週末点描:Weekend Notes - April 08


Three options

On Friday, my neighbor told me that his company, recently acquired by bigger rival, will soon announce its downsizing plan. They need to choose from three options; 1)being laid-off immediately, 2)staying for a transitional period (after that? God knows...), 3) "You can stay. If you decide to leave now, we'll pay you for 3-6 months."  Of course, the third one is the most popular among his colleagues.

It reminds me of yet another neighbor who got 12-months salary after merger. He totally enjoyed it for one full year, walking around in pajama day and night, getting me a bit worried, ...but when the time came, he just geared up to get a new job, bought a huge house and left.

競合に買収された会社に勤めるご近所さんが人員整理の発表が近いって言ってた。選択肢は1)即時解雇、2)引継ぎの間だけ残留で後は未定、3)残っていいけど今すぐ辞めたら有給3~6ヶ月分出す、の3つ。一番人気は3番目で、みんな有給くれくれ騒いでるんだって。笑

合併されて有給12ヶ月転がり込んだ友だちもいたけど、ここぞとばかりにゴロゴロしてたっけ…日中もパジャマで出歩いてるんで心配してたら、1年後にはエンジンかかって再就職先し、大きな家買って引っ越してった。有給って憧れます?


Montsuki-Hakama

On Saturday, I attend a lovely wedding ceremony. The photo above is where ceremony took place. While the American groom awaits, the bride walked down with her father dressed in traditional Japanese montsuki-hakama attire. It was amazing. I was trying to imagine how it was like when the first Japanese diplomats came to the US in montsuki-hakama over 150 years ago.

土曜は海沿いのホテルで結婚式。椅子(写真上)に神父さんが腰掛けて式は執り行った。アメリカ人の新郎が見守るバージンロードに、幸せいっぱいの新婦と紋付き袴のお父様が現れた時には場の空気がピリッと厳粛になった。正装は、いずこの国も風格がある。最初アメリカに来た外交官も紋付き袴だったんだよね。

Banzai

In the party, we shared the table with a Kendo master.  He said he was born in the internment camp during WW2. His dad was brave enough to go out and shout "Tenno-heika Banzai (Long life for the emperor)" while US armed guards were watching.   He practiced it. Every morning. What a guy... If Chinese or Korean people did the same, Japanese guards would have been just watching?

式で同じテーブルに座った陽気な剣道の師匠さんは第2次大戦時、日系人強制収容キャンプ生まれ。お父様がすごい人でアメリカ人の見張り番が銃さげて大勢取り囲む中、毎朝日本に向かって「天皇陛下万歳~」と叫んでたんだって。撃てるもんなら撃ってみろ~と。番兵も「またやってるな~」って感じで見てたそうだ。中国や韓国の人たちが同じことしたら日本兵、見逃してくれたかな…

Oboro-chan

My son rented a Japanese film "Shinobi"(2005) from Netflix. Wow, those Ninjas fly like Chinese warriors!  Ninja is evolving...When grandmother announced the fifth warrior to join the contest, she said "Oboro-ja (that's Oboro)", the subtitle was going like "Oboro-chan."  Hahaha.. Most Japanese Americans call their children's name with "chan."  In a tense situation like that, it was so funny.

Netflixから日本映画「Shinobi」を借りて観る。婆様がドスの効いた声で「(最後の忍者は)…おぼろじゃ」と孫娘を指名する緊張の瞬間、字幕が「Oboro-chan」なのには笑った。日系の人って子どものことチャン付けする人多いからなあ。

New Business Card!

On the back, I printed what I really am; a writer who happens to be in  Silicon Valley.

新しく名刺を作ったら、周囲に「そこまで書くならシルコンバレーと訛ってくれ」と言われた。

Comments

  1. Business cardいいっすね!僕もhanoi version作ってみたいが、もうちょっと先になるかなー

    ReplyDelete
  2. へ?ハノイ赴任? いいなー、アジア行きたいですっ。

    ReplyDelete

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