Baby’s memory

 

I read an interesting post on social media.

The poster’s older brother was a unique person. He still had memories from when he was a baby.

The poster has a baby. Babies cry very often. They cry when they are hungry and when they wet themselves. Sometimes babies cry for no reason. The poster’s baby cried so often without any reason. So, she asked her brother, “Do you remember why you cried when you were a baby?”

Her brother answered, “In my case, on most occasions, I had an itch on my head. We can’t scratch our own heads when we are babies, right?”

Now, the poster pats her baby’s head with a wet towel softly when the baby cries for no reason. Sometimes the baby stops crying.

Sometimes, adults pat small children on the head to comfort them. Most children love that. It might be because of the memories they have of being unable to scratch their heads by themselves when they were babies.

If this story is true, we all had the same problem when we were babies. But most of us forgot about it.

Humankind is cute.

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Picture by nagi

Period of Popularity

Moteki is relatively a new Japanese word. Some people talk about and believe that “everyone has at least one short period of life when one enjoys more romantic attention than usual.” That is moteki.

If those people are right, I had such a period of life when I was a kindergartener.

One day, when I was a kindergartner, a girl gave me a paper. It wasn’t a letter. Most kindergartners can’t write letters. Instead, it was a strange picture. I assumed it was a kind of colored paper, and I kept it in my treasure box.

A few days later, someone called our house. Then, my mother severely scolded me.

The paper I had been given was not colored paper. It was paper money. I can’t remember exactly how much it was worth. But I think it might have been a lot. I didn’t understand the situation, but I gave the money to my mother. I think she returned the money to the female kindergartener’s parents with an apology.

That was on Valentine’s Day.

On Valentine’s day it is a Japanese custom for some women to give chocolates to men they love.

The female kindergartner wanted to give me chocolate, but she didn’t know where she could buy it because our town is kind of rural. So, she decided to give me cash instead. Of course, she stole the cash from her parents.

That was my moteki. I was almost a bad male companion who gets female customers to steal money and exploits them.

Now, bad male companions are a social problem in Japan. These male companions take a lot of money from young female guests. Some female guests steal money to give the companions.

I did this half a century ago.

I have never experienced such a moteki again. I have never been given cash by other girls.

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Lost in an RPG

It is possible to say that I am part of the first generation of video gamers. When I was in the second grade of elementary school, Japan experienced the arcade game boom. We spent almost $1 just to play one video game. Young people might laugh about that, but at the time, we spent so much money.

Arcade games transformed PC games and home game consoles. When I was in my twenties, I stayed up all night for a few days in a row to play PC games. Young people might also laugh about that. I was almost addicted to video games.

Now I believe that I and video games have built a good relationship. I am not crazy about video games. On the contrary, I have discontinued many games. I can’t finish many role-playing games (RPGs). For several reasons, I quit many games for a few months or years.

Sometimes I thought, “I want to clear a certain video game and watch the ending scene because I spent money on that game.” Then I continued an RPG, but I couldn’t remember who I was and where I was. An NPC speak to me in a friendly manner, but I couldn’t remember who they were. Did I have any special abilities? Then I just walked around, but I walked in circles. When I wanted to recover, I couldn’t return to the recovery spot. Then I would die. I couldn’t remember anything. It is possible to think that Alzheimer’s disease might be like this.

I also replayed a major game company’s game. It always let me know the story so far when I played the game. When I had played the game every day, I thought it was annoying, but whenever I resumed playing after a long break, this helped me a lot.

When we talk to an Alzheimer’s disease patient, we should talk about the story so far again and again with patience.

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Picture by Mogutani

Stage Carpenter and Carpenter

  I used to be a part-time actor. I have many friends who were stage carpenters.

Once, a house-building carpenter supported our project. I assumed that stage carpenters and carpenters are almost the same. The carpenters also assumed that, but they discussed things and decided that they would be in charge of separate parts of the stage. The setting was the backyard of an old house. There was an old well. The stage carpenters built the old house, while the carpenter built the old well.

They made a beautiful stage. The house and the well created a nice harmony. We could enjoy the last day of the performance successfully.

We started cleaning up the stage. There was a problem. The well that the house-building carpenter had made was difficult to take apart. He couldn’t come on the final day. The stage carpenters tried very hard to take it apart, but it was almost impossible.

