Repeatedly Be Praised

 

              In 2007, my mother and my grand aunt were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the same time. I lived with my mother. My grand aunt lived alone at her house, one hour and a half away from my house by train.  I took care of my mother at home. I also went to my grand aunt’s house to take care of her once a week.

              In the first stage of Alzheimer’s, a patient tends to tell the same story many times. My grand aunt didn’t have that symptom, but my mother did. I was tired of listening to my mother’s endless, repeating stories. She easily forgot that the same story had already been told many times to me.

              In those days, my grand aunt still had the ability to make a phone call to my house. After I visited her house, she called my mother and said thanks. She would call my mother many times. My mother also had Alzheimer’s disease, so she would forget that she had already received the call from my grand aunt. There might be endless phone calling. When I came home, my mother told me that my grand aunt called and said thanks to me.

              After a while, my mother started to say the same thing. She praised me again and again. I was tired of her repeating stories, but listening to her compliments for me repeatedly was not so bad.

              Taking care of Alzheimer’s patients is hard work, but most caregivers don’t have the opportunity to be praised often. Actually, I was repeatedly praised by my mother for a short time, but I should be allowed to enjoy this side benefit for a while.

Picture by studiolaut

Watch

 

              One day, when I was reading posts on Twitter, I found a comment that said, “When I became a member of society, my senior gave me . . . advice: ‘You should wear an expensive watch. It will give you many advantages.’ Then I spent all my money and bought an expensive watch. But it didn’t [give] me any advantage after all.”

              I think the senior didn’t have any malice. In the past, people evaluated others depending on their watches because only expensive watches were considered to be accurate. When I was a child, my first housework chore was setting the clocks according to the time displayed on the TV. In those days, before news programs started, they showed a clock and informed us of the accurate time. All our clocks were spring-wound clocks.

              At that time, only expensive watches showed accurate time. Wearing an expensive watch created appeal. “I am very careful about time management.” That could give the person much advantage. Cheap watches easily became too fast or too slow. However, there were drastic improvements in the watch industry. Even cheaper watches became accurate. The meaning of wearing an expensive watch changed.

              When I was a student, my senior gave me advice: “You should wear expensive shoes. You should have an expensive bag.” Is this advice valuable even now? Nowadays, even cheap bags and cheap shoes are not so bad.

              I must be careful about giving advice to young people. My advice could be outdated. First of all, most young people don’t wear watches now. If I could give advice to young people, it would be this: “Evaluating people depending on their props is not so effective. People are more complex than that.”

Picture by SIF

I Was Not Listening

 

 One of the biggest problems when taking care of an Alzheimer’s patient is money. When I need someone’s care, I want to use my money. But Alzheimer’s patients sometimes can’t use their own money.

 In Japan, when someone has Alzheimer’s disease, their fortunes are frozen. Even the family members who are taking care of the patient can’t use their money without undergoing complex legal procedures. This system was originally designed for protect patients. But sometimes it becomes a burden to the caregivers.

 We try to save up for our retirement, but it is very sad if our caregivers can’t use our savings.

 When my mother had Alzheimer’s disease, I was not familiar with this legal system. I happened to tell a clerk at a bank that my mother had Alzheimer’s. The clerk had to officially freeze my mother’s account. But the clerk said, “Let’s make this ‘I was not listening to that.’” Then he taught me how to do the paperwork as a family member who simply had an aged family member.

 At least, in Japan, a fair legal system for Alzheimer’s patients has not been completed. There might be various situations, and making a perfect system could be difficult. In our case, I took advices from a lawyer, a tax accountant, and public servants. We have to find a way case by case.

 I am not a clerk of a bank, but someday, I want to say, “Let’s make this ‘I was not listening to that” in a proper situation.

Picture by Sato

Sweet Home

 

 

 My mother had Alzheimer’s disease. At night, she used to say, “I have to go back to my home.”

 Actually, I lived with her in her home. She was already in her home, but she kept saying this. My parents gave so much effort to buy the house.

 I listened to her carefully and found out that the “home” she wanted to go back to was located in the next city where she spent her childhood. She left the house a half-century ago.

