感謝

４月25日(土)朝日新聞デジタル
こんな人たちが好きだ
こんな報道が好きだ

移民とマナー、常識とマナー

NZにも他の国と違わず中国人あるいは中国系ニュージーランド人が多数住んでいます。最初の中国人移民は19世紀末ですから、その人たちの子孫はもう5世でしょうか。残念な事に中国語は話せない人がほとんどだと思います。外観はアジア人でも考え方は当然ニュージーランド人です。それでも最初に南島の金鉱で文字通り身を粉にして働いた先祖やオークランドのマーケットガーデンを一から始めて今の大規模農家にまで発展させた中国人移民に敬意を払うのは彼らの子孫に限りません。

一緒にしてはいけないのが最近の移民です。

マナーなのか常識なのかわからないけど、移民が多いと文化の違い、習慣の違いでイライラ、誤解、溝があっという間に出来上がります。特に許容範囲の狭い私は瞬間湯沸かし器に即変身します。

手前の家が年末に急に空っぽになって、年が明けてから夫婦らしきアジア人がせっせと手入れをしていました。家に入る時に顔を合わせ、少ししたらその女性が玄関の外にいます。次の瞬間私の部屋の窓ガラスを手のひらでバンバン叩き付け、同じように玄関ドアも叩き付けます。開けてもいきなり中国語。Speak Englishと言うと一言も言えません。ドアを閉めると帰って行きました。

年末からボランティアで英語をおしえたカンボジア人女性。難民として30年前に移住し子供を4人育てたのにアルファベットもおぼつきません。その上お菓子を受け取れと人のバッグを掴んでまで押し込み強要します。指定時間に来た事はなく図書館が閉鎖され来るなとテキストしても平気で来て側に寄り植え込みにツバを吐きました。今まで周りに助けられてそれが当然なのでしょう。私にはできません。ワイヘキの日本人女性も30年いて助けられるのが当然のようです。助けたいと思わせる方は自分でとっととかかります。見習わねば。

臭い息

歯医者に２年行かないせいで息が臭いんだとやっと気付く。でもお金の心配をするスキにあれよあれよという間に外出禁止となり、もちろん歯医者は命がけのコロナウイルス。口が臭いのは自分でも分かるし、恥ずかしいから解禁になったら迷わず行こう。高い今の歯医者は最後かもしれない。

日本では加齢臭が普通に取り沙汰され久しい。いまだに結局それがどんなにおいなのか分からないが。だれでも年は取るもの。嫌なら近付かなければいい。私は父のにおいが大好きだ。髪のバイタリスのにおい、おじいちゃんのにおい。財布のにおいも薄れてしまった。

出しそこねたカード

ウイルスでまさかこんな事になるとは想像もしなかった頃、行こうと思い立ったけどバス代をケチってウジウジしていたところが３つ。

名古屋の尚美さんの80歳のお誕生日にカードを出そう!　しかもキミさんを訪ねてビデオを取って一筆書いて貰ったらどんなに喜ぶだろう。3月中にポイントシェフに行ってカードを出さないといけないのに訃報が届きましたよ。今はフィジョアを拾って食べて尚美さんを慕い思い出してます。切ないねぇ。
尚美さんにはブローチやらいろいろ頂いて、困ったら売ってお金にしなさいと言ってくれたけど持って行ったらイミテーションでした!ほっとしたやらおかしいやら。残りは大事に取っておきます。まさか形見になるとは。悲しい。

敏子さんのお見舞いも、感染しても疑われても嫌だしと言ってる内にだめになりました。雪見だいふく持ってまたいつか。卵焼き、いなり寿司、大根おろし。

3ヶ所目はミッションベイの噴水とコヒマラマ小学校。12月の還暦に出すカードに添えて昔懐かしバングルスとビーツ缶他も送りましょう。今や喜ばれたいよりも自分のための義理カード。バスが復活したらとっとと行って写真撮って来ます。仕事だからね。

加藤先生とマスク

加藤礼子先生は久中１年G組の担任だった国語の先生。優しい人でそれが仇となって嫌な１年を送らせた。一度もかばってあげなくてごめんなさい。ハイランドの肉屋の野口が先生をバカにしたため先生は２日目からずーっとマスクをかけっぱなしだった。初日はかけていなかったから野口さえいなければそのまま過ごせたはず。１年間あいつが居なければよかった。加藤先生のせいじゃない。野口はかっちゃんが大好きだった数学の横田先生にビンタを食らったとか。上等だ。加藤先生学校変わって卓球部の顧問になって私覚えていてくれたね。逃げてごめんね。

