The afternoon at Kami

putting her bag down on the concrete and pushing her hair back behind her ear Third house, persimmon, side door, so this is it. I go first and say who we are, and you stand beside me.

bowing, her bag still on her shoulder Ohayou gozaimasu. Satomi-san de irasshaimasu ka. Nozaki to moushimasu. Akima-san no kawari ni, kochira no kata to futari de ukagaimashita. (Good morning. Are you Satomi? My name is Nozaki. We have come in Akima's place, the two of us.)

half turning her head toward him without stepping out of the doorway He says he has heard about it, that his daughter telephoned him, and that we are the ones coming in Akima's place.

He is telling us to come in and stop standing at the door. The sitting room is straight ahead and he is going to make tea. Shoes off on the step, and put them together facing out.

stepping up after him and setting her bag against the wall Kochira no kata wa nihongo ga wakarimasen node, watashi ga tsuuyaku itashimasu. Ruumania kara irasshaimashita. (This gentleman does not understand Japanese, so I will interpret. He has come from Romania.)

following him in and looking around the room once This is it. Six mats, the low table in the middle, the television against that wall and the altar in the corner with his wife's photograph on it, which is Akima's grandmother. Sit on the side away from the door and leave the cushion nearest the altar empty.

kneeling down on the far side of the table It is a butsudan, the household one, so every house that keeps a dead person has a small version of the same thing. The photograph is his wife, the incense in front of her is lit in the mornings, and the bell is struck once before anyone speaks to her. When he comes back in you can kneel there a moment with your hands together, and he will take that as you having greeted her.

sitting back on her heels and listening toward the kitchen He is slow with it. I heard him fill the kettle and then nothing for a while.

I have never been inside a house with icons in it. The only ones I have seen are photographs, gold faces on a dark wall.

I did not know any of that. hearing something set down in the kitchen I have Buddhism at funerals and a shrine at New Year and nothing that anybody argued about, so a country tearing its own images down is not a thing I can picture.

No. I go to a shrine at New Year with everyone else, buy the paper and write a wish on it and tie it to the frame, and that is the whole of it.

There is nothing written down for me anywhere. My mother's house belongs to a temple, which is how the funerals get done, and I understand it goes by the house and not by the person in it, so I was not asked whether I agree to any of it.

Here a house can leave its temple, and I know that only because my mother said once that it costs money to do and that she would rather not deal with the priest, so it sits there undecided. hearing the tray knock against the doorframe He is coming.

taking the cup he pushes toward her with both hands Osoreirimasu. Watashitachi wa kamainai desu kara, douzo omotase shita nante osshaeranaide kudasai. (Not at all. We are fine either way, so please do not apologise to us for that.)

setting her cup down and turning to Vlad He says never mind about it. There is nothing to fill a day with up here, he gets up, looks at the vegetable patch, puts the television on, and that is the whole of it. Few people come to this house, so today is a good day for him.

turning back to him Kochira no kata ga, naze koko ni wa hito ga amari konaku natta no ka, kikitagatte imasu. (He is asking why it is that people stopped coming up here.)

They all left. The young ones went to Osaka and never came back, the house above this one is empty and the one above that as well, and what is left is old people who go one at a time.

turning to Satomi with her cup still in her hand Minna dete iku n desu ne, to iutte imasu. (He says that means everybody is leaving.)

When he was young there was a school in this valley with about thirty children in it. The bus is down to four a day now. He says leaving is the sensible thing to do, because there is nothing here.

turning back to Satomi Kono hen wa mou jinkou ga kuzurete iru, tte iutte imasu. Monobe no tani zentai no hanashi da to. (He says the population up here has already collapsed, and that he means the Monobe valley as a whole.)

When he was a boy they used to say there were about ten thousand people in this valley. By the time the village was folded into the city it was down to around three thousand, and how many are here now he has not counted.

turning to Satomi Ruumania de mo, keizai to seiji ga waruku natte, hito ga ooku kuni o dete itta sou desu. Ima wa sen kyuuhyaku man nin gurai de, kono kata ga ima sunde iru kuni wa sen happyaku man nin, soko wa hette inai sou desu. (In Romania many people left the country because the economy and the politics went bad, and it is down to about nineteen million now. The country he lives in has eighteen million and is holding steady.)