 When we have Alzheimer’s disease, we want to go back to the “home” we lived in when we were children. We don’t recognize our “home” which we spent so much money on. My mother’s father passed away when she was a child. It is possible that she imagined her father waiting for her at “home.” She could have simply wanted to see her father.

 I have moved to many places many times in my life. If I have Alzheimer’s disease, which house would I want to go back to? When I was a child, I lived in a small old rented house. There were leaks whenever it rained. That house was a cheap real estate property. But I might want to go back to that house when I have Alzheimer’s disease. At least, in that house, there was a happy family.

Picture by by gttkscg

 

The Best Job

 

 

 I have worked in many kinds of jobs.

 All of them were easier than taking care of my mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease. If you ask me what the easiest job I have ever done was, doubtless, it was this!

 The librarian for the university library! I was a librarian in the 2000s.

 A library in a university has mainly difficult books. They took time to read. Then a few students came to the library. I used to work at the reception desk and do procedures for renting books. But only about two or three students came to the reception desk per hour. I could work on my chair. About one time per hour, I would bring the returned books back to the bookshelf. It was nice to take a walk. They also had an air conditioner. Once a while, my superior said to me, “Please, take a rest.” But I was already rested. I couldn’t imagine a more relaxing situation.

 I used a computer to perform procedures for renting books. I was allowed to use the computer for my personal purposes. In those days, I was kind of a writer. I was writing on the computer during work time. Moonlighting. While doing one job, I was also doing another job. It was very efficient.

 One day, when I was double working, the section manager was approaching me. He was the highest superior I had ever talked to in the library. I was worried he might complain about my moonlighting. But he said, “Your typing speed is very high.”

 He praised me.

 Later, when I published my first book, the section manager came to my house and bought a copy of my book.

 I wish all workplaces in the world might be like this.

Picture by graphicalicious

 

Tragic Rabbit

 

 When I was a student, I worked at an event for children. I was asked to escort a costumed actor. Later, I also became an actor in a costume. But at that time, I had never worn a costume before. If we are going to lead a car, it is better we have driving experience. It is difficult to lead a car if you have never driven a car. We should realize the same thing happens when escorting a costumed actor.

 If you wear a costume that covers your face, you are almost blind. We must be very careful when escorting a costumed actor, especially if there are obstacles.

 On that day, I was working as a member of the event crew. The venue was a park. My superior asked me, “Could you escort him to the green room?” “He” was a pretty rabbit. I had no idea why he needed a guide to the green room. The green room was a tent. It was not very far away. So I just walked ahead of him, saying, “This way, please.” He followed me.

 There were bollards, which are short pillars used to block cars. I had no idea he couldn’t see the bollards. I walked through the bollards and said, “Come this way.”

 Then the tragedy happened. One of the bollards smashed his crotch. In most cases, a bollard is the perfect height to smash someone’s crotch. The rabbit squatted down on the road for a while.

 The rabbit finally arrived in the green room. I apologize to him. He said, “I’m OK.” Then he undressed the costume. He wore piercings all over his face. He looked like a punk rocker. I was lucky because I apologized to him when he was a rabbit. I am not sure I could have apologized to him when he was a punk rocker. He looked very scary.

 Dear friends, costumed actors have a difficult time seeing. Please, be careful, especially near a bollard.

Picture by Mocha

A Younger Artist

 

 

 I am fifty years old. A half century.

 Now I have started to love the works created by a young artist. His age is almost half of mine. How lucky I am! Many people only love the products released during their younger days. To enjoy later years, we should have flexibility to appreciate young artists.

 Perhaps one of the benefits of loving young artists is that I would not receive the news of their death. I have received a lot of news of the deaths of elder artists whom I love. I don’t enjoy their new works anymore. They make me sad.

 The new artist is younger than me. Maybe he will continue his creation even after I pass away.

 I wish I have senses after my death. Somehow, I want to enjoy his new works.

Picture by by ClassicVector

Karate Softball

 

 When I was a second-year high school student, I was a member of the drama club. One day, we had a softball game with the graduates. It was a wonderful idea to promote interaction. In Japan, we really worry about up-and-down relationships. Talking about dramatic events could be awkward, but playing sports could make it smooth.

