Japanese "Jackson"

Late afternoon, I went to the clinic by taxi to get yet another prescription. As always, it was nice to talk to the doctor. She has been playing many roles for me. On my way home, I dropped by Isetan in Orchard and then the pharmacy at T.B. Plaza. I visited the same pharmacy to get more Cymbalta last week as last time I left the last prescription there. They didn’t have it! I was asked to get another from the doctor because “you lost it.” No, they lost it. That’s why I went to Bukit Timah today. Something is wrong with the place. One of the pharmacist forgot to order Cymbalta for me. And this time, they misplaced the prescription asking me to go to the doctor again.

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Yesterday (or was that the day before?), I found this passage in “The Girl in the Picture.” “An older Japanese man, a cigarette hanging from his mouth, stood under a street lamp in Saigon. It was the AP’s darkroom technician, known as Jackson. He saw the AP van pulling up to the curb and threw his butt to the ground.
“Nicky, what do you have today?”
“My film is very important today.”

The person who developed the film of “The Girl in the Picture” was a Japanese man!! Who is this Japanese “Jackson”?

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Ozawa Ichiro, as most people had expected, resigned from the leadership of the opposition Democratic Party. It seems that once again, he demonstrated his brilliant capability as a destroyer not as a builder.

Dehydrated Cooked Rice

「The Girl in the Picture」に「dehydrated cooked rice」とある。どんなものだろう？軍からの配給保存食のようだが、砂糖なしの「ポン」みたいなものか。

A Letter

Unable to sleep even after dawn, it was definitely frustrating. I guess that the letter that arrived from Japan was affecting my brain. It didn’t contain any news particularly surprising, but then it seems to me to confirm what I had feared from my mother’s stories of two years ago, that is, what I had been constructing slowly and positively in family matters were no more. I don’t understand why things “are made (by whom, I wouldn’t say)” so damagingly complicated. After my next week’s trip, I may not feel any desire or even obligation to go back again, which could effectively close my family relationship.

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For the past few weeks at the least, I’ve seen flying ants in the unit. I had thought they were coming from outside. No, they are living inside. Yesterday, I saw one of them go into a hole of the windowpane. They should be termites.

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What’s this metallic aftertaste of “Anchor” beer?

Saigon Now and Then

「サイゴンの十字架」も終えた。昨年、約１カ月を過ごしたサイゴンの印象は、スクーターの大波と道路沿いや道路を渡って危なっかしく敷設されている電線の束。手のない人、足のない人や、靴を磨かせてくれと寄ってくる子供たち。花売りの子供たち。幼子を抱いて小銭をせびりにくる母親たち。確かに、途方もない貧しさはまだ目の前にあるが、明らかにそれとわかる戦争のキズを間近に見ることはなかった。少なくとも表面的なサイゴンは活気ある街だった。もう一度訪れる機会があれば、その時は街をもっと歩いてみたい。バスにも乗ってみたい。

Japanse as Vietminh Soldiers

「ベトナム戦記」に、太平洋戦争後もベトナムに残ってフランスへの抵抗運動（第１次インドシナ戦争）で、「ベトミンに参加してベトナム兵を帝国陸軍の戦法と規律によって鍛えあげ、たいへん尊敬された」日本人が登場する。「彼らは貧しいベトナム農民兵といっしょに起居しながらわたり歩き、フランス植民地追放のために血と汗を流した。……ベトナム農民兵たちは彼らを“戦争の神様だ”といって尊敬した。“欧米列強の桎梏よりアジア同胞を解放する”という日本のスローガンは当間氏ら無名の日本兵士によってのみ真に信じられ、遂行された」。この当間氏は名前こそ出てはこないが「サイゴンの十字架」にも登場する。

「33」という名のフランスビールも登場するが、ベトナムの「333」ビールとの関係は如何に？

「サイゴンの十字架」の第２編は、「北ヴェトナム正規軍の政治将校で中佐」で、「テット攻撃」の後に自ら南に転向した「チャン・ヴァン・ダック氏」についてあり、中佐の記者会見の模様が訳されている。「何とか訳しました！」という調子の文章になってしまっていて、たいそう読みにくい。

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目が覚めると体がだるい。あんまり暑いので冷房を入れざるを得ないんやけど、この冷房がだるさの原因やろなぁと思う。やっぱり、扇風機を買うべきなんやろな。