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Vol.90
Monkeys |
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Sep.03,2025 |
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My house commands an ocean view on the south side but is surrounded by a small mountain on the north, east, and west sides. A group of 10 to 20 monkeys comes down this mountain to invade neighborhoods every year.
When my parents lived in this house, my mother one day left frozen beef on the table in the kitchen to defrost it, and a monkey opened the screen door to the kitchen and took the meat. A few years ago, about 20 monkeys climbed a persimmon tree in the garden of my friend's house and took most of the persimmons, with each taking three—one in the mouth and two in the hands. Crops, such as oranges, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins, are damaged by monkeys every year.
This year, they came back to my house. My wife caught sight of about 10 monkeys being in the vacant lot behind the house, and three adult monkeys opened the screen door to the living room and entered the room. I missed the scene because I was washing dishes in the kitchen. When I was going out to put the garbage in the compost bin, I heard my wife scream from the second floor. Only a moment later, the three monkeys jumped out from the screen door on the first floor.
In recent years, numerous cases of bear-related damage have been reported in Japan. Like a bear, it is dangerous to look a monkey in the eye when it comes close enough to make contact, especially when it is with child monkeys.
Here is the whole monkey story that happened to us. Three monkeys entered the first floor of my house and noticed me being in the kitchen, so they went up the stairs to the second floor and ran into my wife at the entrance of the room. She screamed when she saw the monkeys, surprising them and forcing them to run down the stairs to the outside.
In Japan, we have the term "Saruzie (asinine idea)," which is derived from the monkey's cunning nature ("saru" means a monkey, and "zie" means an idea). As monkeys are said to be the ancestors of human beings, they are clever.
I was born in 1944, when Japan was on the back foot in World War II, so my father gave me the name "勝 (Masaru)," which means a victory or superiority, in the hope that Japan would win the war. However, unlike my father, who was a smart person, I am an ordinary man who can come up with only an asinine idea. That is why I should be called "Manukesaru," which means a stupid ("manuke" in Japanese) monkey, rather than "Masaru."
By the way, when I searched the internet for the word "Manukesaru," one result was found (as of the time of the search). It is the pen name of a lyricist.
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