 We separated the students’ team and the graduates’ team. We were to bat first. In the top of the first inning, the leadoff man and the second hitter stuck out. The third hitter approached the batter’s box. He was a freshman. But he was not just a freshman. He was a rank holder in Kyokushin karate. Some people say Kyokushin karate is the strongest style of karate. It is full contact, and its skills are very practical. They actually punch and kick their opponents. I don’t know why he joined our drama club.

 The rank holder easily hit the first ball. That must be a single through the hall. Hitting a softball was a piece of cake to him.

 However, he just stood in the batter’s box and smiled to us. All of us in the bench were surprised. We found out that he didn’t know how to play softball. He was supposed to run to the base. So we cried out, “Run! Run! Run!”

 Then he realized his mistake. He started to run to a base. But it was the third base. He ran to the third base directly, clockwise.

 Now you know Kyokushin karate is the most practical and strongest. He did the most effective attack with the smallest movement. That could be the essence of karate, but that was not how to play softball.

 He hit a clean hit. But he was out.

 I talked to him after. He had never played softball and baseball. He had never even watched them on TV. This could be why he became a rank holder as a senior high school student.

 I realized that the rumor was true. Kyokushin karate is the strongest.

Picture by SantaPa

A rich man in fall

 

 I used to catch a cold every autumn, at the same time each year. I suspected I had hay fever so I went to a hospital to find out. But I didn’t have hay fever – I had a cold. Why?

 One day I tried to solve the mystery, and so I thought back over my behavior. I found out I had a big misunderstanding.

 When I was in my twenties, I began living on my own. I was very surprised by my electric bills in the summer. Today, air conditioners are very efficient, but back then, they consumed a huge amount of power. In order to save money, I tried not to use the air conditioner in the summer. I endured days and nights without it and it was very hard to sleep. I was always thinking, “I wish I were rich. I would use the air conditioner all day, as much as I want, and have a comfortable life.”

 Then when the autumn came, the weather cooled down. I started to misunderstand again, thinking, “Oh! Yes! It is cool! This is because I have become a rich man. I can use the air conditioner inside and outside of my house because I am a superrich man. Hooray! I am rich!”

 Then when it became almost cold, I was still enjoying the “richness.” Even when everyone started wearing jackets, I still wore just a shirt. Because I wanted to enjoy being a rich man.

 This is why I caught a cold every autumn.

 After I solved the mystery, I started to wear a jacket in the autumn and I haven’t caught a cold since.

 Dear friends, when autumn arrives it becomes cooler. But it doesn’t mean you have become rich!

 Oh! I didn’t know you already knew that.

Picture by nanami 

Slave Teachers

I am reading books about ancient Rome. According to those books, ancient Roman intellectuals were bilingual. Their native language was Latin but they studied ancient Greek as part of their education. Studying a foreign language is very challenging. I am Japanese and I have spent some difficult days studying English. Greece was in the territory of ancient Rome. Some rich Roman families had Greek slaves whose job was to teach Greek to their children. It is difficult to imagine the slaves. Their job was to teach, but their status was slaves. Teaching their owners’ children was probably difficult and complicated. By the way, in present-day Japan, many teachers in public schools need to work overtime – over 100 hours per month. Most of them can’t get enough overtime pay. It occurred to me that today’s teachers might be like those Greek slaves.

 Picture by yopinco

Temple

 

 When my wife and I lived with my mother who had Alzheimer’s disease, we looked for places to visit on Sundays. The day service was closed on Sundays. Spending all day in the house with my mother made us blue, but we couldn’t visit crowded places. It could be dangerous for my mother. Then we came up with an idea. We decided to visit local temples together. We drove to temples by car and took pictures. The temples had steps, which were a good exercise for my mother. Perhaps we could accumulate virtues by visiting temples.

 While I visited many temples, I found out they have differences. Some temples looked new and luxurious. Others looked old and worn-out. I imagined that a great monk could live in a worn-out temple. Sometimes we can find a great actor in a small worn-out theater. The same thing could happen in temples.

