Happy New Year♥!　8

【A message for golf and baseball lovers!】

Act 21 [Taxi Driver]Ken closed his design office at the age of 65.

Due to several economic crises and the Lehman Shock, he lost clients, his workload also decreased, and his motivation waned with age, when the coronavirus hit him and sales fell to less than half of their peak.

Tomomi is relieved that Daddy is making a steady income, but she is worried about the vagabond Hide.

It's the age when a normal salaryman would retire.

Ken is also receiving a small pension from the summer he worked there.

"I think I'm going to close my office now."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Well, I think I'm going to take it easy for a while."

"I've worked hard up until now."

In March, when he turned 65, Ken submitted a notice of closure to the tax office.

In the end, he was able to continue the office alone for 37 years. Before that, I worked at a design company for about 7 years and went to school for interior design, so I've been doing this job for about 50 years, starting with a part-time DIY job.

I don't know how many more years I have left, but I was proud of this job to which I dedicated half my life, so I didn't want to cling to it. When I quit, I wanted to end it cleanly.

After that, I was absorbed in golf and traveling for a while.

Ken has always loved to exercise, and he quit smoking at the age of 30 because of his chronic asthma.

Since then, he has been walking along the nearby river every day except on rainy days.

He walks for 1 hour and 30 minutes in the evening.

That's 7km in distance, 1800km in a year, and 43,000km in total in 25 years.

One circumference of the earth is 40,000km, so he's on his second lap now. He can't play golf 3 or 4 times a week.

He can't travel often either.

It's too boring to stay at home.

Since COVID-19, when I had too much free time at work, I did various part-time jobs.

I already had a lot of experience working part-time, and I've done a variety of part-time jobs up until now. However, once you're over 60, there's a limit to the part-time jobs available, and the only ones available are security guard jobs and odd jobs.

I had a part-time job collecting scrap metal from lathes at a metal factory, but I was confused about which scrap metal to separate, like copper or stainless steel, and a young full-time employee in his 20s criticized me for being slow at work, so we got into an argument and I quit after two days.

I also did a part-time job replenishing stock at Don Quijote, but the inventory was inefficient and my back wasn't strong, so it was hard to bend over and I decided it wasn't for me.

Rather than working hard and lazily, I thought it would be better to quit abruptly and not cause trouble for the other person, so I quit after two days.

During the interviews, he was usually recommended a different position from the job posting, and made to do endless mental arithmetic, and on the first day of training, he was shown a video of an employee shoplifting, which made him feel uncomfortable.

"It's like they're telling you not to shoplift even before you start working."

I've also worked part-time at a ramen shop, collected garbage, transported children to and from a disabled facility, stayed up all night watching over disabled people, and even worked as an after-school teacher.

The only work I can do now is drive a car and do delivery work, but I have a bad back so I can only drive automatic cars.

I can't deliver heavy packages either. In the summer, I started a part-time job delivering live sweetfish to restaurants in Kyoto City.

Sweetfish are served as part of the lunch course at Kyoto restaurants.

About 10 live sweetfish are placed in plastic bags filled with water according to size, and oxygen is added.

My part-time job involved loading 12 or 13 bags for each restaurant into a light van and delivering them by lunchtime.

At first, my senior colleague rode next to me, learning the streets and shops, and then I started making deliveries by myself.

The light van was automatic, and I could do it casually while listening to music on the radio, so I thought this job was right for me and continued for quite a while.

One day, the president increased the number of restaurants he delivered to and ran out of sweetfish, so I went to a sweetfish farm near Shiga Prefecture to get some sweetfish, met up with the president, and handed over several bags of sweetfish.

It had taken about an hour and a half at that point, so naturally the delivery to the restaurant was late.

The head chef of the restaurant was very angry.

He asked me why I was late in that Kyoto-style nagging way, but I had no choice but to apologize. I was really angry.

"Is it my fault? The president should have contacted the other party and told them that he was late because he went to get sweetfish!"

When I returned to the office, the president also complained to me.

This young president in his 40s was quite detailed, like making a note of the time he arrived at the restaurant and the time he left. (What kind of analogue thing is that in the digital age?)

Ken thought to himself.

"It was the president who asked me to go and catch sweetfish! He told me to speed because I was going to be late? I don't feel good about it, so I'm quitting."

He had a fight with the president here too and quit.