Most stage carpenters build buildings to be strong enough until the end of the performance period. The stage settings are designed to be easy to take apart. Basically, stage carpenters don’t hammer nails into the setting completely. We can see the tops of the nails backstage. They only hammer all the nails completely in the case of the audience-facing side so that the actors can walk around without getting their costumes caught in the nails. After taking apart the setting, the carpenters use the lumber for another setting. It is economic and ecological.

Most house-building carpenters never think about taking apart what they’ve built. They have to build strong houses that last for decades or centuries. They would try their best to build houses that can especially withstand typhoons and earthquakes. They haven’t any concept for taking apart houses. When they need to perform demolition, they might use heavy machinery. Maybe they take apart structures on special occasions, like removing and relocating cultural properties. I believe there are special carpenters for that.

I assumed that stage carpenters and carpenters are the same, but actually, they are not. When I was a child, I assumed policemen and guards have the same job because they wear similar uniforms. In Japan, policemen have guns, while guards don’t have guns. Maybe most of us assume that some jobs are the same, but if we know about these jobs deeply, there might be some huge differences.

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Seeing Out

 

When I was a teenager, I was a student, but I participated in many theatrical plays, and I watched stage performances every week.

I loved mini-theaters. Most of these theaters had a custom of “seeing out.” After the performance, the actors stood at exit of the theater and met the audience, who could speak or shake hands with them.

One day, I watched a play that was directed by my senior. After the performance, I said hello to him.

Then he said something shocking to me: “Please watch the show again tomorrow.”

This surprised me because I had participated in too many plays. Of course, I was an unpaid actor. I was not financially well off. A ticket for a play cost $20 or $30 at the time, which I couldn’t afford, but I couldn’t say no to my senior. What should I do?

I thought about this a lot. Then I came up with a trick. I already knew the performance time. I visited the theater at the “seeing out” time on the dot. I pretended that I had watched the show and said hello to my senior, the director.

The mini-theater was so small that one could recognize every member of the audience. My trick might not have worked. My senior didn’t say anything, but he should not have asked me to watch the same play twice in a row. I hope my trick worked.

In the 1980s, Japan experienced a mini-theater boom. Some theater groups’ tickets were almost impossible to buy, but now most of the theater groups I mingle with struggle to sell their tickets.

Dear people, let’s go out and watch plays! We don’t ask you to watch the same play twice in a row, but if there’s a repeat performance, you should watch it!

Picture by Shintako

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Runes

 

 

Runes are letters used by ancient Germanic people. When I was a graduate student, my vice academic adviser was an authority on studying runes in Japan.

For my generation, “rune” was a popular word. We loved fantasy novels and animations. Some of these used runes as mysterious letters. For instance, some spells and secret words were written in runes.

My academic adviser told me this story. One day, one of the crew members of Gammera visited him. Gammera is a Japanese movie series about a huge turtle of the same name, similar to King Kong and Godzilla. My generation loved Gammera very much.

The crew member told my adviser about the next story of Gammera. In this story, people find an ancient document in ruins, upon which secrets about Gammera are written in runes. So the crew member wanted to know about runes.

My academic adviser was a nice person. He read the secrets about Gammera in Japanese. He translated the document to Proto-Germanic and wrote it down in runes. He also wrote down the document in Japanese so that an actor could read it out loud. Then he sent it to the crew member.

When he saw the movie in a theater, there was no scene where an actor spoke Proto-Germanic, but the paper that he had sent was shown on the screen from the back. They didn’t show the front of the paper. Only my adviser knew that the crew had used that paper.

I couldn’t resist my curiosity and asked, “How much did they pay for that?”

My adviser laughed and answered, “They gave me a box of snacks.”

Apparently, a real academic’s word doesn’t pay off financially.

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Picture by SuccessfulWitch

 

School Uniform

 

When I was a student, Japanese junior and senior high schools were in crisis. Some students were quick to use violence. There were many hooligans in schools. I read an article in a newspaper that said some high school students had a party and drank alcohol in a bar and were caught by police in my city.

 I don’t know if we have the same rules even now or not. When I was a high school student, my city prohibited teenagers from being outside at night. Teenagers couldn’t go out without a guardian at night. If teenagers were found on the street at night, police would catch them.

 I was a member of the drama club during high school. Sometimes I watched semi-professional plays. Most of their performances started from 7 p.m. My school was located far from downtown, so I didn’t have time to go back home to change my clothes. I went downtown wearing my school uniform. Most of the performances were about two hours long. I needed to be downtown at night.

