Cross-cultural communication （47）　

47）The Strongest International Couple
The story takes us back to the late 1980s, when I was working at the Osaka National Hospital. I have written about some of the experiences I had with foreign patients in this blog, but the international couple I am writing about this time was first contacted by the wife of the couple, who called the foreign outpatient department. The foreign outpatient department did not officially exist, but the person who answered the phone picked up the call in English and put me through to her... The English was a little accented, but it was still perfectly understandable. The patient wanted me to see her daughter, who was a primary school student, because her cold had been lingering on. At Osaka National Hospital, I was an internal medicine doctor, so I wasn't allowed to see children as an outpatient under the rules. I introduced my colleague who was a pediatrician and had studied in America, and who could see patients in English.

The daughter was examined several times by the pediatrician, and it was discovered that she was not suffering from a cold, but rather from allergy symptoms. The mother also seemed satisfied with the treatment she received from the colleague pediatrician. I had the opportunity to speak with the pediatrician, and I learned that the mother was Israeli. So, the case was closed. Then, one Sunday morning about a month or two later, I went to McDonald's on Rokko Island, where I live, for breakfast, and I saw a stocky Asian man eating with a girl who looked white. I made eye contact with the man, and when I nodded, he said “Good morning” in English. I replied in English. He was a very talkative man, and he started to talk about recent events in his life without being asked. “My daughter wasn't feeling well, so I took her to the hospital in Osaka, and they said she had an allergy. This morning, when I was going to take my daughter to McDonald's, my wife stopped me, saying, ‘She's allergic, so McDonald's is not good for her’. I escaped by saying, ‘It's not a big deal to go to McDonald's a few times a month’”. I thought that this story might be a coincidence, so I revealed my identity and explained that I had received a phone call from his wife about their daughter's condition and that I had introduced her to a pediatrician. After discussing the surprising coincidence a little, we parted ways with a handshake.

After that, I happened to run into him several times on Rokko Island, and I gradually learned more about his family. His wife was a Jew born in Israel, and he was a Korean born in Korea, and he was running his own business in the field of trade in Korea, Japan and European countries. He was sending his daughter to the Canadian Academy on Rokko Island, because he wanted her to become a person who could play an active role internationally in the future.

Later, I had the opportunity to talk with the family's pediatrician about this family. Both of us had experience living abroad, and we were well aware of the tenacity of Jewish and Korean people living abroad, so our conclusion was that the daughter raised by this powerful couple would become a truly powerful international person.
However, there was an unexpected turn of events. In 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck Kobe, and although the damage to buildings on Rokko Island was minimal, the psychological fear experienced by the Israeli and Korean couple, who were not used to earthquakes, was apparently indescribable. I heard a rumor that the family had moved to Israel immediately after the earthquake.

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