"Ken-san has a short temper, so he won't last any job!" Natsu said.

I think so too.

"Hahaha! Ken's in trouble again! How many days did he last this time?"

Jin said at the izakaya while drinking.

"I went about eight times, but that's normal!"

When I told Jin what had happened,

"I want to hit that president!"

Jin knows Ken's character very well.Ken's stories about part-time work were always the drink of choice.

In August of the year I retired, there was an online job posting for a taxi driver.

It was a job posting for the app-only Taxi GO, and no experience was required, and the age requirement was clear.

I called and went for an interview, not expecting it to work.

"The taxi industry has been hit hard by COVID-19, and most of the drivers have quit."

"We're currently short of drivers."

The conditions covered 90% of what Ken wanted.

"I can't work full-time, my pension won't increase, and I don't want to join social insurance."

Ken wanted a part-time job, six hours a day, three days a week, on Saturdays and Sundays.

The cost of playing golf on Saturdays and Sundays was high, and he had plans to play golf with his golfing friends on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the summer.

"Well, how about Wednesdays and Saturdays and Sundays?"

Ken answered immediately, not expecting to be hired.

"I'll do it, please let me."

"But I'm 65, is that okay?"

"There are 85-year-old drivers in this industry. Employees who are on a commission-based system retire at 65, but everyone is working hard as contract drivers."

A type 2 license is required to drive a taxi.

The company covers the cost of the driving school, and even pays the hourly wage.

However, there is a three-year commitment, and if you quit halfway through, you have to pay back the cost of going to the driving school to get your license.

"On the other hand, that means you can get work for three years!" It took about a month, and today is the last road test.

Ume-san, a younger woman who joined the company at the same time,

"Ayu-san, I'm not good at sharp angles, what if I fail parallel parking?"

"It's okay! Well, I'll go first, so I'll go first."

Ken was also a little bad at parallel parking, but in the test, he only had to back into the parking lot.

After two laps around the driving school, he was finally on the road.

After successfully completing the standard tests, including turning and stopping, Ken came upon a crosswalk without traffic lights.

He had a bad feeling and slowed down.

Suddenly, an old lady appeared and tried to cross the crosswalk. "Where did this old lady come from?"

Ken stopped just before the crosswalk and let the old lady cross.

If he had stopped the old lady and stepped on the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal, he would have been out at that point.

"That was scary! My hunch is right, but I never win the bet!"

Ken passed.

Then he whispered to his colleague Ume-san.

"There are fake drivers on the crosswalk, so you have to stop!" Ume-san also passed. He met Ume-san later at the Kyoto Automobile Proving Ground for the written test.

"Thanks Ayu-san, the lady suddenly showed up!"

"Oh, the lady showed up. I guess she was a fake employee hired by the driving school after all."

But there was a test of depth perception that worried Ken.

Three lines moved back and forth and he had to press the stop button at the right time.

Ken has astigmatism so three lines look like five.

He had failed the test three times at the driving school.

If he didn't pass this test, he couldn't take the written test even if he passed the road test. He failed the depth perception test once, but somehow managed to pass.

Next was the written test.

Most of the people at the testing center were taking the Class 1 ordinary license test, and Ken and Ume-san were the only two taking the Class 2 license test.

The test questions were different.

"What if there's a trick question on the written test?"

There was a trick question that looked like it was correct.

The written test was over and the two managed to pass and waited for the results.

Their numbers appeared on the electronic display board up ahead, and the two men shook hands firmly.

After reporting this to his company, Ken headed home.



Act 22 [Fateful Encounter 2] Around the same time, Jin's eldest son, Gen-san, graduated from an architecture school, but Japanese companies, which had been hit by the Lehman Shock and the financial crisis, were unable to recover for a long time and were said to be in a period of employment ice age.

He got a job at a mid-sized construction and civil engineering company, where he was made to do sales work while managing construction.

Unfortunately, this construction company also went bankrupt with debts.

He wanted to study more at the construction company before taking over his father, Jin-san's construction company, but seeing his colleagues who were having difficulty changing jobs and finding new jobs, Gen was still in a good position.

"I'm going to be a carpenter. I want you to teach me, Dad."

Jin said.

"Tama's father, who taught me, and Gen's grandfather, were really strict old men."

"I can only imitate the way my parents teach. Is that okay?"