 One day, after watching a performance at a theater, I took a subway to go home. A group of young men called out to me. They were my naughty classmates. They looked like adults because they wore mature clothing. Maybe they were worried about being caught by the police. They were excited and said, “You are great! You are enjoying nightlife wearing your school uniform!”

 It could be so. Watching a play might be enjoying nightlife.

 After that day, all of the naughty students at my school tended to respect me.

 I was a super naughty student. I enjoyed nightlife downtown in my school uniform. I have never been caught by the police.

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Picture by Minoru Mizuno

Shu-ichiro

 

 

 My name is Shujiro.

 I was named using a traditional Japanese naming style. If you are familiar with the style, you could guess that I am the second born son. “Jiro” means “second man.”

　I have one older brother and no sisters.

 Japanese traditional society tended to respect a firstborn son, because he would take over his parents’ work and property. Parents tended to educate and raise the firstborn son with great care. On the other hand, sons born later tended to be looked down upon.

 My father aged and had physical disabilities. My mother had Alzheimer’s disease. My brother and I should have taken care of them together—with my brother’s cooperation. But my elder brother ran away from difficult situations. He didn’t do anything. He didn’t help us financially. He ignored us.

 I took care of my parents, living with them for twenty years. I was a teacher and a part-time stage actor, but I quit those roles to focus on caregiving. I was hospitalized a few times because of the stress caused by caregiving. My brother never helped us. I wanted to write negative things about him, but I will not. I want to keep my writing clean.

 When I started to live with my parents and take care of them, I noticed a strange phenomenon. Some people started to mistake my name. Hospitals, temples, welfare facilities, and the neighborhood started to send me mail with the wrong name: “Shu-ichiro.” Hey! My name is Shujiro!

 “Ichiro” means “first man.”

 In Japan, firstborn sons were treated as special, and in return they were expected to take care of their parents.

 I took care of my parents. People started to think I was the firstborn son. “Shujiro” is not a proper name for the firstborn son. Maybe they thought it was a mistake. They corrected the “wrong name” to the “right name,” “Shu-ichiro.”

 When we had been seeing my mother’s doctor for over ten years, I talked about my family situation with him. The doctor was surprised and shouted, “Are you the secondborn son?” He had assumed I was the firstborn son.

 I respect Japanese traditions. But sometimes traditions include negative things. Most Japanese vaguely understand that discrimination is bad. We should not judge people based on race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. But most Japanese people judge sons based on birth order.

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Pinkie

 A few years ago, I was hovering on the verge of death because of acute diabetes. My highest blood sugar level was 2154 mg/dl. My doctor made presentations at medical conferences about me.

 Now, I have recovered. I don’t inject insulin anymore. I am not on a restricted diet. I am fine.

 But I didn’t recover completely.

 Since then, I’ve been unable to get rid of the numbness in my left pinkie. Even now. It’s as if I wear a work glove just on my pinkie. My pinkie feels weak.

 Let’s look on the bright side. I was lucky. If I were a world-class pianist, it could have been a mortal wound. If I were a world-class violinist, it might have been a fatal injury.

 I use my pinkie just for typing on my computer keyboard. I have difficulty typing “Q,” “A,” and “Z.” Fortunately, Japanese language basically doesn’t use “Q.” So, in my case, I am pretty much fine.

 When I was a child, I studied the violin. I quit. If I had continued and happened to become a world-class violinist, I would have disappointed many classical music fans.

 I am happy I quit the violin. Persistence pays off, but sometimes quitting also pays off.

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International Relationships and a Restaurant

 Once, I needed to entertain a business partner. I invited her to a restaurant.

 Inviting an important person to a restaurant is not easy. An expensive, high-class restaurant is not necessarily the best option. The important person would worry about me, so it would not be a smart move.

 I want her to think, “Oh! I didn’t know there was such a restaurant here. It is clean, stylish, and reasonable. I want to come here again with my family or friends. Kudos Shujiro! He must know many good restaurants. I want to have a meal with him again!” This is my goal when inviting someone to a restaurant.

 I knew the best Chinese restaurant in my town. It was little more expensive than other Chinese restaurants, but still acceptable. It was also stylish and delicious. In the restaurant, they displayed the Chinese chef’s photo and testimonials. He had won many chef competitions.

