Social Problems Are Sometimes Disguised

When I was a university senior, Japan was experiencing an economic bubble, and employment was plentiful. Companies called me every day inviting me to join their ranks, to the point where it became tiresome.

Then, when I was a graduate student, the bubble burst. It became increasingly difficult for senior students to find jobs, with many of them telling me terrible stories about their job searches. The media misunderstood conditions, with some blaming young people, calling them lazy and saying that they are parasites feeding on their parents. However, most people in mass media jobs were elites who found their jobs under better economic conditions, and they had no understanding of the challenges faced by new entrants to the job market. Lately, a common description in the media of this period has been “an ice age for job seekers.”

I made a similar mistake. A few years ago, I read an article that stated that some delivery service staff would simply place notifications in clients’ mailboxes instead of ringing their doorbells because they didn’t want to deliver heavy packages during their shifts. I was shocked and angry, and I called these delivery people lazy because I lacked understanding of the conditions they faced. Because of the rapid spread of Internet shopping, delivery companies were understaffed. Most delivery service staff worked very hard under terrible conditions, which was revealed by the media a few years later.

When social problems occur, we cannot immediately fully understand them. Problems tend to be disguised as rumors and gossip about specific people. Therefore, if we hear these types of rumors and gossip, we should calmly assess the information, as it could be hiding the real problem.

Picture by Jimsy

 

My “Unemployed” Father

 

My late-father worked as a proofreader for a local newspaper, with his workday starting once the writers had finished their articles and ending when the rotary press started to roll. He would go to the office at 3:00 pm, work till midnight, come home early in the morning, and then go to sleep. When he woke, he would spend time on his hobbies—gardening and pottery.

But our neighbors misunderstood my father. One neighbor once whispered to me, “I am so sorry your father is like that…” She assumed my father was unemployed because he would take care of our garden during normal working hours, clearly having just woken up. In contrast, my mother was obviously employed: she ran a supplemental school from home and delivered lectures throughout Japan.

Although our family actually had a double income, our neighbors never saw my father going to and from work and simply assumed that my mother was working because my father was unemployed.

We can enjoy reading the morning newspaper because people like my father worked overnight to produce the paper, but most people with these types of jobs are probably misunderstood by their neighbors and viewed as unemployed. So kudos to all the midnight workers! Kudos again!

Picture by BNP

You Killed an Electrician in Your Previous Life?

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

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

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

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

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

Picture by Hanaboo

A Great Doctor in the Countryside

 

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

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

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

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

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

That’s what a great doctor would say.

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

 He was probably headhunted.

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

Picture by saki

“Water” in the Musician’s World

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

It turned out to be sake, Japanese alcohol.

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

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

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

Picture by studiostoks

Part-Time Job Interview

 In the 1980s, I was a university student. One day I had an interview for a part-time job. There were several interviewers. One of them was my mother’s old friend. I hadn’t known that he was working there, and he didn’t recognize me. I thought it would be rude for me to ignore him. So I said, “Hi. I’m the son of your friend!” He seemed shocked. He expressed surprise like an old-style comedian. I thought he was overreacting.

 Today, I am as old as he was then. I could be a job interviewer. And the child of one of my friends could come to me for a job interview. If that happened to me, I would be as surprised as an old-style comedian. Friends’ children grow up too fast!

 On the day of my interview, I told the other interviewers stories about my mother’s friend. They were stories that I had heard from my mother. It was a nightmare for him.

 On second thought, I could never be an interviewer!

Picture by maimu

 

Six Doctors

 In 1988, I used to enjoy riding a racing bicycle. One day, I fell hard. I was brought to a hospital.

 Because I had hit my head, I had to get an MRI scan. For the first time in my life, I saw an MRI scanner. It felt like I was in a recording studio that had a fish bowl. The doctor was in the fish bowl, manipulating the MRI scanner. I lay on a movable board.

 It was taking a very long time to get the test done. So I looked at the fish bowl again. There were three doctors in it, and they are arguing very seriously. I started to worry about my condition. I waited for a very long time, anxiously watching the fish bowl again. This time, there were six doctors, and they were almost fighting. I heard some of their words. They said, “There’s nothing we can do about it…”

 That was when I realized I must be dying. The facility was a relatively big general hospital, and its six doctors could do nothing to help me. My condition must be hopelessly bad. I was eighteen years old at the time: too young to die. As I waited for the announcement of my cruel fate, I cried my eyes out.

 A few minutes later, one of the doctors came out of the fish bowl and said,

“We’re sorry about this. The machine was broken. Please wait for more a few minutes.”

 OMG! The MRI machine was broken. Of course, there was nothing the six medical doctors could do about it!

 After a week, I was discharged from the hospital.

Photo by　Zinkevych