Wild west

In the summer of 1988, I was appointed my second overseas duty by my employer and I was very happy to have
another adventure in USA. This time I was apponted to work in Los Angeles.

But the hardest part for me was I had to say that to my 87 years old grand mother who was not in a good health, then.

She was not only able to leave her bed then, but she also stated becoming senile. She used to be a very clever and
wise person, but her brain was not able to stop developing Altzheimer’s in her age of late 80s.

She said “ I’ve already heard that you’re moving to America again from your mom. Is that because your wife is an
American “

(What !?)

“No no, grandma, she is tall but she is Japanese. Didn’t you meet her and talked with her several times ? My
company is sending me to America and that’s very good for my future !”

“Oh, that’s right ? Do you go back to the place you used to live?”

“No, I used to live in East and this time, I’m going to live in West.”

I intentionally say just East and West to make her understand easily, but I soon foud out this was a mistake.

“What !? You’re going to Western America ? Oh my dear! That place is terribly dangerous! You might be killed by
Indians or cow boys ! “

(What is she picturing? Ah ! I’ve got it, old TV movie…..)

“Grandma, Western America is not like you’re thinking now. Los Angeles is just a big city and it’s quite safe to live
there”

(Actually, not always safe… but, at least, there are no possibilities to be abducted by native Americans nor challenged by Steve Macqueen to fight)

But she said “ No, you’re lying. I know you’re just trying to soothe me. Oh dear, I won’t die until you’ll back in Tokyo safe……”

Then she started crying calling me by my father’s name.




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The confined princes

One Saturday afternoon, I had a phone call from a Japanese young lady and her family name sounded familiar to me

She was my ex-girl fiend’s younger sister. I used to visit my girl friend at their house. We were college student and
she was still a grade school kid, then.

According to her, before she left home for a vacation in US, my ex-girl friend called my mother and got my number in LA, in case something unexpected would happen to her little sister. We had not even talked for last 10 years at that
time. But she still had my mother’s phone number, anyway.

She (the younger sister of my ex-girl friend) was a college student, then, and visited Los Angeles for her vacation
with her best friend. Since she really liked Los Angeles, she insisted her friend to cancel the flight, and stay one more week at Los Angeles. But her friend refused because she did not like Los Angeles so much. Then, they were separated at LA International Airport.

Then, believe it or not, she left the airport on foot and kept on walking to the east to find an inexpensive hotel. Then
as she finally found the inexpensive looking hotel, she checked in, late at night.

Next morning, as she went outside of the hotel to buy something to eat, she noticed the hotel was located in a very
scary area. Everybody looked at her and some yelled at her with the words she could not understand at all.

What do you expect to the people in the rough neighborhood in LA to see 20 years old innocent looking Asian girl who looked 13 or 14 in America, walking alone wearing fluffy skirt and Louis-Vuitton bag in her hand?.

That’s why she called me like confined princes calling for help to a royal knight. Off course the knight retrieved
the princess, paying $45 at the front, and took her to his Marina del Rey apartment.




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A fairly realistic fairy tale

12 years ago, I was in New York City, running a small subsidiary of a Japanese company.

I was so busy then. I was usually still at work, when a cleaning person came to the office around 8 pm, every night.

One night, a new cleaning person came. And she was a young white lady. No offence, but it is rare to see a young
white lady working as a cleaner in NYC. Then I decided to talk to her.

I soon found out she did not speak English very well. She said she came from Albania about a year ago. To summarize our conversation over the week, here’s her story.

She was born engaged to marry the son of her father’s best friend. But the family of her father’s best friend
emigrated to US when she was little. But since the “man to man” promise should be kept, her father ordered her to
move to New York to marry the son.

Needless to say, I was so surprised to hear her story. It was the end of 20th century. This kind of story can be heard
in historical stories or fairy tales. Yes, it happens in modern Japan on TV dramas or animes, but it only makes stories dramatic, but unrealistic.

According to her, she had never met him until she came to US. Then, since her husband had been unemployed few
months before, she started working, but her husband never allowed her to work with any men, and that’s why she had the office cleaning job.

I do not know anything about Albania. All I know is the country, which is located between Greece and ex-Yugoslavia,
used to be a socialist nation but politically isolated from any of its surrounding nations. I don’t know if they still kept old European or Slavic culture and social systems until recent years, and I even don’t know if her story is realistic in the country or not. But I was sure she was not telling her fantasy.

A month after I first met her, she was replaced by a Caribbean boy. Then my after-hours atmosphere got back to quite common New York one

I hoped her husband got a job.




↑↑↑↑　こいつをクリックしてくれるとけっこう嬉しいです (b4)