 I proudly invited my business partner to the restaurant. But it had changed a lot.

 The restaurant still had the same name. It was located in the same place. Even the phone number was the same. But the interior decoration had changed. There had been a photo taken in Shanghai, but instead of that, they now displayed traditional Japanese pictures. The staff had all changed. The menu had completely changed. Most importantly, the taste had changed. I could cook better! What had happened to the restaurant!

 At that time, the relationship between Japan and China was really not good because of issues over some islands.

 This is my guess as to what had happened. The chef had left the restaurant because Japan was difficult to live in for a Chinese at that time. There was no photo of him nor testimonials to him in the restaurant. If the chef had gone, they couldn’t cook the same way. I think he left Japan. A good chef can work all around the world.

 I had invited my business partner to the wrong restaurant. However, as a result, the dinner was almost successful. My business partner said, “This is delicious!” But I knew she was lying to me. It was not delicious. I knew it. She was being diplomatic, as I was also an important business partner to her.

 I was in bed for a few days as a result of this shocking incident.

 I have a good relationship with that business partner even now. Our business is succeeding.

 But sometimes I worry she might think I have a unique sense of taste.

 Some people say the relationship between Japan and China is now at its worst. I worry nice Chinese restaurants are silently disappearing from Japan.

 If we want delicious foods, we need to maintain good relations with all countries.

 The best way to good food is peace.

 I wish for lasting peace for good food.

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Picture by illustratorbk

 

Time Bomb Joke

I was a high school student. One day, in an English class, the English teacher did a mysterious thing. I have forgotten almost everything about high school, but I can remember what he did clearly.

 

The teacher wrote two sentences on the blackboard. Then he stopped for a few seconds and stood in silence. Usually, he explained the meaning of the sentences he wrote. But that time, he didn’t. Then he took an eraser and said “This is inappropriate.” He erased the sentences without any explanation. My classmates and I didn’t react. No one understood his actions.

 

For the next few years, I continued studying English. One day, I suddenly understood the sentences.

 

It had been a joke. Furthermore, it was a dirty joke.

 

We were teenagers. We had female classmates. Of course, that was an inappropriate joke in the classroom. That was a dirty joke, but it was a good example for students who were studying grammar. He wanted to explain the meaning of the sentences. But he was a teacher who couldn’t explain in Japanese. He just wrote on the blackboard for a few seconds. I think he believed some of us might keep studying English and someday would understand the joke. He wished someone would laugh in the future. That joke was for the future; it was a time bomb joke.

 

There are many kinds of jokes. Time bomb jokes must be one of them.

 

Teacher, your joke certainly worked!

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Picture by Gugu 

Counterattack of Marmite

 

My wife and her sister love natto. If you are familiar with Japanese food, you have heard of natto. It is a traditional Japanese fermented food. Some Japanese love natto; some Japanese hate natto. I eat natto because I have heard that it is good for your health. My wife will be in a bad mood if we don’t have natto in the fridge. Her sister married a British person. They live in the UK. He loves Japanese food, except natto.

 

A few years ago, my sister and brother-in-law came to visit our house from the UK. They brought us a nice present. It was marmite. I heard some people love marmite and some people hate marmite. It might be like the UK version of natto. I heard there are many movies on YouTube of Japanese people’s first reaction to eating marmite.

 

             I had heard and read about marmite, but that was my first time seeing it. My wife and I ate it in front of my brother-in-law.

 

Actually, it did not have a surprising taste for us. We liked the taste, but we didn’t have a strong reaction to it. If you can eat marmite, you can eat natto, I guess. I was sorry for my brother-in-law: he had brought me a special present from the UK, and I should have reacted with a noticeable change in my expression.

 

If you have never tried either of those foods, please try them and react strongly.

 

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Picture by T.H

 

Stumble

When I was an elementary school student, we played our very first soccer game in physical education. The gym teacher explained the basic rules of soccer, and we started to play.

Children are childish. Most of my classmates wanted to kick the ball. They crowded around it. I was a child who didn’t want to join such a crowd, so I stood alone, away from the crowd. Then, somehow, the ball rolled in front of me. I kicked it toward the goal. There was no one between me and the goal. Everyone went after the ball, but no one could run faster than it. The ball entered the goal.

My soccer experience had started successfully. I had successfully shot the first shot. That was also the final goal. After that, I never took an interest in soccer.