 One of the temples gave us a kitty. She was a stray cat. The temple saved her and was looking for someone who could adopt her. We named her Ramune. Now she is a member of our family. She is a cat of dignified isolation. It was difficult to tame her. Her face is so beautiful, and she looks like she is always meditating. She might have studied Buddhism in the temple. She could be a cat of high virtue. Sometimes she pees on the sofa and chair. She could have deep reasons for doing that. A great monk and a great actor sometimes have eccentric behavior.

 Ramune, we already know you are a cat of high virtue. Please pee in the toilet for cats.

 

Taking a bath costs $4,000

 

 After my grandaunt passed away, I needed to clean up her house. She didn’t have a child. I started with the bathroom. My grandaunt intentionally broke it. She had Alzheimer’s disease. She was afraid of having an accident in the bathroom, so she made the bathtub unusable. My relatives and I couldn’t decide whether we should sell or rent out the house at that time, so I thought I should fix the bathroom. The house should at least be a place where someone could live in. I asked a repair company how much it would cost to fix the bathroom. They said it would cost $4,000.

 I fixed the bathroom. I thought I should take a bath in there. It had an old-style bath system, but it was comfortable.

 My grandaunt had many properties. I spent almost three years cleaning them up.

 After cleaning up the house, my relatives and I finally decided to rent it out. We needed to renovate it to find a tenant. I assumed the bathroom was OK. But the real estate agent and the carpenters strongly recommended for us to do a total renovation of the bathroom because bath heating systems had developed over the last few decades. Furthermore, tenants tended to make a decision on a house depending on its wet area. We took the real estate agent’s and carpenters’ advice. We completely renovated the bathroom.

 I only used the fixed old bathroom once. It cost $4,000. It could be extremely luxurious.

 I should use that in many different ways.

Picture by DIJ

Four Steps to Down Town

 

 

I live in Nagoya, one of the biggest cities in Japan. My house is far away from downtown Nagoya, almost at the city’s edge. But we have an hourly bus service that directly take us to and from the downtown area. The trip takes one hour.

My late father took my mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease, to downtown Nagoya every week with this bus service.

My father was hearing-impaired. He couldn’t learn text messaging, but I let him have a cellphone. He couldn’t hear the phone, but he could understand how to make a phone call with it. My mother also couldn’t understand how to use the cellphone. She had acute hearing though. If my father handled the cellphone, my mother could talk with me on it. My mother couldn’t remember a thing from the conversations, but she could talk to my father in a loud voice. They used the cellphone with great teamwork.

Once, when they had an accident, I could talk with the person who helped my parents. The cellphone made it easy. Even if aged people can’t use them, it is good to let them have cellphones.

We also used a GPS service that kept me informed of the cellphone’s location, but unexpectedly we never received any benefit from the service.

One night, while I was scrolling through the contents of my father’s cellphone, I found an unbelievable record in it—a pedometer recording. The pedometer showed that my father moved just 4 steps that day. He had gone downtown with my mother—the bus stop is 500 meters away from our house—and they had bought me presents. He would have walked around downtown at least. How could the cellphone count just 4 steps?

My father had difficulty walking. He didn’t use a cane, but he walked very slowly. He couldn’t raise his feet; he almost slid them along. The pedometer couldn’t count his steps because he walked very gently.

I also tried it—it is possible to move without a pedometer’s counting.

My house is located in an excellent place, just four steps away from downtown!

I have thought of a unique game—all players need to bring a pedometer and then move from the start line to the opposite wall as quickly as possible, but the steps should not be counted by the pedometer. All people, including the elderly and children could enjoy the game. It would be exciting!

Picture by Bado International

Masked Pianist

 

Once, I worked for an event organized by a cosmetics company. All the actors working for the event had to wear full-face masks—we had to hide our faces.

From the time the doors opened to the start of the performance, the director decided to play an album by Richard Clayderman, a great French pianist. There was a piano on the stage. The director had an idea and asked me, “Could you sit down in front of the piano and pretend that you are playing it?”

I can’t play a piano, but I am an actor; I could act as if I were.

There was a buffet at the venue. The cosmetics company must have been rich—the food looked delicious.

