Essay

Enjoy every sandwich

By Steve Ford

Even though Japan's population grows greyer all the time, it is still tough to be an oji-san, baby. About the time an oji-san gets his first pair of reading glasses he begins sharing his memories of the "good old days" with anyone who will stand still.

Oji-san ramblings often start with a line like, "I can't believe the kids these days, ... ," fill in the blank with some complaint like "even the boys pluck their eyebrows." This is done, of course, while conveniently forgetting that when they were young, they had a bouffant like Rod Stewart, wore significantly wide bell bottom jeans, or if an oba-san, dressed like Diane Keaton in "Annie Hall."

And that brings up another bad oji-san habit: expecting young people to understand cultural references to music and movies from ancient times, like Rod Stewart and "Annie Hall," for instance.

Oji-sans always remember when times were tough. They might try to tell you in the olden days we all lived in crumpled brown paper bags and walked barefoot 20 kilometers to school as hailstones the size of baseballs hurtled from the skies and crashed around us.

That probably never happened, but your elders have been around for a long time and can remember a lot of crazy stuff. The really old ones can remember stuff like the time when a lot of folks thought it was a good idea to fight a war against the entire world. Others will never forget a pair of horrendous atomic bombings.

Still others can never forget a girl they saw, only once, getting out of a subway train, or a particular sunset, or their first taste of champagne. Whatever it is, oji-sans and oba-sans remember a tremendous amount of things.

As a younger member of the oji clan, I seem to remember a time when most folks could expect to have a secure job — one that paid a living wage — that allowed the pre-oji/oba man and woman to get married and raise a crop of future ojis and obas. Maybe now is a good time for Japanese citizens to ask themselves if the quality of life has improved or worsened over the last 20 years or so. Perhaps this and questions about growing social inequity will begin to be addressed after the Aug. 30 elections.

Oji-sans have been around long enough to know that politicians seldom change anything, still they hold out hope that this time will be different.

And finally oji-sans always give advice whether you want it or not. Here's some from late singer/songwriter Warren Zevon (famous for the hit "Werewolves of London"). About a year before he died of cancer in 2003, someone asked him what knowledge or insight he had gained from his dire situation. His wise reply?

"Enjoy every sandwich."

Shukan ST: August 28, 2009

(C) All rights reserved