When I was a high school student, we played our very first rugby game in physical education. The gym teacher explained the basic rules of rugby, and we started to play.

The high school students were not so different from children. Most of my classmates wanted to touch the ball. They crowded around it. I was a kid who didn’t want to join such a crowd, so I stood alone, away from the crowd. Then, somehow, the ball rolled in front of me. I picked it up and ran to the goal line. There was no one between me and it. I scored a try.

My rugby experience had started successfully. My first try had succeeded. That was also the final try. After that, I never took an interest in rugby.

When I was an elementary school student, we had a school performance. We planned to stage The Emperor’s New Clothes. I was looking forward to the play. I memorized all the lines of all the roles. I wanted to be the emperor or the cunning merchant. But I caught a cold and was absent on the important casting day. I was given the role of a doctor. Of course, it was not an important role. I had just one line: “Emperor, do you have headache or stomachache?” Oh, that was a shame!

I continued to pursue drama in junior high school, high school, and university. Even now, I am in touch with the theatrical community. It has given me a lifetime of pressure.

When you start something, a stumble might be a good beginning.

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Guide Cat

January 2007. My cat, Mary, passed away.

Mary was born in Osaka. When I was studying in the U.S., I took her with me. So she also studied abroad. Her airplane ticket was more expensive than mine.

Then I moved back to my hometown, Nagoya, with her. I had heard that cats hated moving. I was sorry about subjecting Mary to that, but I didn’t have a choice.

One of my neighbors told me our city crematory could accept pets. I also considered burying Mary in my yard. But I reckoned that if I could hold a funeral for her in the crematory (like I would have done for a human), that might be better for her.

I could have gone to the crematory by train. But I was not sure I could take the train with a dead cat. I felt that the other passengers might think it was spooky. In the end, I decided to take Mary in my car.

At the time, I was learning how to drive. The crematory was a bit far from our house. I needed to drive through the downtown area. I was really nervous. I thought it would be a long journey.

A week later, my grandmother, who lived with me, passed away. My mother was the chief mourner. But she already had Alzheimer’s disease, so I served as the actual chief mourner.

Thus, I found myself going to the city crematory again. But this time, I was not driving the car. Rather, I was in the passenger seat of the hearse. My mother should have been in that seat. But we were worried that the hearse driver might get confused if he talked with her. And so I watched the driving from the passenger seat. The driver might have been one of the best pro drivers. His driving was safe and polite.

My grandmother had died. A week before, Mary had died. One of my neighbors said, “The path to heaven might be long. Mary left first; now she is acting as a guide for your grandmother.”

Cats are mysterious animals, so that could be the case.

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Picture by jumsica

Important Letters

 

One of the problems we had when my mother had Alzheimer’s disease was that lots of mail was delivered every day. My mother was an active person. She had many friends and many kinds of jobs. Many people sent mail to her.

She hired a licensed tax accountant and advised me to manage the letters. I didn’t want to do it, but no one except me could. I didn’t have a choice.

We lived together, but I was really hesitant to open the letters to my mother. I felt as if I was doing something wrong.

I started to manage the letters to my mother. There were a lot of letters. A few cardboard boxes were full of them.

She ran a supplementary school, so many of the letters were advertisements about teaching materials. We decided to close the supplementary school. I called the companies and asked them to stop sending us more teaching materials. I called about 100 companies.

There were polite handwritten letters. I couldn’t throw them away. I thought they might be important letters. When I visited the memorial halls of great persons, I saw their handwritten letters being exhibited. So I kept those letters.

There were letters from public offices. Those were written ritualistically. They were boring, so I threw them away.

There were letters from financial institutions. They were made up of just numbers. I couldn’t understand them, so I threw them away.

One day, the accountant scolded me extremely hard. I believe my heart had been in the right place, but I’d done the opposite of what I should have done.

My mother had lived a successful life. She was famous in her industry. She was a great person, but she was not so great that someone would build a memorial hall for her. The polite handwritten letters had been important, but most of them had not been urgent. I should have continued her correspondence on her behalf, but I hadn’t had time for that.

The letters from the public offices and financial institutions had not been heartwarming, but they had been important. Someone should have taken care of them. I called the public offices and financial institutions and asked them to reissue the letters. It was an extremely complicated procedure.

I haven’t sent a handwritten letter in a long time. I haven’t received one in a long time either. Most people might be the same.