While I was pretending to play the piano, I noticed some people looking at me enthusiastically. They ignored the food and really paid attention to me. Some of them even whispered, “What a great pianist!”

They really assumed I was playing the piano. My fingers were hidden their view. In reality, I never even touched the piano.

Of course, it was a great pianist. The music was played by Richard Clayderman himself. But we were just playing his CD. The audience must have thought “This pianist on the stage can play the piano as well as Richard Clayderman, but he is playing at this small event in this local city! For some reason, he needs to hide his real face! What happened to him?” They must have imagined a tragic, genius pianist under my mask.

I couldn’t stand it. If people started to pay too much attention to me, it could disturb the event.

It was against the director’s order, but I intentionally made a mistake: I explained “I am not playing this piano.”

The people said, “What the heck!” They no longer paid attention to me and went to the buffet. As an actor, I was sad to lose the audience’s attention. But at least the buffet was real.

After the event, I reported to the director, “As we expected, it was a failure.” The director laughed and said, “I knew it.”

Actors should not deceive audiences like this.

Picture by grandfailure

My Mother and Crows

 

 I had lived with my mother who had Alzheimer’s for about fourteen years.

 Then she had another disease, which required her to be transferred to a hospital. Because of her other disease, her Alzheimer’s got worse. My wife and I decided to put her in a nursing home. Finding a good nursing home was difficult, and the procedure was complicated, but we eventually found one.

 When my mother lived with us, we were very busy, especially in the morning. My wife and I needed to help my mother in going to the toilet, getting dressed, and eating breakfast. We needed to prepare to see her off to the day service. After we put my mother in a nursing home, we could enjoy our morning time.

One day, while my wife and I were sleeping in, suddenly, our telephone rang. It was one of our neighbors.

“Your trash bags are miserable!”

 We looked out in front of our house and saw some crows broke our trash bags. They were eating our scraps. Our trash was all over the street. It had never happened before.

 This happened because we put my mother in a nursing home.

 When we lived together, we put my mother’s diapers in the trash bags. They might have smelled like excrete from a big omnivore and might be a good crow repellent. When my mother moved to a different place, our trash bags just smelled leftovers. The crows might have been overjoyed. We had covered the trash bags with a crow repellent net, but it was too old to be effective.

 When my mother had Alzheimer’s, I felt that she was just a burden on our family. I didn’t realize that she could be useful in an unexpected way.

 We only realize the value of our mothers when they are not around.

Picture by visekart

Encore

 

 

 At a classical music concert, after the performance, the audience don’t stop clapping. Then the performers show up again and perform the encore.

 In Japanese theater, especially in a mini-theater, which I took part in, we didn’t practice the encore. I know some big musical plays have to practice the encore, but we didn’t. After a performance, when the last audience stops clapping, the whole performance ends. So I have never experienced an encore, except one day.

 On that day, all actors, including me, and crew members had a good performance. We didn’t make any serious mistake. The audience were great. We felt a sense of unity.

 In small theater performances like ours, we have a practice of “seeing off.” The actors show up at the lounge and see off the audience, including our friends and family members who came to the theater to watch the show. We can talk to them directly and say “thank you.”

 On that day, I rushed to the lounge because I felt that we did a great performance. I really wanted to say “thank you” to the audience as soon as possible. The director was in the lounge. We made eye contact. We didn’t say anything, but we smiled at each other. Both of us knew tonight’s performance was great. No words were needed in a situation like this.

The director and I waited for the audience in the lounge with big smiles on our faces. This was one of the best moments in my life.

But the audience didn’t come out to the lounge. We waited for a long time. It was too long. I wondered what was happening. I opened the door to check, and I was surprised. All the audience were still clapping. All actors, except me, were on the stage. They were smiling and waving their hands to the audience.

That was an encore!

It could happen spontaneously? In a small theater performance like ours?

I tried to return to the stage, but the encore was almost finished. I was the only actor who didn’t show up for the encore. I missed the chance to enjoy the encore, which may never happen in my life again.

Wise men say only fools rush in.

Picture by mounel

The Big Smile

 

              When my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, I talked with a couple who ran a photo studio near our home. They also had an aged mother who had Alzheimer’s disease.

