It was a hot summer this year.
Since the heat still lingers even now, we might well call it abnormal weather.
The other day I traveled from Tokyo to Fukuoka for work.
I stayed one night in Fukuoka, and when I was about to depart the next day after finishing my work, Tokyo was hit by heavy rain with lightning flashing and even hail. The flight I had reserved was canceled. At the airline counter, my daughter, my wife, and I were put on the standby list. Only two names were called for the next flight, and there were no further announcements, so we had to keep waiting. The flights were all full, and we judged that it was unlikely any seats would open even if we waited longer. Every flight that day was full, and there were about a hundred passengers waiting in the lounge. After consulting with the airline staff, we took the subway from the airport to the station and returned to Tokyo by Shinkansen. Even so, making the trip back from Kyushu by bullet train is something I’d rather not repeat. By the time we reached Tokyo, we were exhausted.
In this world, the slightest stumble can lead you into extraordinary trouble.
Well, so be it. It’s over now.
Recently, I was diagnosed at a university hospital with an “early-stage herniated disc.”
At night I was in such pain that I couldn’t sleep lying down and had to sleep sitting in a chair. The professor explained, “We can operate, or we can give you injections.” My wife suggested, “Why don’t you try a small clinic nearby?”—but when I mentioned that, the professor became rather displeased. Even so, he wrote a referral letter describing my current symptoms, and I went to that small clinic. The doctor there looked carefully at me while viewing the MRI images and said, “You certainly have a herniated disc, but at this level it may recede. Let’s watch it for a while, and if it doesn’t worsen, I think strengthening your body with exercises would be good.”
Even among physicians, approaches can be completely different. Naturally, I chose the latter doctor and decided to work on the exercises. One thing we must watch out for these days is how commonplace it’s becoming for doctors to stare only at the computer screen and not at the patient. It was a small clinic, but I’m grateful to have met a doctor who truly looked at me and treated me. Now I intend to continue treatment while also exercising.
At present, many foreigners are visiting Japan, and more are working here as well.
They engage in construction, drive vehicles, cultivate fields—taking on all sorts of jobs. Whether Japan will fall into recession or develop further from here is a difficult question, but I believe a harsh era lies ahead. We must prepare for it with great care. Rice prices are beginning to rise, and fruit and other foods are getting expensive. If we don’t think things through carefully, a time may come when nothing will work out. We have to think ahead.
In the United States, President Trump is imposing tariffs on many countries and trying to make companies build factories in America. However, there’s a shortage of workers and wages are high; without strong resolve, it’s difficult to hire people in the U.S. A similar problem has recently arisen in South Korea as well, becoming a major issue. In all likelihood, it will become increasingly difficult in the U.S. to find people to work in manufacturing and to have them carry out the work.
We Japanese must keep this in mind and think about how to live on our own, rather than only considering sheltering “under America’s umbrella.” We must think in advance about what we will do if Russia, China, or North Korea attacks Japan, or if China strikes Taiwan. It’s said that a single fighter jet costs 12 billion yen. Operating them costs money, and when they age, we must purchase new ones. In a war, one plane would not suffice.
We have watched the war between Russia and Ukraine. It is brutal, and while their courage is impressive, the sight of so many people dying is painful—we can only wish for an end as soon as possible. Perhaps we need to develop equipment for unmanned combat. Ideally, everyone would live together in harmony, but sadly, looking back at history, it’s nothing but a cycle of war and peace. Japan lost a war and endured a harsh postwar period. Two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the country was left in ruins. Even now, more than eighty years later, neighboring countries still harbor resentment. If possible, we want to avoid war at all costs. Yet even if we wish that, without a certain degree of strength, we will be defeated—utterly.
These days there are many cruel incidents—why is it that people so readily take a life?
Please, treat the elderly and grandmothers with care.
Show your wife a smile.
Be strict yet warm with your children and raise them to be proper adults.
Let’s make kindness, cheerfulness, and a frugal life our habit starting now.
And lastly, cherish nature.
Be prepared, always.
Kazushige Tsuruta