If I were to visit the memorial hall of a future great person, there might not be handwritten letters. There might be exhibitions of their social media correspondence.

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Picture by Tugumi Kougei

 

Maturity

The “light novel” is a category of Japanese novels. Novels that target the younger generation are considered light novels, and some Japanese animations are based on light novels.

When I was a teenager, the term “light novel” did not exist, but some publishers printed novels for the younger generation. I loved to read those novels.

Once, one of my favorite novelists made a shocking statement during an interview: “If no one dies at the beginning of the story, the product is not interesting.” I thought it was not a good thing to say.

A few decades later, the social media world dawned. I looked for the creators of my favorite animations and novels on social media because I couldn’t find some of their works on TV or in bookstores. Maybe some of them had quit creating. It was possible that some of them were not so popular anymore.

I found some creators’ accounts and followed them. Their statements interested me. I found the account of the novelist who had made the not-so-nice comment. As it turned out, he was always posting pictures of his cat. He would post only cat-related stories. I didn’t know what had happened to him. I guessed he had passed his prime.

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Exclusive Feast

 

 Yakudoshi, unlucky age, is a Japanese traditional way of thinking. All 42-year-old males might be unlucky. To avoid bad luck, people in Yakudoshi are recommended to contribute to society. Some people visit shrines and pray. Some people do charity activities. Of course, some people don’t care. There are some feasts organized by Yakudoshi people in some areas.

 My hometown has a traditionally special feast for Yakudoshi. I took part in the feast when I was 42 years old.

 When I was working for the feast, a friend of mine complained about the feast. His hometown is a different place. He came to my hometown after he grew up. He wanted to participate in the feast in my hometown. But the members refused him.

 I didn’t say anything. But I couldn’t understand why they refused him.

 Our feast was actually just one day cleaning up the shrine and one day giving people alcohol and snacks. Everyone should participate.

 The main event of our Yakudoshi was receiving a ritual for purification in the shrine on January 1. Most events were finished at that time. After that, we had a farewell party.

 All members were childhood friends. But we were all adults. We talked and reacted as decent adults until that time. At that party, we had alcohol.

 We started calling each other stupid nicknames again, which we all used to do when we were children. We started the childish games we all used to play, like pro wrestling, as if we traveled to the old days through a time machine. It was almost a dream. I enjoyed it. It might be the essence of this feast.

 But we should not embarrass people from other towns. If there was such a person, we had to act as decent adults.

 Sorry, people from other towns, our feast is exclusive. We want to drink alcohol with childhood friends in an exclusive situation. If you want to enjoy this kind of feast, please produce it in your hometown.

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Picture by masakuniterui

 

The Guard in Osaka

 Osaka is the second city in Japan. I had lived there for six years. I love Osaka.

 One of my early days in Osaka, I was looking for the Washington hotel. In those day, no one had smart phone. If you lost your way, you needed to ask the people around there.

 I asked the people there. But that was near from Shin-Osaka station for the Shinkansen. Unfortunately, most of people around Shin-Osaka station were travelers. They said “I am not a local person here”. So, I couldn’t find where it is. I walked around. I found a guard. I thought “he is working here as a guard. He might be a local person here”. Then I asked him. He answered.

“It is difficult to say.”

 I couldn’t understand. I asked him again.

“I am talking about the Washington hotel. It might be a huge building. Is that located some complex place?”

He pointed out the building in his back and spoke.

“This is the Washington hotel.”

 He was a guard for the Washington hotel. I was already there. It might be difficult to point it out to me.

 If you watch TV in Japan, you will watch many comedians from Osaka. Generally, people in Osaka love humor. This is one of reasons I love Osaka.

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Picture by Mon-chan

Miserable Sick Cat

 

If you have a pet, sometimes you need to go to a veterinary clinic.

             One day I visited such a clinic with my cat. I was sitting in the waiting room. Then a miserable sick cat was taken by the owner. The cat looked like it might have vomited blood. The area around its mouth was bloody red. It might have also had sick eyes. The upper side of its face was unnaturally blue.

I was really worried about the cat. If my cat had the same disease, could I still love my cat?

Then the nurses in the veterinary clinic looked at the cat and laughed. I was shocked. How could they laugh at the miserable sick cat?

The cat’s owner said, “I put makeup on her.”