He says the same thing that happened here is happening at the size of a country. He is asking whether the ones who left come back.

turning back to him Deteitta hito wa, taitei kaette konai sou desu. (He says the ones who left mostly do not come back.)

The same here. They come back at Bon, put their hands together at the grave, and by the thirtieth they are on the train again. Bon is in the middle of August, three days when the dead are said to come back to the house, so the whole country moves at once and everyone goes to the family grave.

turning to Satomi Ruumania ni mo, nakunatta hito no tame ni toshi ni ichido atsumaru gyoushiki ga aru sou desu. Takusan ryouri o tsukutte, tabekirenai hodo dashite, sore o tabete kuyou suru to. (He says in Romania there is a rite once a year for the dead as well. They cook a lot, put out more than anyone can eat, and eating it is how the dead are looked after.)

Theirs is the other way around. Rice and water go up in a little bowl in the morning and that is all of it, and it comes down again once the steam has stopped, and whoever is in the house eats it. What is offered is the steam and the smell, so the amount never matters.

turning to Satomi Ano kuni ni wa kou iu narawashi wa nai sou desu. Kyoukai wa aru keredo, iku hito wa hotondo inai to. (He says there is no custom like this in his country. There are churches, but almost nobody goes to them.)

He says there must still be something kept inside the house. If there is nothing at all, he wants to know where the dead are supposed to stay.

turning to Satomi Ano kuni de wa, shinda ato no koto wa mada kimatte inai sou desu. Ima wa dosou ka, hatsudensho de yaku ka, houigaku ni azukeru ka, zouki teikyou ka, sono yottsu kara erabu. Sore o gyaku ni shite, houigaku to zouki teikyou o hajime kara no atarimae ni shite, dosou to kasou wa ikite iru uchi ni jibun de shomei suru, to iu an mo giron sarete iru to. (He says that there it has not been settled what happens after death. At present a person chooses between burial, being burned at the power station, being kept for forensic medicine, or organ donation. There is a proposal under debate to turn that around, so forensics and donation become the default and burial or cremation have to be signed for while the person is still alive.)

He is asking about the power station. Whether the burning is done that way so the heat gets used.

turning back to Satomi Sou desu. Kasou wa hatsudensho de suru koto ni natte ite, netsu mo denki mo sono mama tsukau sou desu. (That is right. Cremation is done at the power station, and both the heat and the electricity are used.)

The crematorium here burns and the smoke goes up into the sky and that is the end of it. He says it is a waste if you look at it that way, and that he has never once thought about it before.

turning to Satomi Haishutsu o herasu tame ni, kasou o erabu hito no itai wa moyashite denryoku ni mawashite mo yoi, to kimatta sou desu. (He says it was decided that, in order to cut emissions, the body of a person who chooses cremation may be burned to make electricity.)

He wants to know what happens to the bones. Here the family pick them out with chopsticks after the burning and put them in a jar, and without that there is nothing to put in the grave.

turning back to Satomi Hone wa hai ni shite, marui utsuwa ni ireru sou desu. (He says the bones are reduced to ash and put into a globe.)

He is asking whether the globe stays in the house or goes into a grave.

turning to Satomi, one hand flat on the table Honnin ga kimeteireba, sono kimeta koto ga kazoku no iken yori tsuyoi sou desu. Kimete inai baai wa, toshi o totta koro ni kazoku ga hikoushiki ni kikarete, hai o ie ni oku ka haka ni ireru ka o kimeru. Dare mo nanimo kimenai mama datta toki wa, tochi no tsuchi ga hai o mamoreru ka dou ka de, umeru ka moyasu ka ga kimaru to. (He says a person's own decision outweighs the family's. Where no decision was made, the family are asked informally once the person is old whether the ash stays in the house or goes into a grave. When nothing at all was decided, whether it is buried or burned depends on whether the soil there can preserve it.)