日本語も英語も大変です

私は日本語も英語も変だと言う人もいれば、両方ネイティブ並み、英語の方が楽でしょうと言う人もいる。こんな程度の翻訳ではとはっきり言われた事もあるので、幸いお世辞やリップサービスは分かる。生意気と言われて気分が良い訳ないので、出来るだけ黙っているのが一番。これがなかなか難しいけど頑張る。毎日閲覧する日本語のサイトにいろいろ投稿される中でどうしてもしっくりいかない言い回し。

Sold out. 売り切れ　これは一つだけの時も使える?
お売りします　尊敬語?

時代遅れだろうがやっぱり使えない。私も使えない。

2020年 令和2年

年明け久しぶりの初日の出

  

行ってよかった。父ちゃんと以前一緒にビーチで拝んだね。もうどこも痛くないし何も心配する事ないよ。誕生日も来て過ぎた。命日も来て過ぎた。日は昇り日は沈む。朝目が覚めたら一日生きよう。

MNZ50 1970-

Hello Vin,

Warning: it may be boring, it’s just my yarn looking back on how life used to be 49 years ago.  

Dad left Osaka for NZ in late 1969 and the rest of us joined him in May '70. I was seven years old at the time, my sister was nine. I had finished my first year at a Japanese primary school in March and just started my second year. Of course when we arrived in NZ, the school term had long started and I was placed in a much younger Primer2 class. I remember an older female teacher taking me aside every day to practice reading in English. My poor mother had hired an English tutor before we left Japan but that had absolutely no practical use in reality what-so-ever.

I did not utter a single word apart from the reading lessons during my few months at Orakei Primary. So when I encountered this mysterious "marmite and chips roll" that kids were all ordering for lunch, I craved but never got to try one. The teacher would ask "Butter and jam?" and I simply nodded. Some kids were too poor to bring lunch while some even brought ice cream for dessert. That was my introduction to NZ society. 

Things were different after we moved to Mission Bay. 11 Nihill Cres was only a few skips away from waterfront and almost heavenly on a very high ground. I have a funny feeling posh Jock had a say in choosing this property for MNZ. It was grand and I had no problem mixing 'n mingling at and after my new school. Visitors from Japan including Chairman of MC Tokyo were invited to our residence as there were no suitable Japanese restaurants or caterers at the time. Wives would come to help mum prep food and crayfish, got dressed, served, and we were shown our rooms upstairs after shoving early tea in the kitchen. 

I don't know for how long Mitsubishi NZ kept that place. I have no recollection of Mr Yamashita who replaced Dad in Sept 1974. I am not even sure if his family accompanied him, it was no home for a single person. When we lived there, there were constant comings and goings; the house was all white (I know it was painted pink at one stage); there was no swimming pool; and mature trees and shrubs covered where it's now subdivided. Next door in No.13 were elderly Mr & Mrs Margan who helped me one day with my homework "list the names of NZ government ministers." When I ran to their place in tears, they had to ring up a few people as they had no idea either. Apart from that and few other things, I definitely had a privileged life and Kohimarama Primary wasn't too bad after all.

MNZ with four Japanese staff members I think had the largest presence among Auckland Japanese business circle. Quite a few Japanese firms made up a large contingent including Marubeni, Japan Line, Nichimen etc. And we all stuck together along with the Japanese Consulate’s family where mutual support meant lots of gossiping and gatherings. After all, cell phones and Internet didn’t come to play for another two decades. I’m sure I remember a lot of things from all the unintended eavesdropping.   

Among many MC staff, Mr & Mrs Nishizawa spent the longest time in NZ by far. They were older and had a much older uni aged daughter followed by two boys. The youngest being similar age which meant going to Japanese supplementary class every week like all other "chuzai (overseas posting)" kids. Most families lived in East Auckland; Consulate’s official residence is still in Glendowie. Kids went to different local schools only to congregate at a flat in Kohi after school where our lessons were held and mothers exchanged various useful information. Mothers struggled more so than kids to prepare for our return to Japanese school system. And that's why we ended up at Baradene when our stay in NZ entered our 4th year. Baradene's sister school in Japan was high in mum's mind and divine intervention came in the form of Sister Principal’s all important recommendation letter. 