"I don't mind. I want you to teach me."

Jin and Tama-chan were secretly pleased that Gen looked a little stronger.

Gen trained almost without a break.

He didn't land any punches, but he learned Jin's techniques little by little over the years, through repeated failures.

"Tomo-chan, why don't we go to Koshien this Sunday? It's a Giants game."

"That would be great, you'll take me!"

When Tomomi was still working at Lawson, she went back to her parents' house on her day off.

She invited Ken-san and Natsu-san, and the four of us went to Koshien stadium.

We got on the highway on the way there, listening to the radio in the car.

The game had already started.

Messenger was hit so hard in the first inning that they gave up 7 runs.

"What? They've already lost before we even went to see it! Let's go home now."

"Well, I already bought the tickets, so let's go!"

We arrived at Koshien Stadium when the Tigers were batting in the bottom of the second inning.

I dropped everyone off, went to park the car, and Gen went to Koshien.

The stands were full.

Even though they were losing, the cheering was amazing.

It wasn't just the loud cheering from the Tea Picking Bunny Girls that followed, but the stadium was shaking with the rumbling of the ground.

Ken-san watched the game while drinking draft beer.

They scored two points in the bottom of the third inning, and another point in the fifth inning.

The cheering was getting more and more exciting.

There were young women cheering loudly in the seats next to me.

The woman in the pink Tigers uniform shouted,

"Go! Scream, hit Kanemoto!"

Every time a Tigers player got on base with a hit or a walk-off ball, she was a very lively fan, and I was intrigued by this woman who looked like her mother, Tama.

In the seventh inning, the fanfare sounded and jet balloons flew into the night sky, and the stadium was in a frenzy.

Kanemoto's timely hit scored two points, making it 7-5.

"We can do it, we can turn it around!"

The Hanshin fans were in a push-push mood and were excited.

Ken-san was also having his third cup of coffee.

The Pink Tiger next to him was already in a state of yelling.

In the end, they only scored two runs that inning, with three outs. "Ahh... that was close."

The excited fans had calmed down and all headed to the bathroom.

Ken also got up to go to the bathroom.

The seats at Koshien are very narrow, so narrow that you have to walk sideways in front of the people sitting in front of your seats to get past them.

The Pink Tiger women passed in front of Gen, saying

"Excuse me."

They returned after a while, so Gen tucked his knees in and let the Pink Tigers pass. At that moment, the old man sitting to Gen's right groped the butt of the Pink Tiger who passed in front of him. "Eeek, what are you doing, old man!"

"I didn't do anything, I just let them pass in front of me!"

Gen, who had witnessed the scene, said.

"What are you talking about! I was watching."

Gen was slurring his words when he was excited.

He's Jin's thoroughbred after all.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw it, old man, you definitely touched her butt."

The old man started to get more and more nervous due to Gen's pressure.

"I should call the police!" The old man looked guilty and said, "I'm sorry,"

and walked away.

"Um, I'm sorry, I'm glad I was saved."

"Ah, no, no, no,"

Gen started to get nervous.

Ken came back and said,

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, can I have some draft beer, sis?"

Then the cheering started to shake the stadium again in the bottom of the eighth inning.

And finally, Hanshin tied the game in the ninth inning and the game went into extra innings.

The stadium was now completely yellow.

The Rokko Oroshi wind made it hard to hear the conversation. In the bottom of the 10th, with one out, Akahoshi hits a single, and Sekimoto bunts it to send it to second base, giving Hanshin a chance to win with two outs.

He walks Arias, the third batter, and goes up against Kanemoto. (Clang!)

The ball bounces back to center field and rolls to the fence.

Red Star Akahoshi runs through home base in one go.

"It's a goodbye, a miracle!" "Yay, we won!"

Before we knew it, Gen and Pink Tiger were high-fiving each other in joy.

Jet balloons and Rokko oroshi were a complete mess.

Before we knew it, 30 minutes had passed since the end of the game, with the hero interview and the singing of Rokko oroshi. "Um, thank you so much for earlier."

"We're heading home because we're catching the last train, so you really helped us out. Goodbye."

It was Gen's first time doing so.

He had never dated a woman in his school days, and even after graduating from vocational school, he's been busy every day, and he's still in training.

"What a pity, I wish I could have at least heard his name."

A little while later, Moto went to Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto in a light truck to collect money on behalf of Jin-san.