He says here there is no asking at all. The house has its grave, you go into it, and whoever is left looks after it. Choosing is not something that comes up.

turning to Satomi Muko de wa, mazu honnin ga kimete, kimete inakereba kumiai ga hikitoru sou desu. (Over there the person decides first, and if they have not decided the cooperative takes it on.)

He is asking whether a cooperative is something like the village assembly, and whether a thing like that sees to a person's bones as well.

turning to Satomi Kumiai wa hone no sewa wa shinai sou desu. Are wa koukyou no jigyoutai da kara da to. Mura no yoriai ni nite iru no wa aru tokoro made de, kumiai no rengoutai mo areba, ikutsu mo no machi de ikutsu mo koujou o ugokashite iru kumiai mo aru sou desu. (He says a cooperative does not see to anyone's bones, because it is a public enterprise. The resemblance to a village assembly only goes so far, since there are federations of cooperatives, and cooperatives running several factories across several towns.)

Around here a cooperative means the farm co-op. Everything he sent out and everything he was paid went through it, and he says it is a different thing altogether from the village assembly.

turning to Satomi Muko de wa, mura no hotondo wa juumin ga chokusetsu kimete ite, ookii machi ni naru to gikai o oku sou desu. (He says that over there most villages decide things directly among the residents, and the larger towns have assemblies.)

turning to Satomi Muko no mura wa dore mo hijou ni chiisakute, taberu mono mo sumu tokoro mo machi to onaji dake ateraretoru no ni, soko ni kikai ga aru to omou hito wa sukunai sou desu. (He says their villages are all very small, and although the basics are provided there the same as in the towns, few people see an opportunity in them.)

It is the same here. There is the pension and there are things to grow, and what is missing is work, people and the lights of a town. The young go to look at those, and they do not come back.

turning to Satomi Shiriai no josei mo, Prevessa to iu machi kara Leriduson ni dete, sono mama modotte inai sou desu. Kaeru no wa obaasan ni au toki dake de, sono machi wa chiisai keredo, kotsuu wa chanto sorotte iru to. (He says a woman he knows left a town called Prevessa for Leriduson and has not moved back. She goes only to see her grandmother, and the town is small although it has a full transit system.)

Having the buses makes no difference to it. What sends people away is something other than the transport.

picking her cup up again and finding it has gone cold Wakatte iru sou desu. (He says he knows.)

You look to him like a man who has only ever lived near towns that are doing well. His daughter told him Lindoma and Leriduson are both on the sea, so he takes them for places like Niigata, with the sea, work, and trains running through.

turning to Satomi Kono kata wa, jinsei no hotondo o Bukaresuto no chikaku de sugoshite, ima wa Rindoma ni sunde iru sou desu. (He says he spent nearly the whole of his life near Bucharest, and that he lives in Lindoma now.)

He says that is what he thought. Near the capital, then a town in another country.

lifting the teapot and filling Satomi's cup before her own Sou desu ne, to. (He says yes, that is right.)

setting the pot back down Watashi mo Toukyou desu. Koganei to iu, nishi no hou desu kedo. Akima-san no iru kuni no koto mo, shashin ya kaite aru mono o zuibun yomimashita. (I am from Tokyo myself. Koganei, out on the western side. I have also read a fair amount about the country Akima is in, photographs and whatever was written.)

He has never been to Tokyo once. His daughter is there, the elder granddaughter is there with her children, her name is Mayumi, and he has been up here for fifty years. Akima was in Tokyo as well, and she left it.

turning to Satomi Akima-san ga Nihon o deta kara koso, kono kata to deatta sou desu. Ima wa Marujinaru to iu toori ni sunde ite, otonari doushi da to. (He says he came to know Akima only because she left Japan. She lives on a street called Marginal, and the two of them are neighbours.)

turning her cup a little on the table Sore wa mochiron mieru to omoimasu. Onaji toori de, mainichi kao o awaseru you na kyori desu kara. (He certainly would be in a position to see. They are on the same street and close enough to run into each other every day.)

