New Employee’s Photo

 

 

 My ground mother worked for a local news paper company. She passed away when she was ninety-six years old. My mother was only child. But she had already Alzheimer’s disease. So, I did all of procedure about my ground mother’s death.

 The news paper company had a company-sponsored funeral every year. They had a funeral for workers and ex-workers who passed away in the year. I participated the funeral. They gave me several mementos. I was surprised at one of the mementos. That was my grandmother’s photo. But the phot was taken when she was a new employee. Of course, black-and-white phot. But she was very young. I was surprised because I haven’t seen her such young photo.

 My father worked for the same company. When he passed away, they also gave me my father’s photo. He was also a new employee.

 All companies that have long history do this?

 I think this is a good idea. If a worker has long life, only an aged photo might be showed in the funeral. The family could remember only aged face. If the company could give the family a photo that taken when the worker was a new employee, I might be nice surprise.

 Dear company managers! This could be a bonus to the family’s whose member worked for your company till their retirement.

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King of Cows

 

              When I was a university student, I stayed with dairy farmers for a short term. I took care of the cows.

              Most of the cows were gentle. They were not interested in me—except for one cow. The cow always growled at me when I approached it. Cows are bigger than humans. When the cow growled at me, I was really scared. I assumed that the cow was the king of the group of cows. The cow might have been on the lookout for strangers to protect the herd. It might have been the duty of the boss.

              I talked about my idea to the farmers. They started to laugh. Actually, it was the complete opposite. One farmer said that a herd of cows has a strict ranking. The cow who had growled me belonged to the lowest rank in the herd. The cow was challenging me. The cow insisted that I was at a lower rank than her.

              I later experienced similar things in human society. Some people tended to put on airs in front of rookies. In most cases, people were looked down upon in communities.

 

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Singing in the Rain

 

 

 When I was a graduate student, I spent a month in Perth, Australia.

 I experienced stage acting in Japan, so I was interested in theater performance in foreign counties.

 I found a stage performance there. The title was Singing in the Rain. I had watched the classic movie. I expected new renditions and new directions on the performance.

 The play itself was quite faithful to the movie, but I was surprised because most of the audience were old people.

 Singing in the Rain is a musical play. When an actor sings, the whole audience sings with him. I have never seen such audience in Japan. It was not a simple performance. It was like a meeting to sing together!

 Singing in the Rain was first shown in 1952. I was in Perth in the 1990s.

 The audience had seen Singing in the Rain when they were young. Most of this generation who speak English could sing the songs in Singing in the Rain.

 I couldn’t find a new rendition or new direction of the play. But I experienced a new rendition and direction of theater. The audience didn’t come to the theater just to watch the play. They came to the theater to sing. They were also performers. The musical style also gave the audience a benefit. The audience could rest while actors performed their dialogues.

 Dear friends, theater people in Japan, we can do the same thing. We can create a play. The time may be 40 or 50 years ago. It may be a nice story. But the actors can start to sing the old hit songs every 10 minutes. Then the audience will sing the songs with them. That might be a success.

 Oh! The producer will need to negotiate the song rights holders. It might be hard work.

 I want to participate in the performance, of course, not as a producer.

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The Same Clothes as Yesterday

 

 

 We should change our clothes every day.

If a young worker comes to the workplace wearing the same clothes as yesterday, he/she might be a target of rumor. People might think he/she had an unexpected romantic night.

I am not writing a romantic story. This was an instruction from a TV director.

When my wife and I lived with my mother who had Alzheimer’s disease, Japanese state television visited us for coverage.

A group of TV crews recorded us from morning till night for two days.

On the first morning, as usual, I waked up my mother. We ate breakfast. We changed her clothes. We prepared to send her to a day service.

Then the director said the unusual instruction.

“Could you wear the same clothes again the next morning?”

I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

 Later on, I understood the meaning of his instructions. They recorded our life for two days because they wanted to shoot us better. On the first day, they captured how we moved in the morning and thought of how to shoot us and where they should set up the camera. That might be a trial. The actual shoot was on the second day. But they also wanted the first day’s shooting. They wanted to choose better images. They edited the two-day images to make them appear as one day. If we wore the same clothes, it made the editing easier.

