Watching an interview about the American automobile industry on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, I had a flashback to an exchange I witnessed/overheard a decade ago, and it made me laugh again.
Years ago when I worked for the Japanese, I was in the backseat of a rental car headed from Orange County to Malibu. One of my bosses, Nakajima-san, was the driver (because he lived in Santa Monica), and my other boss, Ueda-san, was riding shotgun. They were conversing in rapid-fire Japanese, and I had long since given up trying to follow along. After a while, the weather started drizzling lightly. Nakajima-san began fumbling around, but was having difficulty engaging the windshield wipers on the rental car. Ueda-san began advising him on which buttons to try.
Frustration increased as they were unable to figure out the windshield wipers. After a couple of minutes of agitation, they located the illogically-placed control, only to determine that the windshield wipers were not operational. And I began paying attention to the conversation again...
Nakajima-san: [hissing] "Beikoku no kuruma... baka ie!" ("American cars... worthless!")
Ueda-san: "Mochiron." ("Of course.")
Sweet Pickles: [leaning forward from the backseat] "Vice President, did you just say that American cars are stupid?"
Nakajima-san: "Your Japanese is improving, Junior Apprentice Pickles."
Sweet Pickles: [turning to Ueda-san] "Senior Division Manager, did you just agree with Vice President that American cars are stupid?"
Ueda-san: "I also agree that your Japanese is improving."Sweet Pickles: "Thank you, but why won't y'all answer my question about American cars?"
Ueda-san: "We did."
Those two are also who, indirectly, taught me the word p*ssy in Japanese, one time when we were shopping for go-carts. They were snickering like elementary school kids because the American manufacturer's name was Manco. (And there you have it.)
Ueda-san passed away around the time I moved here. Nakajima-san retired and moved to Kamakura. I miss them both.



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