The young Soda's, followed by Watanabe's and Yamada's all had either babies or/and toddlers so I had less contact but Mr & Mrs Sakai had a daughter a year younger whom I played with alot. One of our most sought after things were Japanese comic books and demand was overwhelming. BOAC flew regularly from Tokyo to Sydney those days but the Tasman Sea proved to be an awfully difficult ditch to cross in our young minds when our precious monthly copy took time to arrive from Sydney all the way to Auckland.

MNZ had a full time driver at first by the name of John and when he retired Les took over. Before I knew it, dad was driving himself and saw no more of Les. The company car was a beautiful slick, old-fashioned black Austin, comfortable as. And I suspect again to this day that Jock had a say in its replacement. My sister and I suffered constant motion sickness in that latest Jag, it really wasn't funny. 

However, long distance drives were had during school holidays as you would in NZ and we often went to Mt Maunganui after Sakai family moved there. Except for once we drove down to Taupo where we met up with Japanese folks from Wellington biz circle. That was the only time I can remember meeting them so there was obviously no regular contact between Auckland families and Wellington counterparts. From memory, we played bulrush together so there must have been quite a few school aged children. FYI no parents complained about the nature of bulrush, they probably had no idea what it was.      

So, those were the days. Supermarkets closed on weekends and empty glass milk bottles were left by the letterbox with milk tokens inside to be collected and new bottles delivered. PM Norman Kirk died in office when I was at a farewell sleepover with girlfriends. As part of a routine, we bid farewell to Soda family and welcomed Watanabe family, bid farewell to Nishizawa family and welcomed Yamada family. Now it was time for us to be farewelled at Auckland International Airport.  

Jock was always there for us. When someone rear-ended mum's car at Kohi Primary, he came with dad to check we're okay. When I visited NZ in 1983 just before starting full-time at NYK Tokyo, he was the one to take me to my older sister's place in Hamilton. I never knew dad had another daughter till then but everyone at MNZ certainly did. It turned out she flew to Auckland with him in '69 and when it was time for us to come and join, arrangements were made for Yuri to go see Bob Wheeler in Wellington. She stayed on, found a husband and the rest so we say is history. 

Obviously, I don’t know what went on inside MNZ apart from the fact that they shifted office probably more than I changed school. Few people who wove the fabric of MNZ have sadly departed. Mr and Mrs Nishizawa, Mr Yamada, Mr Takewaki and Mr Okobira more recently, Jock and Isabella among others whom I didn’t have the privilege of knowing. Google tells me Neville Roebuck is no longer with us and neither is my dad. But they were all here in Auckland representing MNZ the best way possible and I’m sure they couldn’t be happier than being remembered by their fellow MNZ staff past and present. So from us “NZ Chuzai and their families” I wish you a Merry Xmas 2019. Our life in NZ had been wonderful and I am very grateful you cared to remember.   

Akiko 

何かといろいろ

南極大陸でTE901観光飛行がエレバス山に墜落して丸40年。事故が起きた時、首相は未だ産まれてなかった事に気がついた。お父ちゃんが自由になって丸2年。良く生きたね。ニュージーランドの春に発ったから願いは叶ったよ。
フラットも見に行って今回は残念だけど新たな大家さんにも出会い、新しい生徒さんも始まり、後ろ向きにすっ転んだ割に11月の歩け歩けチャレンジもこなし、ボランティアのおばあさんもカンボジアの生徒さんも対面待ちでなかなかヨロシイ。
レイおばさんの不用品を処分し、ミチコちゃんとメールしナオミさんからの小包をじっと待つ。メンタルはグッ!

明日は英語の無料体験、来週はガイド付ブッシュウォーク。一緒に歩こうね。
ルーカスは月曜日が最後だった。来月3日の日本語最終試験で全てが終了。1年間待ち望んでいたそうだ。チームワークは苦手でアーケードゲームが大大大好きな君。成績の向上が目的で雇われたのにスピーチはダメだった。ごめんね。その割に毎週サボらず図書館に来たね。お餞別まで頂いて恐縮。何がよかったのか分からないけど、じき18歳に幸多かれ。

大黒屋

大黒屋原田という名前は以前から聞いて知っていた。そして千種さんという人が居る事も知っていた。ただ、自分が直接連絡するイコールお父ちゃんがもう居ないというのはピンと来なかった。岡山のたかのおばあさんは宗ちゃんを猫っ可愛がりしたらしい。伊作さんとキンさんは原田から三宅に夫婦養子でやって来た。千種さんは私より5歳上。彼女やお父様は家系図でどこに位置するのか。

次の便りが楽しみだね、お父ちゃん。居ればもっと面白いのに。