Toast to Life 44 (Social Capital)

Daisuke Yamanoi, an emergency doctor at a large hospital, phone-called me on Saturday, 22nd. He had made calls many times until then over the year end, but I declined every time for other family engagements. He shouldn't made sudden calls with NO advance notice (😆), but maybe it was of my just "business" judgment, and on the 22nd I picked up his call and apologized for ended-up short conversations on the last several times. "A courtesy to close friends" is a typical Japanese saying. 

Over the screen, saw him sipping tea out of a plastic bottle, who started talking about "Social Capital". He said, he had raised the topic earlier that day to family, like "what if I fall, what you think we should do". Social Capital is translated as "capital of social relations" ("社会関係資本") in Japanese, meaning that "social capital is a measure of the value of resources, both tangible and intangible, and the impact that these relationships have on the resources involved in each relationship, and on larger groups", based on Wikipedia.

Daisuke's case refers to such connections as those rooted in humans, not in finance/financials, such as the relatives of his/her born-place (which he calls "bond", but I think it's hard to imagine as thus for English native), and long-time friends including myself. Over video call, Daisuke looked feeling down, complaining about the family talk early he had, because he was met by the family's disinterest or unhappiness to his idea of returning, in case of emergency, to his hometown; his wife, originated from Tokyo, obviously disagreed with it, like "I have met your relatives only a few times in my life!". 

Now it's my turn, as I thought: I am indebted by him. 

I started explaining my case over to him. My mom is a cancer survivor, and she also got her back compression-fractured. She fits for her age, though. On top, my sister and her daughter moved to the mom's unit in a condominium. In short, mom is not reliable. Younger brother and his family have moved to Shikoku, so I can't rely on him either.

I have almost no relationship with my neighbors now in a place of Tokyo. Then, suddenly a thought occurred to me that only a few friends, including Daisuke, have been staying with me.

In comparison, many of wife's connections are still alive. For example, daughter, high school's first grader, is volunteering outside the school, and this organizer (American) is actually a 30-year friend of wife. You sure can find the similar stories here and there.

Let me come back to the call with Daisuke. At the end of our conversation, Daisuke said, "now I'm glad I was able to talk to you today. I'm feeling better. Let's dine and wine when Corona is over." Yes, he cannot get infected Covid-19. 

I was glad to hear that even in flattery.

(The photo at the beginning was taken on July 16, 2016 when the kids were studying "abroad" in Kochi prefecture in Japan (public elementary school), and for sightseeing. It was around the time when I was struggling with multiple project reports in Singapore.)