Sorry. I told him you are close enough to see whether Akima is eating, since you are on the same street.

turning back to Satomi Sukoshi naoshimasu. Ano kata wa, sono toori kara wakareta rojiura no oku ni tatta atarashii tatemono ni utsutta sou desu. Sore demo sono hen wa minna Marujinaru to yonde iru to. (A small correction. He has moved into a new building at the end of an alley off that street, and people still call the whole area Marginal.)

setting her cup down Akima-san kara kiita hanashi desu ga, furui tatemono de, mou kuzurekakete ita sou desu. Barukonii ga jun ni ochite itte, ue no yuka mo onaji you ni hibi ga haitte, naosu no wa muri da to iwarete, torikowasu koto ni natta to. Sono hi, shikiten no saichuu ni kado ga sono mama ochita rashii desu.

Watashi wa sore o kiita toki, atama no naka de wa danchi deshita. Kikaku de tateta furui tatemono da to iu no de, sou omoikonde ita n desu. Atarashii hou mo, hanashi o kiku kagiri danchi ni chikai you desu.

He is asking whether Lindoma is all danchi.

turning to Satomi Danchi bakari to iu wake de wa nai sou desu. Furui chuushinbu mo kikaku de tatete aru keredo, shizen ni mieru you ni shite atte, mannaka mo onaji, hazure ni deru to koujou mo shuugou juutaku mo hotondo kikaku no tanjun na katachi de dekite iru to. Furui tatemono no yobikata wa, doko kara mite iru ka de kawaru sou desu. Paneruku, kyousan shugi jidai no tatemono, paneraaku, purattenbau, burokuri. (He says danchi are only part of it. The old centre is standardised as well, made to look natural, and the middle of the city the same, and out at the margin the factories and the blocks are almost all built from standardised simple shapes. The old buildings go by different names depending on where a person is looking from. Panelcu, communist-era buildings, panelak, plattenbau, blocuri.)

The danchi here come out the same shape whichever town you go to, having been designed with the same thinking.

turning to Satomi Muko mo onaji da sou desu. Ooi no wa Direkutoreeto to yobareru jidai ni sekkei sareta mono de, atarashii tatemono wa chigau to. Chekko no terebi no kiroku bangumi o jidou jimaku de mite, ano shurui no danchi wa fukuramaseta nendo o mazeta karui konkuriito de tateraretete, jibun ga sunde ita tatemono mo sore to tekkin konkuriito datta hazu da to iu koto desu. (He says it is the same over there. Most of them were designed in what they call the Directorate period, and the newer buildings are different. He watched a Czech television documentary series with automatic subtitles and learned that blocks of that kind were built with a light concrete made from expanded clay, so the building he was living in must have been that and reinforced concrete.)

Around here it has always been wooden houses. As for concrete, there is the dam upstream and little else. While it was going up, hundreds of men came in from outside and the valley was overflowing with people.

turning to Satomi Muko de mita machi wa dono machi mo tekkin konkuriito de, mura no ie mo karui konkuriito de tatete aru you ni mieta sou desu. (He says every town he has been through over there was reinforced concrete, and even the village houses looked to be built out of a light concrete.)

turning to Satomi, one hand shaping a block in the air Ruumania no mura no ie wa, chirupichi to iu mono de tateru sou desu. Nendo to koeyashi to warahoka o mazete katameta karui mono de, kawakeba totemo katakute, sono mama de dannetsu ni naru to. (He says village houses in Romania are built from something called chirpici. Clay, manure and straw mixed and set, light, extremely hard once it dries, and insulating in itself.)

