Transcending Limits

第9話 Part-time Job Harvesting Lettuce in Kawakami Village, Nagano Prefecture

I practiced guitar at night and slept through daytime classes. This had become a routine. However, another shocking event took place. I learned about the TV show "Miami Vice" that was being broadcast.

This drama, in particular, featured police action that paid attention to minute details, especially in the intense battles with drug dealers. It starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, with Edward James Olmos as the supervisor. I was particularly captivated by the understated performance of Edward James Olmos.

In this drama, notable figures from the music world like Glenn Frey of the Eagles, country legend Willie Nelson, music genius Frank Zappa, jazz emperor Miles Davis, the Godfather of Soul James Brown, and others also made appearances. The music was composed by Grammy-winning Jan Hammer.

I've watched this entire drama on DVD, but the one that stands out the most for me is the mystery of the serial murders of prostitutes. The main character in this story is a Vietnam War veteran played by Michael Wright, who is emotionally scarred and starts killing prostitutes one after another. Additionally, Hein S. Nyoel, a doctor who appeared in the Cambodian Civil War film "The Killing Fields" and became the first Asian to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, also appeared.

Here's a brief excerpt from Wikipedia about "Miami Vice":

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Set in Miami, with characters donning Versace and Armani suits, driving Ferrari Testarossas, and major chart-topping hits playing in every episode, it became a stylish police drama that garnered attention.

The producer, Michael Mann, was essentially a visual artist who insisted on "realism" down to the finest details. In his previous directorial works like the movie "The Keep," the historical accuracy of military gear featured in the film was quite meticulous. This attention to detail was naturally carried over to the TV drama "Miami Vice."

What made this drama a movement was the strong emphasis on "realism" in the scripts. Previous police dramas before "Miami Vice" mostly followed a formula where the arrest of the culprit equated to solving the case.

However, in this work, even after an arrest, there were instances where due to seemingly minor procedural errors being pointed out as "violating due process of law" by defense attorneys, individuals were wrongfully arrested and subsequently released, or after struggling to make a case, the suspects were released under the Witness Protection Program due to a request from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Florida branch), etc. It wasn't a flow of "the case is solved, on to the next story."

The "investigation" into the cases serves as the starting point of the story, and from there, new stories unfold. It portrays detectives who, while feeling a certain kind of stagnation along the lines of "why are we doing this," never lose their vigor and act based on their respective beliefs.

Although it's a police drama, it unusually focuses on human relationships such as divorce, remarriage, as well as daily life. While following the format of self-contained episodes, it weaves these elements as side stories, ensuring they have relevance within the timeline.

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Around this time, Boz Scaggs came to Japan, and I went to see him with a female teacher from the accounting school who later became my girlfriend. It didn't leave much of an impression. Pink Floyd also came to Japan, but I went to see them alone. What surprised me was that, rather than Dave Gilmour on guitar, I was struck by Nick Mason's drumming and his sense of rhythm.

During my second year, I didn't feel like working in a beer garden, where the work was hard and the pay was low. I lazed around at home, but Osaka was just so hot. I wanted to be somewhere cooler. Come to think of it, a student from Kindai University I met at a youth hostel in Korea had told me about a lettuce harvesting job in Nagano Prefecture.

It seemed like a cool option. I promptly went to buy a part-time job magazine and checked if there were any lettuce harvesting jobs available. There were. I called the agricultural cooperative in Kawakami Village, Nagano, which was listed in the magazine, and decided to take the job. They said they'd pick me up at the station tomorrow if I arrived.

My younger brother was at junior high school for judo practice, and my mother was out. I quickly packed a change of clothes in my bag, left a note on the table saying I'd be doing agricultural work in Nagano and went out to call the female teacher. The morning in Nagano where I arrived on an overnight train was not just cool, it was downright cold. I called the cooperative.

"I'm the person who applied for the part-time job yesterday. I've arrived at the station, so could you pick me up?"

However, the staff member who answered said, "We're not offering any jobs anymore," with a joking tone. I got angry and said emphatically, "What are you talking about! I applied properly yesterday!"

Then, the staff member came to pick me up. Now that I think about it, it might have been a difference in character between the hurried nature of people from Osaka and the more relaxed nature of people in rural Nagano. However, in Kawakami Village, during a certain period in the summer, they conducted a fierce business that accounted for 80% of Japan's lettuce share. I was taken to a bus stop halfway between the station and the farm by the staff. I was told that someone from the farm would come to pick me up in a car.

The person who came to pick me up in a car was a cool-looking old man. In the car, he asked me, "No matter what, you won't get a break for the next month. Can you handle it?" I couldn't turn back at this point. "I can," I replied.

Now, my job at the lettuce farm involved packing the harvested lettuce into boxes, loading them onto a truck, and unloading them at the agricultural cooperative, alongside an uncle and the people who had come to work part-time before me.

It started at 5 in the morning and finished at 5 in the evening. Working up a big sweat from 5 in the morning was a first for me, and I was a bit worried if my body could handle it. However, during breaks in work, we'd take regular rest periods, and the aunties who came to work alongside us fruit farmers would bring us delicious grapes and such.

I was treated to delicious, pesticide-free vegetable dishes for three meals. For animal protein, there were items like fish cake and processed fish paste. Additionally, for dinner, I was offered a cup of sake, and the uncle asked me about what I thought of the Self-Defense Forces, etc.

I also learned from the uncle that Nissho Iwai (now Sojitz) sends newly hired employees for intensive training in the fields at this farm. He also mentioned, "Kakkun, you're doing a good job, so I could recommend you," but I declined because I had no idea what a trading company like that did.

The room I slept in was a newly built tatami room for part-timers, and I shared it with a 40-year-old cake craftsman. He told me various stories. When the one-month part-time job ended, I decided to return. The uncle asked if I could stay a bit longer because he still had work. However, I politely declined. The pain in the second joint of my fingers, where they hooked into the holes in the cardboard boxes for carrying lettuce, was severe.

So, I lied about having a seminar training at the university and returned to Osaka. I earned 150,000 yen for the part-time job. Later, I asked the female teacher if she'd like to go out with me, and she agreed.

Furthermore, after this part-time job, I traveled to South Korea alone. I went to Seoul to see the bustling streets and thought about exploring the outskirts in the morning. While waiting for a bus, a man picked a fight with me, and he ended up restraining me forcibly and pulling me between two buildings. I managed to break free, yelled at him, and quickly left. I felt that anti-Japanese sentiment was strong, so I decided to return. Throughout this part-time job and even during my travels, I was still struggling with depression.

That year, Emperor Showa passed away, and the era transitioned from Showa to Heisei. Additionally, the Tiananmen Square protests occurred in China.