Looking Back

Liking a thing and being good at it are not the same thing. I look back on 40 years of work in a Japanese factory, and a company that did not teach me.

Why did three words from Masumi Kuwata at a 50-minute press conference stay with me? They took me back to junior high baseball, where I could not say it hurt.

My parent left a co-owned share of land and some savings, and I still did not have to file inheritance tax in Japan. Registering the land cost me 68,970 yen.

The maker says a water heater lasts 10 years. Mine ran for 24, because it sat inside the garage. What replacing one costs in Japan, and the signs I ignored.

A customer at the gas station where I worked dropped his keys at my feet on purpose. I picked them up and said nothing. I still think about it.

I cared for my mother at home in Japan for 5 years. Here are the two answers I reached about burnout, care managers, and what I regret most.

A retired Japanese factory worker was told a permanent employee should handle anything. Why a weakness is not a flaw, just a person in the wrong place.

I am the second son, but I took over the family house when my older brother married into the family of his wife. Now I wonder what to tell my two sons.

My parent died and I did not know where to start. I asked the town office to tell me everything. Here is the order I went through, and what it cost me.