He says that is a mud wall. It was the same here once, bamboo lathed up in a grid and earth with straw mixed into it plastered over both sides. No house is built that way now, and the inside walls of this house are still that.

turning to Satomi Kikaku no tatemono no hou wa, koujou de tsukuru konkuriito de, mizu mo semento mo ooi mono da sou desu. Ita ichimai ichimai no naka ni kanaami ga haitte ite, sore o genba de kumiawaseru node, hagane no hari wa iranai to. (He says the standardised buildings are made from an industrial concrete, high in water and cement. Every panel has a metal grid inside it, and since the panels are assembled on site, steel beams are unnecessary.)

He is asking what happens to a building like that when an earthquake comes.

turning to Satomi Tatemono zentai ga yureru keredo, dono machi de mo hachikai o koeru tatemono wa hotondo nai node, tekkin igai no seishin no shikake wa iranai sou desu. (He says the whole building shakes, but as almost no building in any of their towns goes above eight floors, no damping arrangement beyond the reinforcement itself is needed.)

He is asking what happens when a big one comes. Not a small shake, a truly big one.

turning to Satomi Muko ni mo kinkyuu jishin sokuhou ga arimasu. REP-KJS to iu na de, KJS wa kinkyuu jishin sokuhou no kashiramoji desu. Nihon no o moto ni shite tsukurareta mono da to, kishou kumiai no saito ni kaite arimashita. Shindo san kara zenkoku ni onaji you ni nagareru sou desu.

Taitei no jishin de wa tatemono wa nan to mo nai sou desu. Nihon no you na hontou ni ookii no wa mada ichido mo nakute, ookime no jishin jitai ga mezurashii to.

Yoso ni mo arimasu. Watashi mo hikouki o matteru aida ni, mukou no kishou kumiai no saito o yonda n desu. Katachi wa NHK to onaji de, saisho ni mijikai no ga hitotsu kite, ato kara kuwashii no ga tsuzukimasu. Chigau no wa, sono kuwashii bubun ga sokuho no naka ni zenbu haitte iru koto desu. Shingen mo, fukasa mo, magunichuudo mo, hoka no shakudo de no yomikae mo, shindo san ga dou iu imi na no ka to iu setsumei made, sokuho ga yomiagemasu. (Other countries do have it. I read the meteorological cooperative's site over there while I was waiting for the flight. The shape is the same as NHK's, a short one first and the detail following, except that all the detail is inside the warning itself. The epicentre, the depth, the magnitude, the same figure on other scales, and even an explanation of what shindo three means, all read out in the broadcast.)

Watashi wa daijoubu da to omoimasu. Nagai no o kiite mo, saisho no hitokoto de ugokemasu shi, nokori wa nagashite oite mo kamawanai node. (I think I would manage. Even with a long one I can act on the first line, and the rest can simply run past me.)

setting both hands in her lap Hitotsu ukagatte mo yoroshii deshou ka. Yakusho no kata ga kochira ni miete, ie ni irenakatta to kikimashita. Nani ga atta n desu ka. (May I ask you one thing. I heard that somebody came from the ward office and was not let into the house. What happened?)

I asked him about the ward office, since Akima had said he turned them away. Two young officials came with a folder and wanted to walk through the house, where the bath is, how many steps there are, how often he gets up at night. He says once that is written down the next conversation is about whether living alone is difficult or not, and he did not want to hear that, so he sent them off.

turning to Satomi Kono kata ga, sono saki ni wa nani ga aru to omowareru no ka to kiite imasu. (He is asking what you think comes after that.)

First they tell you to get the certification. A doctor writes something as well, a machine puts out a number, and a panel decides. Once there is a certification the next thing is a plan, somebody coming on bath day, a vehicle taking you out on another day, and before long the talk is about staying somewhere. He says once you are on that road, getting off it is difficult.

turning to Satomi Saigo no dankai de kotowaru koto wa dekiru no ka, to kiite imasu. (He is asking whether it is possible to refuse at the last step.)

You can refuse. On paper you can refuse anything. Only, by then it is not him alone, his daughter is sitting there, and the care manager, and the doctor, all of them worried. He says being the one person in that room who says no is a different thing from refusing from the start.

sitting up a little Watashitachi wa dou shimashou ka. Kaerimashou ka, sore tomo mou sukoshi ite mo yoroshii desu ka. Ashita wa Toukyou ni modorimasu. (What should we do? Shall we go, or may we stay a little longer? Tomorrow we go back to Tokyo.)

