Mao Asada. I am embarrassed for what I did.

I might have missed a great opportunity to become Mao Asada’s friend. For her, I might just be one of the few Japanese people who didn’t know her.

This year, she announced her retirement. I hope she is enjoying her new life now.

 

Picture by designer_ery

Hit Home Run! Mr. Slugger!

 

Around 1990, I was a university student in Nagoya. I had a part-time job as a vendor in a ballpark. I sold liquor and snacks. I called, “Sake and snacks! Sake and snacks!”

I walked around the spectators. I was a young man, so I didn’t care about the weight of the goods or the difficulty of climbing up and down the steps.

By the way, I was a drama club member when I was in high school. Generally, members in a high school drama club work on vocal exercises a lot because we perform plays in huge gymnasiums. Hence, my voice is louder than the other vendors’.

One day, one old gentleman showed me a Japanese big boy (a 10,000-yen bill, almost 100 US dollars) and said, “If the slugger in the batter’s box now hits home run, I will buy all of the goods you have. You can keep the change!”

I was very excited. Even if I sold all the goods I had, it was far less than 100 US dollars. My daily wage was less than 100 US dollars, so it could be a big bonus. The old gentleman wanted me to cheer the slugger with my well-trained voice.

“Mr. Ochiai! Hit home run!”

The slugger’s name was Ochiai. He was one of the best sluggers in Japanese baseball history. Unfortunately, he made an out in an RBI situation.

Was my cheer too weak?

Anyway, I didn’t get the big boy, so I went back to my usual business. If Ochiai hit a home run, the old gentleman might buy all the goods I had, then he might give the goods to the other spectators. What a cool gentleman!

If you are a rich baseball fan, why don’t you try to enjoy watching a game this way?

However, even a legendary slugger might still not hit a home run in an RBI situation.

 

Picture by Palto

Business-Mind

 

In the center of downtown Nagoya, I built a huge building called “NHK Building.” There are twenty-four floors above ground level and four floors underground.

Of course, I am exaggerating.

I just worked at the building site as a part-timer during the summer of 1991. I didn’t exactly build the building, but I brought some materials and tightened some bolts. In a way, I “built” some parts of it.

Nowadays, site operators are very cautious about heatstroke, so they provide water to all workers in the site. But during those days, we just brought or bought drinks for ourselves.

I was a student, a nonskilled part-time worker. Other workers ordered me to buy canned drinks during break time. In those days, there were few convenience stores, so I had to buy drinks at vending machines. But the building was so huge that many workers worked at the same site. Those were hot summer days, so everyone bought drinks from vending machines around the site, emptying most of them; I needed to walk far to find a working one. But even if I could find one, its drinks were not chilled. Other workers complained to me, “You are too late, and this drink is not cold!”

It was a tough job.

Recently, I started to think that I wasn’t business-minded, and I missed a great chance. I should have just quitted the part-time job and started a business in front of the building site where I could sell cold drinks to a hundred thirsty workers. I wish I had done that; I could have gotten more money than my part-time job.

Well, it is no use crying over spilled milk.

 

Economic Facility or Expensive Facility?

 My mother needs 24-hour-care every day. My wife and I can’t provide all of that, so we use temporary short-stay facilities for the elderly.

 There are various kinds of facilities for short stays. To divide them simply, there are economic facilities and expensive facilities. From my point of view, there are more caregivers in the expensive facilities. Expensive facilities can hire semi-professional entertainers for recreation. The meals in expensive facilities are more elaborate.

 I assumed that these differences wouldn’t affect my mother because she has Alzheimer’s disease. But I was wrong.

 When she comes back from the expensive facility, she is in a good mood. Basically, she is humming to herself. When she comes back from the economic facility, she looks depressed.

 Alzheimer’s disease patients have difficulty remembering things, but they do still have feelings. If a patient is cared for by well-paid caregivers in an expensive facility, the patient feels good and is in a good mood. That can reduce the burdens on his or her family. We should say that the expensive facilities are better. We should use the expensive facilities. But it is not that simple.

 The expensive facility we use is very popular. We need to make a reservation about one month in advance. The economic facility can accept my mother the same day. We need to maintain a good relationship with the economic facility for emergencies.

 Of course, we have financial problems. No one knows how long my mother will live. It is said that the life expectancy of Alzheimer’s disease patients is ten years. But the ten years passed a few years ago. Doctors have never found any problems with my mother’s medical condition except for Alzheimer’s disease. If we keep spending many on the expensive facility, we could be bankrupt in a few more years.

 This could be one of the reasons why the salaries for caregiving workers are very low. No one can predict ageing and death.

 When I get old, of course I want to live in an expensive facility. I want to enjoy the final term in my life. But if I live a longer life than I expected, I will be bankrupt. If I am old but have no money, what should I do?

 For a while, we will use the expensive facility for my mother. That might improve caregivers’ working conditions. And, most importantly, it makes my mother happy.

 

Picture by Aqua

Actors’ Eligibility for Election

Julius Caesar was a commander and a politician in ancient Rome. When he was young, he thought he might be a playwright. He was a theatrical person.

However, when he held the actual power of Rome, he made an anti-theatrical decision. He banned actors from running in the election.

 Now, it is difficult to us to understand why he did that.

 In the modern world that we live in, theatrical actors are artists or strange people who live in an almost non-profitable world.

 But please try to picture the ancient world, without any Internet, TVs, movies, or radios. The literacy rate was very low. And there was no technology for publications. From that perspective, theater could be the most powerful “media.” We can’t even imagine how strong an influence it had.

