How to acquire English skills even if you don’t want to. Chapter 4 Work and English (2) 4.3 People I met thanks to English
There are many people I have met who I probably would not have encountered if I had only used Japanese. So let me try to recall some of them.
Mr. Samuel Wanjiru, an Olympic gold medalist
He was the winner of the men's marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I ran into him at the Japanese Embassy in Kenya on September 10, 2009 during a visit to Nairobi, Kenya. I have posted an account of that encounter on my Internet homepage. However, I learned of his passing on May 15, 2011, about a month before I wrote this book, on TV. I pray from the bottom of my heart that he may rest in peace.
Mr. Salvador Laurel, Vice President of the Philippines
On July 26, 1992, then Philippine Vice President Salvador Laurel held a private music concert and party at his home for only two people including myself.
This was just after I had finished my frequent visits to the Philippines in support of a woodworking company's expansion into the Philippines, and after I had served as interpreter for the Vice President at the inauguration of the company's factory.
The only guests were myself, a Japanese business contact, and my friend, Mr. J.G. Chung, a lawyer in the Philippines. Both of us played the roles of windows for the corporate advancement.
One of Vice President Laurel's hobbies is playing the violin, and he played for us his father's violin. It is a Stradivarius, one of the most famous violin instruments that his father had received as a gift from the President of Italy.
I remember I also played a guitar in return.
Incidentally, his father was Jose Laurel, the president of the Philippines at the end of World War II, who helped Japan by breaking the postwar compensation claim against Japan.
Mr. H.E. Awori, a Kenyan Ambassador to Japan
In November 2010, Ambassador Birigua, the African Ambassador to Japan from Uganda, gave a lecture at Onomichi University. Also, in June 2006, Ambassador Awori, the Kenyan Ambassador to Japan, gave a lecture at Onomichi University at my request.
In August 2008, I also took these African ambassadors to Seiran Corporation in Shanghai, China, for a business visit. (Photo below right: Both ambassadors and myself walking in Shanghai)
Our relationship, which we met through English, continues to this day. We need each other because we share the common task of work, but without English, this kind of relationship would not have existed. In that sense, this is another fruit of my English skills. Of course, it goes without saying that besides the common denominator of English, the continuation of the relationship requires sincerity and effort on both sides.
Serially posted in English every Tuesday.
毎週火曜日に連載中
For photo data and materials, please refer to the following websites.
写真データ、写真資料は以下のサイトを参照下さい。
