Month: March 2020

Everyone is preoccupied with COVID-19. Fortunately, in Miyazaki where Nobutaka and Yuriko live, there are only three cases. There are more patients in the larger metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and Osaka. Nari says that patients with coronavirus are advised to stay home and rest. He heard on the news that there are only 50 ECMO machines available in all of Japan. I had never heard of such a machine but when I looked it up, I discovered it is a machine similar to a ventilator used for patients with heart and respiratory problems.

Nari is between jobs and it seems like no one is hiring. Although he has paid off his mortgage, he has to pay his son’s tuition at a private university and it worries him. We hope to speak of better things next week.

Our conversation today was about COVID-19. Nari said that areas in Hokkaido, Osaka, and Tokyo have more cases than other parts of the country. It is still uncertain whether the Olympics will go forward as scheduled, or be postponed.

In Kyushu, the cherry blossoms will probably start blooming next week. I told them that I saw pictures of the beautiful blossoms in Washington, D.C. and families were enjoying the stunning display.

I also told them that Las Vegas is suffering because the casinos, shows, and restaurants are closed, not to mention sporting events, and tourists have no reason to plan a trip here. Everyone worries about personal finances and the economy.

Nari read an article about New York City removing all pay phones, since 95 percent of the population use mobile phones.

His questions on English phrases were wear and tear, and wigging out.

I have seen photos of the earth taken by cameras mounted on rockets, planetary spacecraft, and by astronauts. They all show views of our home. It is good to be reminded that there is no real recycling of our trash. We move it from one part of our home to another.

There are no property demarcations. The solutions to seemingly insurmountable challenges like climate change, pandemics, and war can only be addressed by our family of humankind.

This evening, we talked about the continuing inconveniences and interruption of our lives due to COVID-19. The Japanese are limited to purchasing one hygiene item at a time, the 2020 Olympics are an uncertainty, and sports events are being cancelled. Nobutaka’s daughter is a nurse who lives in Yokohama and she has one patient with coronavirus who was a passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Nari’s son was planning to run a marathon in Osaka, but was disappointed to learn that it had been cancelled. Surely everyone is looking forward to the cherry blossoms that will arrive soon, but apparently all festivals have been cancelled. We are all hoping that a vaccine will be developed soon.

Nari asked me about “red-eye flights” and the meaning of “that guy gets my goat.”

I love taking photos of the food at Sen of Japan. My friend ordered chirashi sushi.

Many years ago, someone asked what is 725 divided by 25. While one person looked for his calculator and the other person looked for scratch paper, I knew the answer was 29 without missing a beat. They were impressed. I could do that because if you visualize $7.25 and ask yourself how many quarters are in $7.25, you can get an answer pretty quickly. Also, I know that if you need to multiply a number by 5, it’s much easier to add a zero to it which is the same as multiplying by ten, then divide the number by 2. I’m waiting for someone to ask me.

I once took a class in college algebra and I remember thinking some of this is silly, and some of this is hard. There were chapters on functions, absolute numbers, graphing, factoring, and finding polar coordinates. When I understood a concept, it sent my spirits soaring and I was thrilled for days. I understood synthetic division, for instance, and complex numbers or imaginary numbers. Mathematicians debated for decades about the existence of minus 1 (-1). Some said it could not exist. Others said it must exist because when you square it or multiply it by itself, it will give you a positive 1.

Instead of knitting scarves in retirement, I plan to study speed math and introductory algebra.

July 29, 1996

Maria grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico. She was forced by her poverty to grow up fast. She worked at the local bakery and when she was 13 years old, she had saved enough money to have eye surgery to correct a vision problem. Her father was ill and had not been employed but his manhood was challenged when Maria had the surgery and paid for it with her own money. He slapped her and beat her and the tears undid the surgery.

Maria is legally blind in her left eye. She joined a convent soon after that and came to the United States as a young adult. She married a military man and became pregnant with her first child. Her husband wanted her to get an abortion but she refused and she was beaten for that. She had a second child and was on welfare for a long time. Someone told her that hanging garlic in her van would protect her from evil, but the van was stolen after she hung up the garlic. Maria has an indomitable spirit and a wonderful sense of humor. She is patiently waiting for her ship to come in.

My doctor is on some kind of insurance alliance committee. He said that one of his colleagues had a patient who he sent to have a chest x-ray. She did not go and did not come back for a visit until six months later. He again recommended a chest x-ray and she did not go. Several months after that, she went into the emergency room and when they took x-rays, found that she had extensive lung cancer. Dr. G says that it’s not fair that the doctor will probably have to pay fines or have to accept some liability because he did not follow up on his patient. After all, the patient had refused to go to get the chest x-rays he had recommended. Dr. G said that there is no other profession where its members are held to such high standards as doctors.

The doctor said he didn’t mean to tell me things that weighed heavily on his mind, so he told me a joke about the Pope and a pizza delivery man.

July 31, 1996

When my daughter was eight months old, I took a job as a home typist for a woman who had started her own secretarial service business. I transcribed reports for a firm that investigated workers compensation claims. I only remember a couple of the tapes. One was about a man who had bragged to co-workers that he had an immigrant woman at his home, and she was his sex slave.

There was another tape about a man who prided himself on being frugal. He saved on laundry bills by wearing the same pair of socks at least twice a week by turning the socks inside out on the second day. There was no other article of clothing mentioned. I guess these tapes were the first inkling I had that some people were different from me. The investigator, as he got toward the end of the tape, would say “Wouldn’t you like to know what I found out next? Turn the tape over.”

The job didn’t last long because the woman was going through a divorce and her husband took his cane and destroyed all her typewriters and transcription equipment. I was paid two cents per line of typing.

June 30, 1996

Yesterday was Nari’s birthday and he told us that he had Nepalese curry with nan at a local restaurant with his family. I had never heard of it and the images show a curry dish with side sauces and bread. The Japanese love curry and Nepalese curry is probably more potent.

Nobutaka and Yuriko have never tasted the Nepalese dish. We spoke of disruptions going on because of the coronavirus. Citizens are encouraged to stay home if possible, and there is price gouging and a supply shortage of masks and hand sanitizers, just like in America.

Nari read an article about the disappearance of many beaches by the end of the century. His questions were about the proverb “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush” and the phrase “you can let down your hair.”