My company is a chemical listed company. In order to meet the needs of enterprise development, the company hired many foreign experts. They cut one crop after another like leeks in vegetable fields. Now there are three foreigners in the company, two Korean old men and one Japanese old man. That old Japanese man is Tsukika Tsuichi.
He has worked in the chemical industry all his life and has a rich resume. He has worked in Hitachi Co., Ltd. for more than 20 years and in Kyocera Co., Ltd. China Company for nearly 10 years. Now he has retired, but he has no plans to go home for the elderly. Wholly-owned domestic enterprises are eager for an old engineer with a deep technical background, and both sides hit it off. At the beginning of this year, he formally joined our company and became an independent project.
Because of my work, I came into contact with many Japanese. They left me with the impression that they are professional, humble and pay attention to image and etiquette, and it is relatively easy to deal with them. They don't seem to have learned the tact and treachery of China people. They often know their professional knowledge like the back of their hand and are willing to share it selflessly. At the same time, when I get along with them, I often feel aloof, which is completely set off by them, through humble body movements and respectful tone. Stay with them as if we were masters and they were slaves.
Otsuka meets all my views on the Japanese, except that he doesn't care about his appearance. He is a slovenly old man.
He always has a 46-style hairstyle. Sometimes his hair is like a bird's nest, and sometimes his hair is stuck high. He ignored this and even went his own way at the meeting.
He has a sweatshirt in the style of China students' school uniform, which he has worn for some time. It looks old, and the original blue color has faded. Some places are dark in color, and some places are light in color, piece by piece, unlike appearance. Such clothes are hard to find even in some families in remote mountainous areas.
His leather shoes are also very interesting. They don't look like his, but they look like others. Apparently, his feet are one size bigger. He always makes a "pa-deng-pa-deng" sound when he walks. That's not the sound of shoes landing, but the sound of heels and soles landing at the same time. When we heard the sound, we knew he was nearby.
Otsuka is a short and thin old man. He looks the same as China people. He has a pair of glasses on his nose, and his eyes are always narrowing. He looks sleepy. At work, he carries a backpack and goes to work on time. He has a strong sense of time.
He has an assistant, which he brought from his former company. The assistant is from China. It is said that they have worked together for seven or eight years. The assistant has learned all his skills. I don't know why I have been serving him. If this happened to people in China, it would be a very incredible thing.
It is a well-known fact that Japanese people attach importance to etiquette. It is hard to imagine how specific this etiquette is if it is not personal experience. Once I went to the toilet, I happened to meet him when I came out of the partition of the bathroom. He finished urinating and we went out together. I smiled and nodded to him. I was surprised by his strong reaction at that time. His little eyes suddenly widened. He stepped forward and opened the bathroom door. He leaned forward 30 degrees and bowed. At the same time, he respectfully held out his right hand and motioned me to go first. He kept saying "どぅぞこんにちは".
I'm flattered and a little overwhelmed. From an early age, I was taught to respect the old and love the young, and be polite. Sometimes in a similar situation, let others go first. But now this old man has taken the initiative to open the door for me, bowed to me and invited me to go first. Where have I seen this before? I gestured with my hand and muttered, "You go first, you go first ..." Thinking that he didn't understand Chinese, I immediately changed my mouth and said, "You're welcome, after you!"
We gave in to each other for a while, and finally he smiled, straightened up and went out first. I breathed a sigh of relief, secretly relieved: the Japanese are really troublesome!
Although I am lazy and listless at ordinary times, I am in another state at work. Last week, many batches of products produced in the workshop were abnormal. Otsuka and his assistant tracked the production line for more than 20 hours. They investigated the possible causes of product problems one by one. In the early morning of the next day, they finally got the result that a metering valve on the production equipment broke down intermittently, which led to the deviation of raw material metering and finally caused product quality fluctuation. After a day of tossing, many people looked exhausted and exhausted, but Otsuka always maintained a vigorous mental state, like a gadfly biting a cow tightly. He debugged and tested again and again, never letting go of any detail. After the problem was solved, everyone praised him and gave him a thumbs up. He waved and returned to his usual appearance.
We often say that engineering practitioners need craftsmanship, but this is just talk. Now the impetuous wind of society has already spread to all industries, and how many people can concentrate on their work and do things in a down-to-earth manner? Otsuka has set a good example for us in this respect.
Otsuka's wife and daughter live in Kobe. They have a good relationship. His family could have lived a happy life, but he chose to stay in China and continue working. He is not short of money. Why did he do it? I didn't ask him for proof of this problem. His assistant leaked some information intentionally or unintentionally. In Japan, a person will never continue to be employed by a company after retirement. Their old age was miserable. They have no grandchildren to take, no mahjong to play, no square dance to dance. Most people do nothing all day, live a boring life and live a life that can be seen at a glance. Otsuka has been a technician all his life and has feelings for China. He hopes to continue to shine in China with what he learned in his lifetime.
A foreigner left home for China and lived a shabby, embarrassed and awkward life. Many people can't understand this. As a colleague, I may be able to make some interpretations: it is a great honor to be recognized by the industry and needed by the society. It is good to retire after success, but if you can stick to your job and continue to work hard for the development of the industry and your own pursuit, it will be a higher realm.
At the end of a road, everyone will have different choices. Some people rest in the same place and enjoy the scenery. Some people travel light and move on. Otsuka chose the latter.