              One day, they talked to me with big smiles: “Finally, we decided to put our mother in a nursing home.”

              Actually, in those days, I had just started my caregiving for my mother. So I didn’t understand the meaning of their words and big smiles. I couldn’t understand why they looked so happy. They had left their mother.

              For over ten years later, I had lived with my mother and had taken care of her. I decided to put my mother in a nursing home. I was released from hard caregiving. An Alzheimer’s patient needs twenty-four hours of care a day. I was released from these busy days. An Alzheimer’s patient can easily create accidents. I was released from this heavy responsibility.

              I finally reached this day safely. From the next day on, my life had drastically changed. I didn’t have any difficulty. I had a normal life. Those were wonderful days. I wanted to share this great feeling with someone.

              I quit it. I felt really happy, but this feeling was difficult to understand. Only someone who had a difficult time during caregiving could understand this. From an objective point of view, I had just left my mother. My mother’s disease got worse. I gave up taking care of her at home. I should not express my happiness with a big smile. No one should say “Congratulations” to me.

              The goal of caregiving could be leaving a nursing home, a hospital, or a funeral. Even if the caregivers worked hard for a long time, the result could be a tragic end. I think this is one of the hardest parts of caregiving.

Picture by koti

Sutra

 

              In a common Japanese funeral, a monk chant is a sutra. These sutras are difficult to understand for ordinary Japanese people. I couldn’t understand why people were doing this. In these important moments, why do we have to listen to sutras when no one understands their meaning?

              In 2007, my grandmother who had lived with me passed away. My mother was the only child. She was the chief mourner, but she was already experiencing an onset of Alzheimer’s disease. I needed to play the role of the actual chief mourner.

              That was my first time to be a chief mourner. Everything was new to me. Furthermore, two of my relatives had trouble. It was possible that they would fight during the funeral. Their problems were so serious. If they started a fight during the funeral, it would lead to the humiliation of my grandmother. She had lived a great life and deserved a solemn funeral.

              I prepared for the funeral as the chief mourner. I also talked to both of my relatives. I asked them not to fight during the funeral. On the day of the funeral, these relatives always glared at each other. I was literally standing between them. I glared back at each of them. I was screaming in my mind, “If you start a fight now, I will never forgive you!”

              Then the monk started the sutra. I finally reached this moment. I believed the two relatives were not outraged as to who would start a fight during the sutra. I was released in this moment. During the sutra, I didn’t need to do anything. I didn’t need to think about anything. Then teardrops fell from my eyes. That was the first time I cried my eyes out after my grandmother had passed away.

              Primarily, a funeral is supposed to be a moment for sadness. I had no idea what the monk was saying, but I believe a funeral requires a moment like this. Sometimes a funeral could be a battlefield. I think monks don’t like this idea, but I think a sutra could be a nice interval.

Picture by Romi Harashi

Heroes Die

 

One day, when I was a kid, I was watching TV. My mother was cooking our dinner. A news program was on, and the announcer reported the news of someone’s death. I had no idea who the person was, but my mother screamed, “What?” Then she quit cooking and stared at the TV for a while. That was the first time I saw her so upset.

Now I am older. The heroes whom I admired when I was a kid are dying, one after another. Sometimes I hear the unexpected news of the death of one of my heroes, and I also stare at TV.

I can’t remember the name of the person whose death shocked my mother. But she must have considered him or her a great person.

Longevity is wonderful. But, if I lived a long life, I would have to receive a lot of news about death. I don’t want to die early, but I don’t want to receive a lot of news about death.

Picture by Shintako

The Medical Records

 

One of my relatives runs an ophthalmology clinic downtown. And it so happens I used to take care of three old persons: my great aunt, my father and my mother. Old people always have medical problems, so I would take them to various kinds of hospital. Almost every week, I would be at some hospital. When they had eye problems, I would take them to the hospital our relative ran. It was a win-win situation. The hospital could profit, and I could show that I was a good caregiver.

The doctor was my relative, and the nurses and clerks treated me very well. I was a frequent visitor there for about ten years. We became very familiar with each other and engaged in small talk every time.