The red around her mouth was lipstick. The blue around her eyes was eyeshadow. I felt relieved. There was no miserable sick cat.

 

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Picture by MM Memo 

Relaxing Atmosphere

 

A friend of mine is a designer, but he was a chef in a French restaurant when he was young. I thought he had a unique career.

It might have been difficult for him to become a French chef. He might have studied for a long time. He might have spent so much time and effort. Why did he quit such a great job? One day I asked him this question.

He answered, “As a French chef, I needed to work on holidays. I hated it.”

I said, “But a chef can rest on weekdays. On weekdays, there are not many people at resorts. You could enjoy resorts without crowds.”

He answered, “That was the part I hated most. I can’t relax at a resort without crowds.”

I finally get the idea. There are many people at resorts on holidays, but having a lot of people at these resorts can be relaxing.

I have had experience as a stage actor. If an actor got nervous, the other actors started to feel nervous. Nervousness might be infectious. On the other hand, relaxation might also be infectious. If you go to resorts on holidays, you can mingle with many relaxed people. You might feel relaxed.

Dear theatrical friends, I know it is difficult for you to have days off on holidays. If you can, please have a day off on a holiday. Please visit a resort. There might be many people who might infect you with their relaxation.

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Wandering Intermediate Learner

I am studying foreign languages. I have heard the term “wandering intermediate learner.” This means that intermediate learners often have a difficult time learning.

If you start to study a foreign language, it is easy to find a textbook for beginners. It is also easy to find a classroom for beginners. In general, it is easy to start. However, for intermediate learners, the learning process suddenly becomes difficult. Most bookstores don’t have enough textbooks for intermediate learners. You can buy a foreign book from a foreign country, but if you can read the foreign book without a dictionary, then you are not an intermediate learner; you are an advanced learner.

If you are lucky, then you can find a textbook for intermediate learners. If the textbook is very interesting, then you are super lucky. In most cases, this does not happen. Most intermediate learners might have different fields of interest. If the textbook writer wrote material that is interesting to you, then the book might be interesting to you. If the writer wrote about topics that you are not interested in, then the book might be boring.

I have taken the TOEFL many times. It’s a test for students who want to study at a university in the United States. In my time, I was sure there was a test writer who was really interested in desert animals. In the TOEFL, there were many stories about desert animals. Of course, I was not interested in this. I was not so lucky.

It is difficult to find a class for intermediate learners. I think the most difficult part of such a class is that there are too many classmates at different levels in the class. Some students are almost beginners, while others are almost advanced learners. It is very difficult to study in the same classroom.

I recommend taking one-on-one classes. You can have a teacher for yourself, but this might be expensive. Furthermore, it might be bad if you and the teacher don’t work well together. Overseas study is another good idea, but it is more expensive. You have to leave your family and friends for a while. It might be difficult for some people.

Another difficulty for intermediate learners is maintaining motivation. Beginners start to learn because they have extra time and effort. They can easily feel themselves developing, and they have many opportunities to find the best results.

Intermediate learners have a long way to go to become advanced learners. They don’t have enough self-development opportunities. This might be because of the competition, the memorizing speed, and the forgetting speed. Some friends who start studying together might quit. If you temporarily quit studying, it is easy for you to forget everything.

An old Chinese saying goes, “Persons get old easily, and it is difficult to learn.” I am talking about studying a foreign language, but one can say the same thing about other fields. It is easy to begin, but it is difficult to continue.

I can say just one thing. If you keep studying, you might be an intermediate learner who can become an advanced learner.

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A Night in Shanghai

 

 

In the 1990s, before my mother had Alzheimer’s disease, one of my mother’s friends built a factory in Shanghai. My mother was invited to the opening ceremony of the factory. I went with her.

After the ceremony, I was free to do whatever I wanted. In Japan, there are many movies and songs about Shanghai. I thought it was a wonderful place. Roaming around a wonderful city might be great! I thought. I started to walk from the hotel.

As soon as I came out of the hotel, many people looked at me and said in Japanese, “Watch! Watch! DVD! DVD!”

I was surrounded by sellers. I thought they could tell I was a Japanese traveler because I had come from a hotel. If I had mingled with the crowd, no one could have guessed that I was a Japanese traveler.

Then I started to run, but when I stopped at a different block of the town, more sellers screamed at me in Japanese, “Watch! Watch!” or “DVD! DVD!”