 Theatrical actors were popular people in the “media.” Julius Caesar banned the popular people in the “media” from running in the election and becoming political leaders. It is possible that he decided this because he was a theatrical person.

Of course, in our society, no one is banned from running in elections because of their occupation. In modern history, we can find many politicians who are popular people in various forms of media, whether the popularity is good or bad.

 Or, maybe we are being challenged by the ancient hero.

 Should popular people in media be political leaders?

Was Julius Caesar right? Or are we right?

 

Photo by UMC

The meals in the hospital

 

 A few years ago, I was in a hospital for a few months.

 I had many opportunities to talk with various patients in the hospital. Our main topic of discussion was the meals in the hospital. We always said negative things about the meals. Generally, a life in a hospital is full of complaints. Maybe we just wanted to have something to blame.

 One patient who was an ex-con said, “The meals in detention cells were better than the meals in this hospital!”

I assumed that this was a joke, but when I researched detention cells in Japanese police stations, I found that the ex-con’s testimony could be true.

 The cost of a meal in the hospital was less than three US dollars. The cost of a meal in a detention cell in this area was about four US dollars. A difference of one US dollar could be drastic. Detention cells are not prisons. People in detention cells have not yet been found guilty. So, they can eat better meals than patients in a hospital.

 Anyway, I said many negative things about the meals in the hospital, but now I regret saying so much. I wouldn’t be able to cook those meals with less than three US dollars. I appreciate the cooks in the kitchen. Thank you!

 I just hope that I never stay in any hospital again.

 

Picture by Murakumo

Escorting the City Mayor

 

 At the beginning of the 1990s, I was a university student. I had a part-time job as an actor. Was I a real actor? No, I was acting in costume as a mascot so my face was covered. But acting in costumes was very interesting. It required a skilled technique. I worked very hard as a masked actor.

 One day, I was offered a job at an opening ceremony of a station shopping mall complex in T-city. When I received the timetable of the ceremony, automatically I looked for the climax of the show where I would act.

The timetable said:

“The city mayor says a word of congratulations on the stage. The mascot escorts him to the stage.”

This had to be the climax. In those days, mayors had dignity. They were local celebrities. They were not friendly types. But mascots could act in a friendly way with them. It was good for a mayor’s popularity. I planned to be very friendly to the mayor but not harm his dignity. It could be an interesting performance.

 On the day of the performance, I arrived at the venue too early because I was too eager. I entered a coffee shop to kill time. Then I read a newspaper of the day. The newspaper said:

“The mayor of T-city has been arrested for corruption.”

The mayor whom I supposed to escort had been arrested the day before! My acting plans were all in vain.

When we gathered at the venue, the director briefly announced to us that “the mayor has cancelled the event”. He didn’t explain why.

 At that time, the mayor was probably being escorted by policemen instead of me.

 

Picture by sayz

Julius Caesar was a script writer?

 

 I have been reading books about ancient Rome recently.

 Julius Caesar was a soldier and a politician in ancient Rome. But he was also an incredible writer. We can buy his works, “Commentaii de Bello Gallico” and “Commentarii de Bello Civili”, in book stores. His works have not lost their commercial value for two thousand years. Of course you can buy Japanese versions in Japan. He must be one of the most outstanding writers in history.

 According to a book I read, he was a late bloomer as a soldier and as a politician. He started his historical career when he was over forty years old. During his twenties and thirties he was just a famous playboy. And apparently he wrote some scripts for the stage. He loved the theater.

 “And you too, Brutus?”

He was assassinated when he was fifty-five years old. At that time his love letters and scripts were published and people could read them. But his achievements as a soldier and a politician took precedence.

 His heir was Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. He deified Julius because his accomplishments were so great. Augustus banned the publication of Julius’s love letters and scripts because they would have compromised his deification since they were inappropriate. Unfortunately, Augustus lived a long life. His was a long and stable administration. The subsequent emperors maintained his stance towards the scripts. Regrettably, the scripts written by Julius Caesar have been lost.

 The lost scripts could be more interesting than “Julius Caesar” which was written by William Shakespeare who was younger than Julius Caesar by one thousand six hundred years. I want to read the scripts. I want to perform the scripts! Don’t you?

 Unfortunately for Julius Caesar the playwright, he was too great as a soldier and as a politician.

 My dear friends, theatrical people! If you are a theatrical person, you shouldn’t be a soldier or a politician. You will definitely achieve great things like Julius Caesar. Then somebody will eliminate your achievements as a theatrical person.

 

Picture by Ceakus

Invisible visitors

 Talking with invisible people is a typical symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. It can be spooky.

 My mother sometimes talks with invisible people. In most cases the people are my grandmother or my great-aunt. These people have already died.

 According to the textbooks about nursing Alzheimer’s disease, in these cases, we should not say:

“There is nobody there!”

Nor should we say:

“That person has already died!”

We should divert the patient’s attention from the person. Or we should let the patient talk for a while and then say:

“The person has gone, right?”

 However, in my case, I always listen seriously to my mother talking, because my mother could already be a semi-resident of the next world. It is possible to imagine she is actually talking to dead people.

 It could be a good opportunity to get information about the next world. I always ask her various questions about her invisible guests to get some crucial information, but she always answers evasively. I haven’t obtained any concrete evidence that there is a next world or not.

 Furthermore, sometimes my mother talks with a person who is still alive but not here. That gets me down.

“Mum! Be careful! That person is still alive!”

 

Picture by Izumi Kobayashi