He says stay, all the more so if we leave tomorrow. It has been a long time since anyone was in the house and he is making another pot. glancing at the cup in front of him You have not touched that one.

He says there is no need to drink it. You came from a far country and the hours have been nothing but hard subjects, so the tea hardly matters. Leave it where it is.

taking the pot from him as he lifts it and setting it down within his reach Nomu tsumori wa aru sou desu. (He says he does intend to drink it.)

He says drink it up. What is left he will pour tomorrow.

I think so too. turning to Satomi Satomi-san wa jitsu ni jitsuyou teki na kata da to omoimasu. Kochira no kata mo onaji koto o iutte imasu. (I think you are a very practical man. He is saying the same thing.)

He was a construction worker, starting on the dam and going downstream after that and then roads and building work. And his point is that a site takes whoever turns up, the rude ones and the ones who arrive half drunk included, because a foreman who sorts men by manners gets nothing built. That is where it came from.

turning to Satomi Kono kata mo, tokidoki kuchi ga warukatta sou desu. Mawari ni sou iu hito ga ooku ita kara da to. (He says he was foul-mouthed sometimes. Many of the people around him were like that where he came from.)

He says that is how it goes, if the people around you are that way you become that way. On the site it was the same for him, he picked up how the men around him talked before he picked up the work.

turning to Satomi Sore de yawarakaku natta, to iu koto deshou ka. (Would that be how you came to be flexible?)

He says softened is one word for it and given up is another. People cannot be changed, so he takes them as they come, and if that counts as flexible then yes.

turning to Satomi Ocha ni te o tsukenakatta koto de, okorareru to omotte ita sou desu. (He says he expected you to take offence over the tea.)

shaking her head once Watashi wa mou hitori no kouho ni wa naremasen. Watashi to Akima-san wa souko de onaji shokuba datta dake de, chanto hanasu you ni natta no wa ano hito ga kuni o deta ato desu. Mojiretsu de shika shiranai n desu. Watashi ga koko no ningen da to iu no wa, tada tochi ni kuwashii to iu dake no koto de, ano hito o wakatte iru to iu koto de wa arimasen. (I could not be the other candidate. Akima and I were at the same warehouse, and we only started talking after she left the country. I know her through writing and nothing else. My being from here means I know the ground, but it does not mean I understand her.)

both hands around her cup Ikkagetsu mae kara, mukou no koto o yoku yomu you ni narimashita. Yonde iru uchi ni, jibun ga soko ni iru tokoro o kangaeru you ni natta n desu. Rindoma ni tsuite, dokku no chikaku no umi no soba ni suwatte, yoru no kuroi mizu o mite iru. Shigoto wa mijikakute karukute, mou binbou de mo nai. Okane to iu mono ga nakute, mise no mono wa zenbu tada. Yoru ni shashin o nanmai mo mite, donna tokoro na no ka zutto souzou shite imashita. Sore de kao o agete, jibun wa densha no naka da to kizuku. (A month ago I started reading a lot about the country over there. Somewhere in the reading I began putting myself in it. Arriving at Lindoma, sitting by the water near the docks, looking at the black water at night. Short, light work, and no longer poor. Money does not exist there and everything in the shops is free. I spent evenings going through photograph after photograph, picturing what the place is like. Then I look up and notice that I am on a train.)

