Black driver from the Sudan
HIs English was almost flawless, so I asked how long he had been in Canada.
"40 years, that's a long time."
"Not 40, four years. I'm not even 40 yet!", he replied.
I always do find it hard to guess age. To me, he could have been anyage between 25 and 45. I find it particularly difficult with blacks and Asians. Probably an artifact of my mono-cultural, mono-racial upbringing.
He left the Sudan because of the 'situation'. The military government does whatever they like.
He graduated from university over there, but like many immigrants, his degree wasn't fully recognized and he had to 'upgrade' it. He had just finished several years at a local college. All the time he had been there, he had also been working as a taxidriver. It's not too bad because you can choose your own hours. He rents the car from the company rather than them employing him. He pays them $250 per week and then buys whatever gas he needs off them, presumably at a cheaper rate. On an average week, he can pull in $550 or $600. That's very good money according to him.
He is going to visit the Sudan again this year. It will be safe now because he is a Canadian citizen. Noone would dare touch him.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Youyu ga nai
A driver of 59 years old wanted to go to Harvard in the United States or to England when he was young. It is true that he looked older than his 59 years, but he was still not an old man.
Mou youyu ga nai.
One of my favourite words - youyu - is back again.
I asked whether it was insufficient youyu for time or for money.
Even if I had the time, I wouldn't have the money.
I suggested hooking up with a London cabby over the Internet and doing an exchange. I'm sure that lots of London cabbies would love a trip to Japan. It would certainly make an interesting clash of cultures but of course might not lead to international peace and understanding.
It's cheapest to travel in February, I said, You can probably get a flight to England for under 100,000 yen. BUt the weather in England is awful. Just horrible damp cold weather. Still, it is cheap.
So how old are we when the youyu drives up. What kills it?
I saw a program on TV a few months ago about old people around the world. In the United States, the hundred year old was lifting weights. In England, the 105 year old going out to lunch every day by herself. In Okinawa, the 110 year old was running a shop. In Florida, the 115 year old was tired - oh so tired. It seemed that her youyu had finally run out. That seemed appropriate and it was merely a cruel spectacle to see the surrounding people wheel her out for the celebration of yet another birthday for the oldest person in the world.
But what kills this man's youyu, at an age about half of that woman in Florida? Is it our spouses, our children, our jobs? Should it be dead at 59? Was my small tip towards the driver's 'England fund' ever going to be able to waken it even slightly - to make a dream turn over in its sleep?
Mou youyu ga nai.
One of my favourite words - youyu - is back again.
I asked whether it was insufficient youyu for time or for money.
Even if I had the time, I wouldn't have the money.
I suggested hooking up with a London cabby over the Internet and doing an exchange. I'm sure that lots of London cabbies would love a trip to Japan. It would certainly make an interesting clash of cultures but of course might not lead to international peace and understanding.
It's cheapest to travel in February, I said, You can probably get a flight to England for under 100,000 yen. BUt the weather in England is awful. Just horrible damp cold weather. Still, it is cheap.
So how old are we when the youyu drives up. What kills it?
I saw a program on TV a few months ago about old people around the world. In the United States, the hundred year old was lifting weights. In England, the 105 year old going out to lunch every day by herself. In Okinawa, the 110 year old was running a shop. In Florida, the 115 year old was tired - oh so tired. It seemed that her youyu had finally run out. That seemed appropriate and it was merely a cruel spectacle to see the surrounding people wheel her out for the celebration of yet another birthday for the oldest person in the world.
But what kills this man's youyu, at an age about half of that woman in Florida? Is it our spouses, our children, our jobs? Should it be dead at 59? Was my small tip towards the driver's 'England fund' ever going to be able to waken it even slightly - to make a dream turn over in its sleep?
Canada is the best country in the world
Taxi drivers in Canada are different. OF course, we've already seen that they're different in Japan - but not as different as Canada. In Japan, they are all Japanese - not even a Korean in sight. The driver from Toronto airport into the city had an accent. I thought that he was a French speaker from Quebec. He had a hint of a French accent, but his English was excellent. He was from the Lebanon. All these drivers are from somewhere else. Not somewhere else like retired from a company or trying to recover from a bankrupted restaurant - another actual place.