There is an Ajari Mochi shop near Kinkakuji Temple.

Tama-chan and Natsu-san's favorite.

"Okay, let's go and buy some Ajari Mochi."

He parked the light truck and passed through the noren curtain. "Welcome! Ah!"

"Ah, Pink Tiger, no, ah, hello!"

"Hello,"

"Do you work here?"

"Yes, I'm a part-timer, but ah, thank you for the other day, I didn't even get to thank you properly..."

"No, I was really surprised. But I'm happy to see you again!"

"Do you live near here too?"

"No, I came here from Uji on some business for my dad."

Unable to talk for long inside the shop, he paid the money and took the mochi.

"I'll be off then."

As he headed for the light truck, Pink Tiger came running and handed him a note.

"Um, my name is Momoyama. If you don't mind, could we talk at length next time?"

"Of course. My name is, no, my name is Efurumoto."

He opened the note and found the shop's phone number written on it.

"Can I contact you?"

"I'll wait."

Tora-san waved as he saw the light truck off, until it was out of sight in the rearview mirror.

On the way back in the light truck, Gen, who was in a good mood, sang a loud harmony to Alice's Winter Lightning, Jin's favorite, which was playing on the radio.

However, when Gen sang the part (Yolorensanda~♪), it sounded like (Yooroin samba♪).

Two days later, feeling excited, Gen called the shop.

"Hello, excuse me, but could I ask part-time worker Momoyama-san to meet me?"

"Oh, it's me, Momoyama. Is this Eburi?"

"Yes, Eburi. Hello." "Hello, I'm glad you called."

"I'm glad too."

Not knowing why he was so happy, Gen arranged to meet at JR Uji Station the following Sunday.

It was Gen's first date.

The two hit it off after ordering a matcha parfait and Namacha jelly at Nakamura Tokichi's tea shop.

The biggest thing they have in common is that they're both Tigers fans.

He burst out laughing when he heard her name.

"Eh, what happened?"

"Oh, sorry sorry, I was really interested in Momoyama-san who was cheering so hard at that time. Of course I didn't know his name so I was calling him Pink Tiger in my mind."

"Oh, it must be because he was wearing a pink uniform!"

"Yeah, but isn't Momoyama Tora the real name?"

"Yeah! I hated this name when I was a kid and resented my parents, but now I'm a Hanshin fan and I'm grateful."

"That's a nice name."

"Thank you so much, Hajime-san is a nice name too."

"Gen is fine, everyone calls you that."

Then the two walked along the Byodoin Temple approach, saw the beautiful wisteria flowers at Byodoin Temple's Phoenix Hall, walked around Tower Island, crossed Uji Bridge and said goodbye at the station.

After going on a few dates, Hajime thought.

"Tora is the only one for me, okay, next time I see him..."

About three months had passed since they started dating.

They walked along the course of their first date again, and by the Uji River, Gen said.

"Tora-san, I've loved you since I first saw you at Koshien."

"I want to be with you. W-won't you marry me?"

"Yeah, I love you too, Gen."

"Really?! I did it! Yay! A home run!"

Gen went home and told Jin and Tama.

"Mom and Dad, I've found the person I love, and I've decided to get married.

Isn't that great?"

"No way, no way!"

Jin was smiling.

"How long have you been dating? No wonder you've been getting all excited and dressing up every Sunday."

"Please bring me over next time, I'd like to meet you."

Tora-san's father is a self-employed craftsman who makes Nishijin obi in Kyoto.

His mother also helped out at the factory, and he had one older brother.

She has one sister and is the eldest of three siblings.

As you can tell from her name, she is a Hanshin fan.

According to Tora, Gen was very happy about the marriage and met Tora's family once.

He immediately liked Moto, who was an apprentice carpenter and would take over his father's construction company.

His older brother was looking forward to having a younger brother, and his younger sister Yume-chan also became attached to him. Gen, an only child, was happy to have a brother and sister.

The following Sunday, Tora-san came to the Eburi family with some Ajari-mochi.

Jin and Tama immediately opened up to Tora-san's smile and polite greeting.

"Wait, were you at Koshien? Wait, you say Tora-san?"

"That's great, I'll cheer you on, so let's get together soon!"

A month later, the wedding of both families was held solemnly, and a year after that, Gantan` was born.