Sumimasen, nakisou desu. Mawari wa minna kichinto shita kurashi o shite ite, watashi dake ga sou ja nai you ni kanjimasu. Akima-san wa asoko de ochitsuite ite, kore ijou hatarakanakute ii to wakatta ue de yasumeru n desu. Watashi wa mada, hatarakanakereba naranai bun ga ikura demo nokotte imasu. Mukou wa antei shite imasu. Kuchite inai n desu. Kanpeki de wa nakute, koohii ga nai toki mo aru shi, mezurashii kudamono wa te ni hairanai rashii desu kedo, sore igai no taberu mono wa itsu demo aru. Nihon wa densha mo michi mo mukou yori zutto ii noni, kuchite iku you ni mieru n desu. (I am sorry, I am close to crying. Everyone around me has a proper life and I am the only one who does not. Akima is settled over there, and she can rest knowing there is no more work she has to do. What I still have to work through goes on and on. That country is stable. It is not decaying. It is imperfect, there is no coffee at times and the unusual fruit is out of reach, from what I have read, and there is always something else to eat. Japan has better trains and better roads than they do, and it looks as though it is rotting.)

pressing the side of her finger under one eye Sore ni, mukou wa iroiro to chigau n desu. Omotta koto o sono mama itte ii shi, tooshi ni tooshi o kasaneru hitsuyou mo nai. Hito mo konde inai. Zenbu ga sukunai n desu. (And things over there are different in a lot of ways. You can say what you think outright, and there is no need to pile hedge upon hedge. It is not crowded either. There is less of everything.)

setting her palm flat on the table and marking off a small square beside it with two fingers, then drawing a much larger rectangle around and past it Mukou wa kuni zentai de sen happyaku man nin desu. Rindoma wa hyaku yonjuu man nin de, hirosa mo Toukyou to sono shuuhen ni kurabetara zutto chiisakute, kou hirogatte mo inai n desu. Toukyou dake de, ano kuni no jinkou zentai yori ooi n desu yo. (The whole country over there is eighteen million. Lindoma is one million four hundred thousand, and the area is far smaller than Tokyo and everything around it, and it does not sprawl like this. Tokyo on its own holds more people than that entire country.)

turning her hand over on the table Shashin de mita kagiri desu kedo, inaka wa kara ni wa miemasen deshita. Ie ni hito ga sunde ite, hatake mo tsukatte arimasu. Sore ni, Rindoma no shita ni juu man nin gurai no machi ga ikutsu mo aru n desu. Hito ga hitotsu no tokoro ni katamatte inai n da to omoimasu. (This is from photographs only, but the countryside did not look empty. There are people living in the houses and the fields are in use. And below Lindoma there are a number of towns of around a hundred thousand. I think the people are simply not piled into one place.)

Watashi mo sou omoimasu. Dakara koso, deteikitai n desu. Sono tabi ni jibun de, muri da, ikanai hou ga ii, tte iikikaseru n desu kedo. (I think the same, which is exactly why I want to get out. And every time, I talk myself to not do that, it cannot be done, better not to go.)

Sono ki no mae ni, mazu okane ga nai n desu. Hikouki dai mo, nimotsu o hakobu bun mo, mukou de saisho no nanikagetsu o motaseru bun mo. Ki ga aru dake de deteikeru nara, mou minna deteitte imasu. (Before the drive comes into it at all, there is no money. Not for the flight, not for shipping what I own, not for the first several months on the other side. If drive alone got a person out, everyone would have gone by now.)

Uchi mo sou desu. Haha mo zutto sono mama de, watashi mo sono mama ni narimashita. (It is the same in my family. My mother has been in that position the whole time, and I ended up in it as well.)

turning to Vlad Can I ask you something. Have you ever been poor?

turning back to Satomi Shita no hou no chuuryuu datta sou desu. Tada, dandan bimbou ni natte iru to. Nani mo ka mo takaku natte, tsuuka mo mata yasuku natte, bukka ga agaru no ga owaranai sou desu. (He says he was lower middle class. It has been sliding, though. Everything has got more expensive, the currency has weakened again, and the rise in prices never comes to an end.)

Sou mieru shi, sou na n deshou ne. Watashi wa kanemochi to tsukiatta koto ga ichido mo arimasen. Mawari ni ita hito wa minna onaji you na tokoro ni imashita shi, kono kata mo sou desu. (It looks that way and I expect it is. I have never once had a relationship with anyone wealthy. Everybody who has been around me was in the same position, and this man is too.)