 It was summer. I sweat a lot, even in the morning.

 It was not comfortable to wear the same clothes for two days.

 Because of our effort, we were aired in a nationwide program. A famous actress was the host of the program. She said some things about us.

 But our appearance was just five minutes.

Hey! They shot us for two days! Most of our actions were omitted.

 We watch TV idly every day. But most of our efforts were not aired. We should not forget about that.

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Wheelchair

 

 

              My late father hated using a wheelchair. He had difficulty walking. He could walk very slowly, but he always refused to ride a wheelchair throughout his lifetime.

              Honestly speaking as a caregiver, if he took a wheelchair, it made my life easier. Following his weak walking was harder. If he could go with a wheelchair, I could move at my normal pace. We could move faster. Furthermore, it would clearly explain that I was a caregiver. Other people could easily understand that I was a caregiver. Maybe I looked like a good man. Please imagine a middle-aged man who stalks a weakly walking old man. No one can understand what he is doing. He can be a suspicious man. He can be a robber. I’d always wanted him to use a wheelchair.

              Still, I think my father was right.

              For an old man whose condition has no problems, walking is good exercise. Walking increases healthy conditions. It makes one’s life longer. Caregivers should not take away that opportunity. If an old man has the willingness and ability to walk, the caregiver should not force the person to use a wheelchair. That might be seen as the caregiver’s selfishness.

              When I took care of my father, I never forced him to use a wheelchair. I just followed his slow walking. People used to stare at me. I think I was a good caregiver. I just watched over him, but people couldn’t understand. On TV or movies, caregiving is always outright, like steering a wheelchair and meal assistance, but based on my experience, most caregiving practices were not simple like those.

              My father passed away without using a wheelchair at all.

              When I age, I should avoid a wheelchair like my father. I want to walk as long as I can, but it could take up much of the caregiver’s time. Most caregivers might be busy, like I used to be. I hope I will be taken care of by not-so-busy caregivers in the future.

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Playing a Priest

 

 

              When I lived with my mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease, I used to play an original game with my mother. I named it “playing a priest.”

              Caregiving for an Alzheimer’s disease patient is very hard. I needed to take care of my mother. People who were the same age as me were enjoying life. They could enjoy jobs, hobbies, and normal home lives. I was almost a shut-in. I needed to spend much time with my mother, who couldn’t even communicate with me. When I thought about my life, it made my mind blue. I was wasting my life.

              Then I invented the “playing a priest” game.

              I was trying to assume that I was not taking care of my mother. I tried to assume that I was a priest in a shrine. The shrine enshrined this kind of goddess. Japanese Shinto deities are more like Greek myths. Sometimes they might make trouble. Japanese priests are always calm and graceful. I always spoke the most polite words to my mother because I was a priest who worked for a goddess.

              This is a good way to treat an Alzheimer’s patient. If the caregivers use polite words, the patients tend to be calm. It was useful for my anger management. I was a priest. A priest never gets angry at a goddess. The goddess makes many troubles, but the priest accepts all of them.

              One day my mother was returned from a day service and saw our house. She spoke. “Where is here? Is this a shrine?”

              I didn’t mention that I had been playing a priest in front of my mother, but somehow she felt that our house had the atmosphere of a shrine.

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Single-Use Suit

  

             A friend of mine taught at a university. When I published a book about caring for my mother who had Alzheimer’s disease, she invited me to her class as a guest speaker.

             My job did not require me to wear a suit at the workplace, but I wanted to buy a nice suit for this. It was a good opportunity to have a nice suit, so I bought a really good one.

             I spoke in front of her students, who shoulder hopes for Japan’s future, with a brand new expensive nice suit. Having a nice suit was great. It gave me confidence. If I had an opportunity to visit some official place, I could come with the suit and confidence.

             Short after that, I spent a month in a hospital. I lost a lot of weight. I had been a tubby type, so that was good change for my health. But that expensive suit would never fit me anymore. If I wore it, I would look like a gangster from an old movie.

             Now, I have kept that weight off. If I maintain my weight, the suit could be a single-use suit. I don’t want gain weight again, for the sake of my health.

             Either way, I didn’t waste the money. I invested in making a good impression on the students, who are Japan’s future.

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