Chinese Herald PEN column
Cangmang Mountain Pavilion Jin Ou
In the spring of 2002, I bought a house in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture (34 km from Tokyo Station). Noda City is the birthplace and production center of Japan's famous Kikkoman soy sauce, which has a history of more than 500 years, and is the designated factory for the imperial soy sauce, with production accounting for 20% of the Japanese market and exporting to more than 30 countries around the world.
In the fall of 2002, I moved from Tokyo to Noda City. In the summer of 2004, I held an exhibition of Jinou calligraphy and seal carving at the Noda City Hall Gallery.
At noon on the first day of the exhibition, when I came back from lunch outside, the staff on duty told me, "There is a man named Yumi Suzuki who left a message in the message book. I flipped through the message book and wrote: "My name is Yumi Suzuki, I am a calligraphy teacher, I happened to pass by here today, and I saw Mr. Jin's calligraphy and seal carving exhibition, and I liked it very much. A person who is proficient in calligraphy, painting, and seal carving is almost impossible to find in Japan, and I also want to learn painting and seal carving. I still have something to do today, and I'll come back tomorrow at 2 p.m. to see Mr. Jin. ”
The next afternoon, a man in his 50s came to the gallery and immediately said, "You're Mr. Jin, my name is Suzuki," and I immediately said, "I saw your message yesterday, in fact, books, paintings, and prints are the same, as long as you study more, you can do anything." ”
Suzuki then said, "Then I'll worship you as a teacher, Mr. Jin, okay?" I thought to myself, living here, taking in a few local students, and playing with them, "Okay, no problem." I replied.
Then, Suzuki helped me greet guests all afternoon, and he was very enthusiastic. After the exhibition that day, Suzuki invited me to drink at a nearby Chinese restaurant. I learned that Suzuki is 4 years older than me, single, and has been running calligraphy classes for children for more than 20 years.
Since there are many calligraphy exhibitions and events in China, I often return to China, and Suzuki will follow me to China when he has free time.
One winter, I went to Shanghai to do business, Suzuki also went with him, we stayed together in Shanghai Yan'an Hotel, had dinner, old friend Shanghai Customs Director Sun came to the hotel to meet me, Director Sun entered the room, Suzuki greeted Mr. Sun to help Mr. Sun take off his coat and hang up the coat, immediately make tea, and then sit on the side, although he could not understand Chinese, but still listened to our chat motionlessly, Director Sun had less tea, Suzuki immediately got up to add water, and acted like a soldier.
At this time, Director Sun said with deep feelings: "Your students seem to be older than you and respect you so much, unlike the Japanese in the movie, who show their teeth and claws." I said, "Actually, most of the Japanese people are good, especially in Japanese society now, where a good education produces high-quality Japanese people." ”
"My grandfather injured a leg for the Japanese devils in the Sino-Japanese War, so I hate the Japanese," Director Sun continued. I said, "Yes, the Japanese invaded China and committed heinous crimes, and this was a problem with the Japanese government at that time, but history has passed, and now we hope that China and Japan will be friendly." ”
"Brother Jin is in Japan, what do you think of this country?" I said: "Japan is a civilized and developed country now, there is almost no big difference between urban and rural areas, people are educated, polite, serious, and good service, so I have stayed for so many years." ”
"Yes, as soon as I entered the room just now, Suzuki helped me take off my coat, and after taking off my coat, he helped hang it up, and kept pouring boiling water for me. In the past, I encountered something unhappy, the first thing I detained was the Japanese cargo ship for inspection, so that the cargo ship stayed for a few more days, but now I heard Brother Jin say this, and I saw Suzuki, and in the future, I will detain the ship for inspection, and I will not detain the Japanese cargo ship exclusively on official business. Director Sun said with emotion. "Director Sun must come to Japan to see if he has the opportunity in the future, it is better to see than to hear. "Okay, there is Brother Jin in Japan, and I must go and play in the future." ”
As time went on, we got in touch with Suzuki a lot, and our relationship became like brothers. In Japan, every time Suzuki and I went to an event, we would see young Chinese women in four words that he memorized: "You're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're very beautiful, you're beautiful." "It makes the other party very happy.
Also, Suzuki often said to my friends, "I have the advantages of being Japanese and the advantages of Chinese that Mr. Jin passed on to me, and I am the best person in the world." "You have the shortcomings of the Japanese and you have learned the shortcomings of the Chinese, and you are the worst person in the world," I added, and Suzuki laughed every time I said it.