One day, I wanted to buy new glasses. I decided to ask for a prescription for them at the hospital. When I was in the waiting room, the clerk came to me. She looked upset.

“Now, we are looking for your medical records… but we can’t find them.”

Then my relative, the doctor, joined us. They started to argue: “Have we lost the medical records?”

“How could we do that?”

“Losing medical records could be a serious problem.”

They were upset for a while. Then we solved the mystery. They never had my medical records in the first place. I had visited the hospital many times as a caregiver. I had never visited it as a patient. I didn’t even have a hospital ID card. The clerk had assumed that they had my medical records because I was familiar.

After that, I met my relative in my capacity as a patient for the first time.

Picture by Aroaroui

Ghostbuster

 My grandfather passed away because of illness when my mother was still a child. My mother was on first grade. She had no sibling. Maybe she felt lonely in those days. When she fell asleep in her bed, she started to feel like someone was on her quilt. She thought it could be her dead father. But that meant it was a ghost. She got scared.

 One day, she told my grandmother about it. My grandmother said, “Next time, when you feel that, you should wake me up and tell me. If it is your father, I have many things to say.” She would tell him things like “How could you die like that? You left me and a little child. You are so irresponsible. Now what? You have come to my daughter and frightened her? How dare you do that?”

 After that day, my mother had never felt someone invisible on her quilt.

 I guess my grandfather was really afraid of my grandmother.

Picture by ICIM

Hourly pay of $30

 

 When I was a student, I had a part-time job renovating a shopping mall. The daily wage was about $80.

 One day, a trouble occurred. Somebody used a special tape on the floor, which was supposed to be taped with masking tape. The special tape was difficult to remove. We had to use iron tools to peel it off. I don’t know who made the mistake, but the person must be a hard worker. The special tape was used in a huge area. We had to peel it till next morning. All the workers tried removing the tape. In the evening, my shift would end. But the manager asked me to do overtime work. He said, “I will pay you $15 per hour.”

 Actually, I was already tired from staying up the night before to do my university project. I wanted to go home and sleep. But the hourly pay of $15 was very attractive, so I worked overtime.

 Midnight came. I was exhausted. I decided to go home. But the manager said, “Please stay here till the next morning. I will pay you $20 . . . no . . . $30 per hour!”

 I had never experienced being paid $30 per hour. It was a very attractive offer, but I refused because I was so sleepy. Yes, I flatly refused.

 I walked to the parking area. I needed my motorcycle to get home. I rode my motorcycle and tried to get out of the parking area. Then I found out the exit of the parking area was locked with a chain because it was already midnight. I couldn’t drive out.

 The chain was knee-high, and it was easy to stride over. My motorcycle was a Honda Super Cub. I assumed that if I tried my best, I could lift up my motorcycle and bring it over the chain. Actually, my motorcycle is easy to ride, but it is so heavy to lift and carry. I tried to lift it up many times. It was difficult to get out. It was midnight. Trains and buses were out of service. I couldn’t get home without my motorcycle. I already flatly refused the offer, so I couldn’t go back to the shopping mall. I couldn’t work $30 per hour. As a result, I did the hard work of lifting up the motorcycle unpaid instead of the easy job, which was just scratching the floor for $30 per hour.

 I tried to lift up the motorcycle for a few hours. Then a truck approached the parking area. It was a carry-in truck. It was already morning! The truck driver had the key for the chain. He opened it. What was I doing?

 Now I missed the hourly pay of $30. I also wasted my youth by staying up for two nights. It made me believe I could lift up a motorcycle. I can’t stay up for two nights now. Lifting a motorcycle? I can’t even think about it.

 Somehow, I want to borrow the youngness from “the young stupid me.”

Picture by tele52

In Alphabetical Order

 

              Once, I worked for a video game company as a scriptwriter. In the process for making a game, the director wanted to change voice actors. We had already recorded all the voices. Then he decided to find a new voice actor and have us rerecord just his voices. The director didn’t participate in the recording. When he listened to the recorded voices, he was surprised.

              “What the heck? He was the best actor at the audition. But his acting is not good. How can he become a bad actor like this?”

