You Killed an Electrician in Your Previous Life?

In 2014, we moved, and we had to equip our new home with household appliances. Soon most of these appliances started to break down. In the beginning, I joked with my wife, “This happened because you killed an electrician in your previous life.” We laughed, but the appliances kept breaking down one after another. Eventually, we found the situation creepy, and my wife started to get mad when I repeated my joke.

When an electrician come to our house to fix our appliances, I said, “We’re sorry—we killed an electrician in a previous life, so all our appliances broke down.”

The electrician replied, “That’s not true. These days appliances are poorly made. Most Japanese companies make their appliances in foreign countries, and maintaining quality standards in foreign countries is difficult.”

During the 2008 financial crisis, many electricians lost their jobs because Japanese appliance companies looked for cheap labor abroad. I don’t believe foreign electricians are responsible for the poor quality of appliances. To develop good electricians, companies must invest time and resources, as many Japanese companies previously did.

Our appliance problems were not the result of killing an electrician in a previous life. Instead, it is the result of the curse of companies firing well-trained Japanese electricians and then being too stingy to train foreign electricians.

Picture by Hanaboo

A Great Doctor in the Countryside

 

 There is a Japanese folk tale known as “The Doctor in the Countryside.” It is the story of a doctor who lived deep in a forest. One day, there was an emergency in the village: a patient needed the doctor. He was called. He tried to take a short cut to the village but encountered a giant snake, which swallowed him whole. Inside the snake, he used a laxative, which enabled him to get out safely and to finally reach the patient.

 I live in a countryside of sorts too. And, one day, I came across a great doctor.

 When my late father was alive, he had cataracts. The result of his visual acuity test was less than 20/100. So, he had an operation at the nearest general hospital. Apparently, the doctor who operated on him did a great job. My father’s visual acuity test result became 20/10.

I was highly impressed and said to the doctor, “You must be a great doctor.”

He answered, “I only did what I had to.”

That’s what a great doctor would say.

I have had eye problems from my birth, so I wanted him to become my family doctor. When I made this request, he said, “Sorry. I have to move to a different hospital in the downtown area next month.”

 He was probably headhunted.

 In the folk tale, a great doctor came back from a giant snake; in the modern world, a great doctor could never come back from a city.

Picture by saki

“Water” in the Musician’s World

 

 In the 2000s, I had the opportunity to sing a song for an audience to the accompaniment of a big band of about thirty musicians.

 I had some experience as an actor, but as a singer, I was relatively inexperienced. I was very nervous on the day of the performance.

 In the green room, I knew no one. I was almost trembling with tension. There was a musician with a plastic bottle. He was drinking a clear liquid from it. The bottle’s label had been taken off. Instead, the word “water” had been written on it by hand. I found that interesting and asked him about it.

 “You wrote ‘water’ on your bottle. In the musician’s world, there must be a clear liquid that is easy to mistake for water? Am I right?”

 He smiled and said, “Sure! You want to drink some?”

 I was very thirsty because I was nervous. And I trusted him. So, assuming that it was water, I took a long swig.

It turned out to be sake, Japanese alcohol.

 Apparently, the musician was drinking sake but wanted to hide it from the others because he wasn’t supposed to drink alcohol before the performance. So he put sake in a plastic bottle and wrote “water” on it. Then he pretended it was drinking water.

 Under normal circumstances, I couldn’t drink alcohol at all. My face turned red, and I staggered. On this occasion, I ultimately sang the song to the audience. I actually can’t remember the details. Apparently, our performance was good. All I can say is at least the alcohol eliminated my tension.

 Tonight, please enjoy “water” in the musician’s world. As for me, I will never drink that “water” again.

Picture by studiostoks