Trained as a paramedic in the Lebanon. It was the only way to avoid the conscription into the army which had recently changed from 18 months to two years.
Unfortunately, just as he qualified, the civil war broke out and he was thrust right into the middle of it where he was right in the center of the bloody massacare.
HIs redcross ambulance was attacked and destroyed. He was wounded himself.
Escaped to Cyprus via a ship and was able to enter using his Redcross papers. Later, they also gave him a little money which took him to France.
He got in on a student visa but in reality, he worked at a series of menial jobs in restaurants.
He was finally able to get in touch with his parents. They hadn't heard anything of him in three months and assumed that he was dead. They couldn't help him financially. There was no money left in the Lebanon. They urged him to stay away from the country and he realized that he was on his own.
Managed to enter Canada, not as a refugee, he said with some pride, but because of his valued skills as a paramedic.
Studied as an engineer for a while, but had to revert to working as a taxidriver so that he could earn money to help bring over his family. He eventually brought over six of them. They all went onto higher learning and a higher standard of life, but he kept working as a taxi driver. He had no regrets about that. His wife is from the Lebanon, too. It is easier to be married to someone who shares the same values.
Canada is the best country in the world. Sometimes, he complains about the snow, but the people - he would never have a bad word to say about them.
Trained as a paramedic in the Lebanon. It was the only way to avoid the conscription into the army which had recently changed from 18 months to two years.
Unfortunately, just as he qualified, the civil war broke out and he was thrust right into the middle of it where he was right in the center of the bloody massacare.
HIs redcross ambulance was attacked and destroyed. He was wounded himself.
Escaped to Cyprus via a ship and was able to enter using his Redcross papers. Later, they also gave him a little money which took him to France.
He got in on a student visa but in reality, he worked at a series of menial jobs in restaurants.
He was finally able to get in touch with his parents. They hadn't heard anything of him in three months and assumed that he was dead. They couldn't help him financially. There was no money left in the Lebanon. They urged him to stay away from the country and he realized that he was on his own.
Managed to enter Canada, not as a refugee, he said with some pride, but because of his valued skills as a paramedic.
Studied as an engineer for a while, but had to revert to working as a taxidriver so that he could earn money to help bring over his family. He eventually brought over six of them. They all went onto higher learning and a higher standard of life, but he kept working as a taxi driver. He had no regrets about that. His wife is from the Lebanon, too. It is easier to be married to someone who shares the same values.
Canada is the best country in the world. Sometimes, he complains about the snow, but the people - he would never have a bad word to say about them.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Showtime
After a music session in an Irish pub in Sakae, I knocked on the window of a taxi to let me in. He waved me to the car in front and I saw that there was a line-up. I got in the car and then remembered that I had approximately no money in my wallet since I had paid two months of electricity bills in the morning that included the massive cost of winter-time air conditioning. That missing 18,900 yen sent me begging back to Tom, my bandmate, who was still standing on the sidewalk trying to unlock his bicycle while his fingers froze. Tom gave me 2,000 yen. "I owe you", I said. "No, you don't - you gave me extra at the gig the other day." Whether that's true or not, I don't recall, but it was the best money that I had earned all night.
When I got into a taxi (probably the same one) the second time, the taxi driver was a jovial chap. He immediately started talking. Usual stuff - it's cold.
Used to work at many different jobs.
- Painted kimonos by hand in Kyoto. He was from Kyoto.
- Was a music producer. Set up enka shows. A good enka singer can earn 1,800 Man En in a night! That's enough to buy the apartment that I gave away in my divorce and surely one of the subconcious reasons that drove me to write this taxi-driven diatribe.
- An unknown or unpopular enka singer earns only 50,000 yen in a night.
- I explained that I had earned a beer - after playing for several hours on a mandolin with a flute player. But it was fun. He smiled as I got out of the taxi and wished me well.
When I got into a taxi (probably the same one) the second time, the taxi driver was a jovial chap. He immediately started talking. Usual stuff - it's cold.
Used to work at many different jobs.
- Painted kimonos by hand in Kyoto. He was from Kyoto.
- Was a music producer. Set up enka shows. A good enka singer can earn 1,800 Man En in a night! That's enough to buy the apartment that I gave away in my divorce and surely one of the subconcious reasons that drove me to write this taxi-driven diatribe.
