By the skin of his teeth
by Mieko Takaoka

One Sunday afternoon, Grandpa Hirotoshi sat swinging in an armchair as he told me his dramatic life and death stories. His large, burly frame reminded me of the Godfather's Marlon Brando. He, the head of our house, was often very strict with me. Yet, when he told stories, he became very personable and humorous. His story of near death adventures, which shows how he dealt with difficulties, encouraged me to survive in my lifetime.

"A long, long, long time ago, when I was a young soldier fighting in China, I faced the enemy's gunshots and my own fear of possible death. While I was in China, I went through many strange, unique incidents. One night, my coworker Senjiro and I were riding in a carriage on a mountain trail. It was quite dark and quiet. There was the only faint illumination of the stars and a lamp in the carriage.

"Suddenly, I saw two shining dots about a half-mile ahead.

'Hey, do you see something shining in front of us?'

'I can't see anything.'

'But I saw something. Hey, look! It's there. More than two shining dots.'

'Two, three, four.ten. What are they? Fireflies?'

'Gosh! They are wolves.'

‘When we noticed them, it was too late; more than five wolves blocked my way. Senjiro aimed his rifle.

'Damn it, I'm out of bullets. What should we do? I don't want to end up being their prey."

"In this dangerous moment, without thinking, I jumped up and peed on the wolves' eyes. Immediately, they were blinded, and then we managed to run away."

He smiled, showing his teeth. I was cackling at him. Also, he told me another story about a day on his way home from his work.

"I was walking watching a beautiful sunset on the way. My eyes were totally captured by the sun. Suddenly, I lost my step. Down, down, down, I went down into a deep hole.

'Where am I? What's going on here?'

"Immediately, I realized this was a trap for tigers, not for me. I was struggling to get out of there.

'Help me out! I'm in a trap.'

"Quickly, it got dark. Nobody was around but me and maybe famished tigers. An owl was continuously hooting; my mind started wandering, and I imagined that growling tigers fell on me and devoured me. All night, I had to cope with the fear of death, which initially occupied my thoughts, but the situation changed as my family's faces popped up in my head. While thinking of my precious three sons, one daughter, and wife, I made a decision-I would fight with tigers if I had to, and somehow I would get back to Japan.

"I've got to live to take care of my family!"

Luckily, the next morning, I was rescued by a man who came to check the trap. A month later, I escaped successfully from China to my country. It was considered a disgrace for a Japanese man to come back from the War because a true hero would have died. Nevertheless, I am sure that I made the right decision. Life is much more important than death."

After he finished these stories, he coughed once and slapped my bent back to straighten it. This big old man, who faced death a couple of times, tried to show how he dealt with difficulties and circumstances while running the race toward his life goal to gain rewards. Recently, I realized his bequest to me was his experience he shared with me, which equipped me to survive in this age.

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Questions? Brian McKinney (bmckinne@home.com)