BULLSHIT VERSUS BULLETS AND FIRST ENCOUNTERS IN A NEW WORLD

It is now early 1983 and my quest for another overseas assignment was finally bearing fruit. We were now in deep negotiations with my former (Peru) employers and my current (USA) employers. The discussions centred around a Project, civil (mining, tunnelling, concrete type works) in Nicaragua, and an Oil and Gas refinery Project for New Zealand being built in Japan. At that time in Nicaragua there was plenty of civil unrest with the pinko group Sandinista’s trying to overthrow the government. This was a little worrisome to me because I now had a family and we had made a joint decision to not work apart.

The recruiter for my former company, who I knew well, was of the opinion “come on Jimbo a little bullshit and bullets has never worried you”. That may have been somewhat true, but it made me pause to reflect. I was probably ok putting myself in that situation, however I was not quite sure that I needed to expose my family to it. The offer was very tempting because along with it a follow-up job in Sri Lanka was being offered as part of the package.

The other offer we were considering was work in Japan with my current employer, Bechtel out of San Fransisco. The Project was located in Japan and entailed the building of structural steel modules including all of the pipe, electrical and instrumentation needed to assemble a modular Gas to Gas Refinery in New Zealand. The package was good and included safe, married accommodations for my family. Never being one that was lacking in the ability make a decision, it was decided HERE WE COME JAPAN. Also my current boss, at the time, said that a protege and friend of his was running the Project. He asked if I would go out and see if I could help. Without knowing at the time we were about to develop a lifelong friendship with two people we met in Japan.

In a flurry of activity we once again packed up all our stuff and prepared to embark on another adventure. This time however we knew a little more about the process, international travel and fancied ourselves quite worldly. My confidence in myself knew no bounds. I figured I was now the worldwide traveller that I eventually became maybe 20 years later. Through this my partner stuck by me and helped me make all decisions and shared the load of stress that these decisions and subsequent moves entailed. There was a whirlwind of good-byes and once again we were off into the yonder.

Note: I left a couple of weeks early to scout out the situation while Deysi waited for her paperwork to be complete, however I basically start our written journey of Japan as if we arrived together. We arrived at the airport in Kumamoto and were transported to Omuta by a childhood friend from Canada.

At this point my memories of Japan start. There were a few that happened on arrival and during our indoctrination period. Our meal at the airport in Kumamoto, accompanied by my colleague, was startling to say the least. We bellied up to a bar counter ordered a beer “biero kudasai” and indicated by signs, something to eat. After 15 bows back and forth the hostess left and returned with two plates full of sliced raw meat in some sort of thin red sauce and some sets of chopsticks. Well we looked at each other and dug in. It was indeed meat, a little stringy and moderately chewy but nothing that I couldn’t swallow.

I asked my friend what it was, he was a veteran here having arrived a few weeks before me, and his response was “I have no idea”. Well just so happens he had a little English/Japanese dictionary (that everyone carried). And in it, found enough words to ask the lady what it was. She took the dictionary and after pawing thru it for a few minutes became quite animated. And suddenly, stabbed at the word on the page. That word, HORSE. Well I had just eaten raw horse meat and thought “this is right up there with the weirdest things I have eaten” and ranks in there with the Cuy (guinea pig) in Peru. At the time I thought this was quite weird, but came to find out later that this was a small sampling of the strange and exotic things I would consume in Japan. I loved food!

The next early memory was of our arrival to our company apartment in Omuta, somewhat close to our worksite at Hitachi Zosen. We were assigned a company apartment and were given a tour of it by the housing manager for Hitachi. He spoke a little bit of English and proudly showed us the features of our new home. It consisted of all of the modern conveniences, but in miniature size. All of the appliances and furniture were about half size of those at home. The apartment was small, but very clean, modern and came with everything you need to unpack and start life.

During this tour we ended up in the bedroom in an area just about big enough for me to lay full length. Again very clean and modern. The window looked out over an amusement park called Greenlando, that is if you could have seen out the window. It was covered in translucent rice paper held in place by 12″ square wood frames. I had never seen something like this before so promptly walked over and gave it a tap with my finger. It seems quite solid so I gave it a more sharp tap. Wow my finger went right thru it and was sticking out the other side up to the last knuckle. I heard Deysi gasp and then quickly look away, pretending she did not know me.

There I stood looking like a dork with my index finger thru the bedroom window. I was mortified! I could have crawled under the bed, if it had been a couple of inches off the floor. The manager recovered quick and said don’t worry mister I will fix it. Whenever I think of life’s most embarrassing moments, this memory is always at the very top of the list. It gave me nightmares.

Another of my “arrival” memories had to do with this same move-in inspection of our apartment. We had proceeded into the bathroom for an inspection and noticed that the toilet consisted of a hole in the floor and a flush chain hanging down from the ceiling. I was trying to figure out how I could make this work when I noticed that “no damn way look” on Deysi’s face. I think our guide had seen it also and quickly asked “do you want American style toilet?” Lilia did not lose one heartbeat responding. “Hell Yes”!

He scurried off and returned a few minutes later with an exact plastic replica of an American toilet. He set it over the hole, stepped back and said there! I was amazed. In one move all memories of the hole faded and I now had this vision of a big, grand American crapper. You sat there, the chain hanging down by your shoulder and did your business. Problem solved and memory imbedded in my mind forever.