Kaiji hears about his brother’s bath-time singing
When Kaiji called his mother, she had news about his older brother’s four-song routine in the bath.
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Comedian Kaiji (快児) recalls a phone conversation with his mother about his older brother. “Kimigayo” is Japan’s national anthem.
A call to Mom
Kaiji here. My older brother is something else.
There was always something funny going on, so I’d call Mom and ask, “How’s my brother doing?”
On one of those calls, she told me he’d been singing four songs at the top of his voice every time he took a bath.
“Four songs? At full volume?”
“Yes, but that’s fine. The first one is ‘Kimigayo.’”
“Having everyone outside hear him belt out ‘Kimigayo’ is pretty embarrassing…”
“No, ‘Kimigayo’ is fine. It’s just that he goes a half step off from the second phrase.”
Apparently, what embarrassed her was everyone hearing him sing out of tune. That is an awfully precise complaint, Mom.
She said she’d gone next door to apologize.
“I’m so sorry. My son’s been singing these four songs, and he really goes for it. He’s decided he takes his bath at exactly seven thirty. All that noise, every day at seven thirty…”
And, according to Mom, the neighbor replied:
“Oh, that’s all right. When my husband and I hear the singing, we say, ‘Oh, it’s seven thirty already!’”
So he’d turned out to be useful as a time signal…
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