- An unknown or unpopular enka singer earns only 50,000 yen in a night.
- I explained that I had earned a beer - after playing for several hours on a mandolin with a flute player. But it was fun. He smiled as I got out of the taxi and wished me well.
Hokkaido Man
It's minus thirty degrees in Asahigawa.
Middle of Hokkaido, the second biggest city in Hokkaido after Sapporo.
Toyota tests their cars up there for the cold.
In 1912, it was minus 42 degrees in Asahikawa. I told him that, but he already knew it. He knew all about it and explained it to me so excitedly that I hardly understood a word. No-one else had ever talked to him about Asahikawa.
He's going back to Asahikawa after he retires. He's been in Nagoya as long as me - for 18 years. Before that, he was in Tokyo, working as a salaryman but his heart is in Asahikawa.
If you can just put up with the cold, the food is great and the people are good. Yes, there are many good people. I'm going to Asahikawa.
Middle of Hokkaido, the second biggest city in Hokkaido after Sapporo.
Toyota tests their cars up there for the cold.
In 1912, it was minus 42 degrees in Asahikawa. I told him that, but he already knew it. He knew all about it and explained it to me so excitedly that I hardly understood a word. No-one else had ever talked to him about Asahikawa.
He's going back to Asahikawa after he retires. He's been in Nagoya as long as me - for 18 years. Before that, he was in Tokyo, working as a salaryman but his heart is in Asahikawa.
If you can just put up with the cold, the food is great and the people are good. Yes, there are many good people. I'm going to Asahikawa.
Crazy Driving
A few seconds after we got in the cab, a black car - I can never identify the type of car because I really have no interest - anyway, the black car almost took the side off the taxi and then swerved away. Maybe he was drunk or maybe our taxi driver was the one had been errratic. It was all so fast that I hardly noticed, but no-one was hurt. I asked the driver what would happen if he was in an accident. The company has them all insured so there is no personal burden on the driver, but it does involve the hassle of calling the police and presumably at least a few hours of lost working time. I had figured that a near miss like that would cause our driver to take it easy along the night roads of the city. But no fear of that. After being asked about the insurance, he got awfully quiet and started exuding waves of badness - directed at the back seat, if I'm to specify a direction. I hadn't meant any harm, but clearly questioning the insurance setup was equivalent to questioning his sexuality, so he drove like a madman down the small backstreets to our apartment. I didn't leave a tip.
I used to be a boxer
I got in the taxi at Kanayama. This was one of the younger drivers and he was full of angst and hormonal energy. He used to be a boxer and it seemed like his past had permeated his present job. It's the closest that I have come to seeing a driver calling someone else a wanker. Japanese don't really use curse words in the same way as the Irish. It's more like "baka yaro".
It's Cold Tonight
Rough notes - I'll get to it!
Old guy
Japan is too cold, isn't it
One year from retirement
Married for four years to Philipino
Moving to Philipino when he retires
His nenkin is 125,000 yen. With that he can live in luxury in the Philipine. Even a bank worker over there only gets 20,000 yen per month.
He doesn't speak Tagalog. He has no need to learn it as his wife speaks Japanese. There are so many Philipinos who speak Japanese and there are lots of Japanese and Korean restaurants. He hates Philipino food. It's too supai.
I gave him a couple of hundred yen for his Philipino retirement fund. He gave me a map of the entrances to the expressway. Not being a driver, I trashed it the following morning, but the sentiment - that I will keep for a long time.
Old guy
Japan is too cold, isn't it
One year from retirement
Married for four years to Philipino
Moving to Philipino when he retires
His nenkin is 125,000 yen. With that he can live in luxury in the Philipine. Even a bank worker over there only gets 20,000 yen per month.
He doesn't speak Tagalog. He has no need to learn it as his wife speaks Japanese. There are so many Philipinos who speak Japanese and there are lots of Japanese and Korean restaurants. He hates Philipino food. It's too supai.
I gave him a couple of hundred yen for his Philipino retirement fund. He gave me a map of the entrances to the expressway. Not being a driver, I trashed it the following morning, but the sentiment - that I will keep for a long time.
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