Dec. 5, 2021
Human connection is fascinating. It seems pure luck at one moment. It seems an inevitable destiny at another.
About a few weeks ago a large package arrived home. Inside there was a bag of 10 K rice. It was sent to Madam Fumiko (=Mom) by an aged couple living in Ageo, Saitama. The husband, named Mr. Y, is originally from Niigata Prefecture, well-known for quality rice production. He used to be an employee of a restaurant Madam Fumiko and her husband, my late dad, Monsieur Toshio ran.
Back in 1963 my late grandpa owned a restaurant in 2-Chome, Shinbashi, near JR Shinbashi Station. He had a side business as an wholeseller of ice. The business was brisk. Back then refrigerators as we know them now were not common. People would have an ice room to preserve food. Almost all restaurant businesses in the entire block depended on my grandpa's ice shop.
In the same year Monsieur Toshio and Madam Fumiko, back then still Mademoiselle Fumiko of coures, got married. Monsieur Toshio, a former art students and now an employee at a life insurance company, made himself useful by helping with the ice business. It was then that the Mr. Y, the gentleman who sent rice to Madam Fumiko, met Monsieur Toshio and Madam Fumiko. He too helped my grandpa with the ice business.
In 1964, the year the Tokyo Olympics was held in Japan, Monsieur Toshio and Madamu Fumiko had their first baby, Ayako, my sister. They loved her like the apple of their eye. Japan's economy was growing at a tremendous speed like a rocket. People bought televitions to watch the Olympics. They bought washing machines to save time. They bought refrigerators to preserve food.
Then, as refrigerators got more and more wide-spread, the demand for ice started declining. Grandpa closed his ice business. He got the first floor of his building renovated to be an extension of the restaurant which had been mainly the 2nd and 3rd floor. Grandpa asked Monsieur Toshio what he would do to make a living. Monsieur Toshio said that he could make sushi because that was his dad's business; he had learned some techniques. This way, the first floor of the building became a sushi restaurant.
What happened to Mr. Y? He was also out of job, wasn't he when Grandpa closed the ice business? He was. But then, as soon as Monsieur Toshio became the young chief sushi chef of Grandpa's restaurant, Mr. Y too wanted to be a sushi chef. However, Monsieur and Madam couldn't afford to hire him. The sushi business had only begun, and its future was yet to be seen. So, they introduced him to another sushi restaurant in the neighborhood. It is where Mr. Y fell in love with his present wife.
Because the girl was the draw at the restaurant, the owner was rather mad when he found out about their romance. He kicked him out of his restaurant. He was out of job.
It was around this time that I was born. By then Grandpa had re-hired Mr. Y, offering him one of the dining rooms on the second floor of his building for accomodatoin.
Grandpa, who was former head of several local police stations including the one in Marunouchi, and who also was a former LDP law-maker for the metropolitan government, had quite a few connections with successful local business owners and celebrities. For example, Sumo Wrestler Kotozakura, who is the 53rd Sumo Grand Champion, once came to dine at Grandpa's restaurant. They were good friends because both were originally from Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture.
But nothing lasts forever. Grandpa passed away from cancer in October, 1971. I was 5. Monsieur and Madam decided to sell the building and came to start a new life in Sakura City, Chiba.
Mr. Y was out of job again. He insisted coming to Chiba with us. But Monsieur and Madam wasn't sure they could afford to hire him. But as he asked them again and again, finally they had no choice but say yes. So, Mr. Y and his wife came to Chiba. But they had no home. So, Monsieur and Madam rent an apartment room for them. Months passed. Business was OK, but wasn't good enough to keep on hiring Mr. Y. Madam now had two kids to raise. It was more important. One day Mr. Y and his wife left. And years passed...
Almost 40 years passed. Monsieur had passed away. Madam Fumiko was reading a book alone in the living room. She heard a chime and answered the door. It was a package that had Mr. Y's name on it. Inside the package there was a letter, thanking her for all the generous support he received in years gone by. She read the letter with a smile on her face. It seemed to have brought back a lot of memories to her. At her age, momeories maybe a more secure asset than cash. Or not? I can't tell. I will know if I reach her age some day.
