Each morning as I stepped out of the train on my way to work, Iam amused. Imagine seeing what seemingly a bland horde of J men and women all dressed up and made up rushing towards the train I have just left. Everybody wants to get past everyone just to get in as if they are marathon runners. As I leisurely walk away, how funny, I was like them just a few minutes ago. And I walk slowly along that river which sometimes a number of kamo are swimming in the freezing water.
Yesterday I lost my commuter pass. Until now it doesn't show up. Iasked the lost and found section of the train line and nobody ever handed such. Just frustrated on thinking there are a lot of honest people out there. At the same time me for being negligent and foolish. Imagine it's something like 150 US dollars. Poor me!
On my way to the train station, I have to pass by a small persimmon orchard. In previous yrs at this time of the month, the fruits had been picked and put inside a small fruit box ready for delivery to the coop. An old couple, probably in the 70's or 80's would take turn in gathering the fruits. Until today, the fruits lay unattended and some have fallen on the ground rotting. I have the urge to gather some and leave 500 yen somewhere inside the orchard but I worry that the money no matter how small that amount was, would get lost. So, coming home this pm, I looked at the fruits sadly. Whatever happen to the old couple? The trees are beautifully grafted and the fruits are quite big. I wonder where the couple was.
Visited somebody at the hospital during mealtime. One of the patients was being spoonfed by a tough looking man taller than an ordinary Japanese. He was spoonfeeding an old lady in wheel chair who happened to be his 97 yr old mom. I'm amazed and it looked sweet. She must have been very beautiful in her younger yrs. And many would say that Jmen are tsumetai! That man can easily snarl and drove a man to flee with his piercing eyes. Yet he was spoonfeeding his mom. Amazing!
Just spent 2 days in Nikko City just a bit south of Fukushima. At first I'm undecided whether to go or not. I was really worried about the radiation scare since it is quite near than our place in Inuyama. Less tourists roaming around but on the local level everything is as usual. Haven't seen mask wearing people though I myself bought 3 packs and asked my son to use one. He obliged but then he removed it upon reaching Nikko. There were foreign tourists still and locals too. Am I making a mountain out of a mole? Or I'm surfing on too much scary internet news and blogs? Yet it's very nice to be back home. Just pondering if I'd glow in the dark.
I'm frequenting Heiwado, a medium sized department store which has a supermarket in it's first floor basically for it's discounted goods at around 7pm. Secondly for the soothing tweeting of small birds perhaps not less than 20 which has nested on one of the trees near a side entrance. I was wondering then why on that tree alone when in fact there are several trees around? All those trees never shed leaves even in winter. But last September, that tree and another nearby tree was trimmed down. Then the birds stopped coming as no visible bird shit. Today when I shopped there, I noticed some birds' shit but no bird in sight. Are they the same birds? If so, then they must have some sense of memory and I got teary-eyed. Pardon for being emotional.
Have been 3 months working in this glass factory. This morning I had my x-ray as part of company sponsored medical checkup. Inside the mobile van was the x-ray technician who happened to be a man. There was no sight of hospital gown which I was expecting to wear when I took off my shirt. When I asked the tech man he said just take my shirt off. I was surprised. I've been almost 20 years in Japan and had similar medical checkups but I was just asked to unfasten the bra. I have no qualms since I'm not well endowed up there. Nothing to hide except a couple of raisins. But at least I expect something decent or perhaps a lady tech. Am I asking too much?
Christmas and new year are two inseparable events. You can't think of one without remembering the other. Mine evolved from receiving to giving to being just an ordinary day. It was 10 days before Christmas of 1984 when the doctor said my father had some more couple of months to live due to lung cancer. And in 2005, my mother died on December 26. Hence, the magic of Christmas, the joyous feeling have lost its meaning. Although I nurture the feeling of hope, that the next Christmas and new year will be a better one. I'm just hoping that the time will come when I would have to welcome these events again with a really happy heart.
Just this week a 63 year old man stood still on the railroad track and committed suicide. As there are numerous suicides by young and old alike, is this just peculiar to the Japanese or are there others who do this? Facing some difficult life problems may seem like facing a wall. Will it not be better to turn around and re trace one's steps and perhaps at the junction somewhere better options will come to light? Or if he's intent on killing himself, then he can just go to the store and buy some rat poison or get overdosed by sleeping pills. I can't imagine the shock of the train driver knowing that he's half instrumental in that man's death. Was he able to see the Old man's face, or even his eyes before being ran over by the train? For that Old Man, life has ended albeit not peacefully. But for his family, a big burden remains. As far as I know, the train company will ask for heavy damages. What kind of trouble did he have to think of suicide? Iam not yet in the place where I really want to be. Had a lot of down times yet what uplifts my spirit in those times is knowing that the birds neither sow nor reap yet they live because they're fed by God. Rest in peace Old Man whoever you are.
This morning as I left the train station, I saw the lady staff from the nearby convenience store trying to shoo away a homeless man sitting on the bench just near its entrance. It saddened me to see people like him. Imagine I am living in the world's second largest economy and it's already November. Just imagine the freezing temperature at night. He may have had his good days and help is just some few kilometers away. But he never did. Otherwise, he wont be homeless. I wonder what other personal reasons does he have other than being ashamed. Contrary to the homeless people in my native country where they ask for alms. I still have to see homeless people here in Japan beg for money. Still, that man haunted me the whole day while at work.
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