Thursday, May 03, 2007

A Japanese New-York-City Cab Driver

A Japanese New-York-City Cab Driver


Q: Why couldn't Mozart find his teacher?
A: He was Haydn.
("The New-York-City Cab Driver's Joke Book" by Jim Pietsch)

There are surprisingly a lot of jokes on Polish prevailing in New York, according to the joke book, though I do not recommend you to read it, since the above one is the most decent among all in the book. But, why must they so intensely let Polish Americans down (though it is true that there are aslo many jokes on Israelites)?

1) There are many Israelites in the U.S., especially in New York, whose ancestors migrated from East Europe, especially from Poland.

2) Historically, Israelites in Poland seem to have been suffering discrimination.

Logically, there is a suspicion that Israelites who had migrated from East Europe, especially from Poland, revenged the old grudge they or their parents had carried in East Europe by spreading jokes which would rather humiliate Polish in the U.S. where some Israelite immigrants have got unchallenged financial power.

As logically they are on suspicion, Israelite Americans, especially living in New York, should try hard to eradicate jokes that let Polish down from every corner of New York. Or, they should disseminate more nice jokes on Polish.

If this is a conspiracy more profoundly planned or otherwise nothing but a creature of chance, Israelite Americans should do so, for the more you are given, the more you are expected to do good.
* * *

In October 2001, a Japanese lady wrote a book based on her experiences in the U.S. for about a decade.

She could not settle down in the U.S. She could not fit in the European American society. She mainly went around with Asians or Asian Americans. Finally, she returned to Japan and wrote a book about her experiences in the U.S., focusing on situations of Asian Americans.

There is one interesting report in her book:
Once, a Japanese who had married a Russian American woman in Japan during the era of the Korean War went to New York to be personally employed by the United Nations. But, one day, he was exasperated by unjust treatment in a department he belonged to; so he quit the job and began to work as a taxi driver.

His wife got startled saying in real anger, "A taxi driver is the meanest job. A college graduate never becomes a taxi driver in New York!" Despite collapse of emotional ties in his family, the Japanese continued his work as a New York City cab driver until his death.

When the female Japanese author met the driver, while he was still alive, he told her various experiences as a taxi driver.

For example, one day a nice young lady got into his taxi car (though it is not clear if she was standing at Tiffany's). He said to her, "I know you because I often see the TV news program you host." She looked very much glad, according to the Japanese taxi driver in New York.
* * *

Probably, he was and is still the only New York City cab driver who has ever quit his job in the United Nations to proudly pursue his way as a taxi driver in New York, though living in a low profile and sacrificing his family.

I do not know whether he had encountered and driven Jesus Christ or His Angel, like a story in Genesis, even by chance in his decades as a taxi driver; but, he seems to have proved what Japanese were after WWII by following a Japanese teaching, in New York, that all honest trades are equally honorable.

I, myself, have never cracked a joke in a taxi in Tokyo. No jokes on Polish, either.


(I do not mind if you make jokes about Japanese. I am very much prepared for the situation. But, please do not entertain a taxicab diver too much if you have money enough to.)


"...Our Lord, Be Glory, Majesty, Might, and Authority, from All Ages Past and Now, and Ever and Forever...