              I also listened to his voice acting. I used to be a stage actor. I also thought his acting was unnatural, but I didn’t feel he was a bad actor. It was not an issue of good or bad acting. I suspected he didn’t have enough information for acting out the scenes.

              I asked the director, “Let me see the script the voice actor worked on.”

              I read the script. Then I solved the mystery. The script got rid of the lines of the other voice actors. Only his lines had been printed out. Furthermore, the lines had been printed out in alphabetical order. The first line was “A!” The second line was “Aa!” Dear friends, most of you are theater people. Most of you can understand what kind of mistake the company did.

              The company had already recorded the other voice actors’ voices. So they had assumed the new actor needed a script with just his lines. It looked efficient. Furthermore, they had printed out the lines in alphabetical order. It was simply a mistake. I don’t know anyone who would write a script in Excel in the theater world, but some video game scriptwriters write their scripts in Excel because it is easy to process with other software. Excel has a function that arranges everything in alphabetical order. Someone who worked for our company had accidentally used that function.

              Actors are not machines that pronounce written letters. They deeply read the situations of the stories, their co-actors’ lines, and their relations. They synthesize this information and act out their reactions. Actors can’t read even the shortest lines without another actor’s lines. Actors “give” lines to other actors. Actors “accept” lines from other actors. This is fundamental knowledge about acting.

              The people who worked for the video game company didn’t have acting experience. They didn’t know this simple fundamental lesson. Even if they had already recorded the other actors’ voices, they should have printed out the other actors’ lines on his script, or they should have let him listen to the other voice actors’ voices. Arranging his lines in alphabetic order was just ridiculous. Actors are not psychics.

              The voice actor should have said, “This script doesn’t make any sense. I can’t act with such a script,” but I guess it was too difficult for him to say. Only a famous or experienced voice actor could say that. The young voice actor needed to try his best without the essential information for acting. Pathetic!

              Now I’ve left theater. I’ve always felt that most Japanese people don’t know about acting. Many people fall for the “Hey, it me!” scam in Japan. I believe the reason why must be the lack of fundamental knowledge about acting. People easily believe in cheap acting by frauds. People have to study acting as part of their compulsory education.

Picture by Nature

Big Justice and Small Justice

 

              The coming-of-age ceremony is popular in Japan. We have Coming-of-Age Day as a national holiday. The ceremony is usually held at a public hall in the celebrants’ hometown. It could be a kind of class reunion. Most of the attendants might not have seen one another after graduation from junior high school.

              When I was twenty, the ceremony committee invited me to give a speech at the ceremony. I didn’t know why they had chosen me. We didn’t have cellphones in those days. The committee called our home. I was absent. My mother answered the phone. She immediately refused the offer.

              This was my mother’s assertion: “My son is still just a student. Someone who already works as a member of society should give the speech. You must find someone else.”

              I was not interested in giving a speech. I didn’t mind that, but she should not have done that. Even if she had a good reason, she should not have refused an official offer for an adult family member. She should have kept the message and waited for me to get home. She could have given me the message and added her wonderful idea. She should have let me decide that as an adult.

              In our coming-of-age ceremony, one of my best friends, Mr. A, gave the speech instead of me. I loved that idea. I looked forward to his speech. He was better than me. He was also a student from a prestigious university. He was popular among us. He was a wonderful, witty fellow. I still remember his outstanding campaign speech for the student council when we were elementary students.

              This time, however, his speech was not attractive. He just kept mentioning traffic safety. I thought he was not enjoying his speech. What was happening? After the ceremony, I talked with Mr. A personally. He explained the reason. Some policemen had checked his draft for the speech, and they made some revisions. Finally, most of his speech became about traffic safety.

              I understand why the policemen did that. Our prefecture, Aichi, was the worst prefecture in Japan with regard to traffic accidents, with the highest number of people dying every year. The policemen needed to take care of tragic traffic accidents. They really wanted to tell young people about traffic safety, but no adult should be forced to revise a draft for their speech. Even if they have good reasons, it doesn’t mean they can do anything.

              I am older now. I always think our society should be like this and that people should do this, but I want to take care not to let big justice trample on small justice.

Picture by osame