Cross-cultural communication （59）　

59）Memories from the movie LIFE
I watched the movie LIFE, which was released in March 2014. It's an adult fantasy about Walter, who works for the photography magazine LIFE, and the dream he experiences just before being laid off, but it's a heartwarming story, and I really enjoyed it. The actual LIFE was an American news magazine focusing on photography that existed from 1936 to 1972. It was a magazine that sold well all over the world from the 1950s to the 1960s, and photographers well known in Japan such as Robert Capa and Eugene Smith were active in it.

Well, I first read (or looked at?) the photography magazine LIFE in 1970, when I was attending a cram school for university entrance exams. The cram school was in Mikage, Kobe. It was right next to Hankyu Mikage Station, and the technician who maintained the air conditioning and heating at my father's clinic also lived right next to the same station. His name was Reiff, and he was half German and half Japanese. He was already an old man with gray hair at that time, and I think he was in his 70s. I had known him since I was in my second year of high school, when I had my father's clinic built, and when I told him that I had decided to go to Ohmichi Gakuen cram school in Mikage, he said that I should definitely come and visit him.

When I visited Mr. Reiff's house for the first time, I found that his house was full of clever devices that only a technician would have, such as convenient storage and original partitions that could be opened and closed to improve ventilation. In his study, he had a large collection of English magazines such as TIME and LIFE. Although he was brought up in Japan and Japanese was his native language, he was fluent in German and English. As he was turning the pages of LIFE, he said to me, “Kido-kun, from now on you need to look at the world. First you need to study English well and read magazines like this. If you like, you can take some back issues home with you.”

I followed Mr. Reiff's advice and, after entering Osaka Medical College, I studied English hard in the advanced class at the YMCA English School, so I was able to make some progress. However, LIFE, which had been aimed at reading comprehension, was discontinued in 1972. I really enjoyed the movie, which was full of images of LIFE, filled with such memories.

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