Cross-cultural communication （155）　

155) The Uncertain Macbeth
In July 2024, I read “The Uncertain Macbeth” by Ko Hayase, published by Hayakawa Bunko. I had never heard of this book or its author, Ko Hayase, but I happened to see it stacked vertically in rows of five at my local bookstore, and the title sounded mysterious, so I impulsively bought it. It turned out to be a great choice. The novel tells the extraordinary life story of a Japanese man named Nakai who works for an IT company. He joins a major Japanese IT firm that operates in China and Southeast Asian countries, and he is busy with business trips to those regions. Nakai's high school girlfriend, Nabeshima, is also a key character in the novel. She graduated from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Ochanomizzu and went on to become an expert in cryptography.

This 500-page paperback novel is packed with scenes of information warfare between cutting-edge companies in China and Southeast Asia (including murders involving hired assassins) and intense deception and counter-deception to achieve their goals. I myself have lived in the US and Europe and am accustomed to cross-cultural communication, but unfortunately I have no experience living in neighboring Asian countries, so I found it extremely interesting and finished reading all 500 pages in just three days on my commute to work.

There was another interesting coincidence. A few years ago, I met Dr. K, an occupational medicine physician in Tokyo, online. After my symposium presentation (actually a panel discussion) at the Japan Primary Care Association Conference in Hamamatsu in June 2024, I had the chance to meet him again by coincidence at an izakaya near Hamamatsu Station. He has an unusual background: he graduated from the Department of Mathematics at one of Japan's top universities, retook the entrance exam for the same university's medical school and was admitted, worked as an internist, and is now an occupational physician. Dr. K, if you happen to read this blog, please give me a layman's explanation of “cryptography.”

Finally, there is the unusual title, “The Uncertain Macbeth.” Macbeth is a famous play by Shakespeare, but the title is not a metaphor or allegory; it is exactly what it says. The protagonist, Nakai, visits a casino in Macau for the first time, wins a large sum of money thanks to beginner's luck, and is then told by a prostitute he meets (who has a talent for fortune-telling), “You are destined to continue your journey as a king.” I won't go into further details to avoid spoilers, so please give it a read!

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