I couldn’t escape from the sellers. I couldn’t roam around the city. I returned to the hotel. How can these sellers tell that I am Japanese? I thought.

A few years later, I started to study Chinese. I asked my Chinese teacher about the incident.

She answered, “It’s because of your clothes and motions.”

These days, there are many people from China in Japan, but I can’t tell who’s Japanese and who’s Chinese based on their clothes and motions. If a person starts to speak in Chinese, then I can tell that the person is Chinese. Can people really guess others’ nationalities based on their clothes and motions?

I live in the Aichi prefecture in Japan. I have met a person who insisted that she could tell between people from the west or east side of Aichi. I find it hard to believe that.

I talked with a man who had traveled to India for a few months. His story went like this. In the beginning of his trip, people in India treated him as a Japanese traveler. He ate the local food, wore local clothes, and talked with local people. He really mingled with the people in India. At the end of his trip, people at the hotel or airport didn’t believe that he was Japanese.

If I could, I would want to travel with a long-range plan.

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Preaching

 

My grandfather was from Toyohashi. His grave is there. My mother lost him when she was in the first grade. The grave had a lot of meaning for her. When she was healthy, we often visited the grave.

 

Usually, we also visited the Buddhist temple. The priest served us green tea. And he would engage in Buddhist preaching.

 

But his preaching was very tedious. I am sure he didn’t have a sense of how to preach. I almost started to hate Buddhism.

 

But the green tea that he poured was extremely delicious. I was always surprised by the taste of the tea.

 

Toyohashi is near Shizuoka. Green tea is a well-known product in Shizuoka. The priest could even get good tea leaves at an economical price.

 

He always poured tea in front of us. So, I bought green tea in Shizuoka, and I poured it in the same way as he did. But it didn’t have the same taste. Is that difference because of Buddhist magic?

 

I used to visit the grave and the temple with my mother. My motivation was to drink the tea. At the time, I wished the preaching was more interesting.

 

Now, the priest has passed away. I can’t taste the tea forever. Looking back on it, I miss the tedious preaching, too.

 

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Americanization

 

 

In the 1990s, I studied at a university in the USA. My classmates came from all around the world.

 

One day, we discussed Americanization. I am not sure if the tendency to discuss that is still strong now. At least in the 1990s, most countries were influenced by the USA. American movies and TV dramas were popular all over the world. Japanese people used English words to describe new concepts every day.

 

But some people worried about Americanization. They thought it might destroy their traditional society.

 

The class had discussion time. I listened to many opinions from other students.

 

The teacher asked me my opinion.

 

I told this story.

 

I had Korean and Taiwanese classmates at that time. I confessed to the teacher that we often cheated during classes. We have different languages, but we used common letters: Chinese characters. Our pronunciations are different, but the meanings of the words are almost the same. So, when we had difficulty communicating in English, we often wrote down Chinese characters. It made it easier for us to communicate. But using non-English words in the classroom was cheating because it was an English class.

 

Why could we communicate in Chinese characters? About a thousand years ago, China was a prosperous country. The countries around China sent students to China. They were influenced by China.

 

I said: “I can’t predict what country will be prosperous in a thousand years. I don’t know what country future students will go to when they want to study. But I am sure they will cheat in English.”

 

All of my classmates and even my American teacher laughed.

 

In the 1990s, it might have been a nice joke. I am not sure it would work now.

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The Hare and the Tortoise

 

Once, I worked as an English teacher. One day, I was almost late, so I took a taxi. I told the taxi driver to go to the English school. The elderly taxi driver asked me, “Are you an English teacher?” Then he started to tell me his story.

When he was a student, he wanted to work for a hotel. Many non-Japanese travelers would stay in the hotel. So he studied English very hard. He continued, “I can recite ‘The Hare and the Tortoise,’ which was in my textbook. May I recite it now?”

I listened to his recitation of “The Hare and the Tortoise” as an English teacher. Amazingly, from the beginning to the end, there was no mistake. He was very fluent. Driving a taxi is a great job. But if his dream came true, he would be a great hotel employee.

I was lucky to be able to continue my English education. I became an English teacher. But I can’t remember a single page from the textbook I used when I was a student. I am not sure I can recite “The Hare and the Tortoise” fluently without making a mistake.

Perhaps I need to study the fundamentals again. Maybe every time the driver drives an English teacher, he practices “The Hare and the Tortoise.” Practice makes perfect.

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