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Indelible impressions

Photo: S. Gopakumar

India first-hand Yoshiaki Shiraishi will carry a lot of colourful memories when he returns to Japan

When Yoshiaki Shiraishi, Chairman of Terumo Penpol, bids sayonara to Kerala he would return to Tokyo with a kaleidoscope of indelible impressions. But the predominant one would be of children going to school in the morning.

Speaking with the help of an interpreter, Shiraishi says, “You see them everywhere – in crowded buses, autorickshaws, cars and two-wheelers. Dressed in colourful uniforms and loaded with heavy bags, their smiling faces are a pleasure to watch. I feel these youngsters are the strength of India. We don’t see so many children in Japan.”

He says he has also acquired a taste for Indian music. Drumming his fingers on the table, he explains that it was the rhythm of the percussion instruments that first appealed to him. “It sounds like our heartbeat.”

He says with a broad smile that as soon he came to know that he was going to work in India, he started reading up on India and the people. “I was a little anxious about the heat, language and food,” he admits.

His one-year-stay in the city has now acclimatised him to the weather, food and so on. “I found the food very spicy. So I cook on weekends. Although the menu is rice and vegetables, the rice we have is different. It is harder and sticky. Moreover, for Sushi and Sashimi, the seafood has to be very fresh,” he explains.

But what completely puzzles him is the traffic. “It scares me. I have seen families crammed on two-wheelers. It is dangerous,” he says. Although he knows driving, he prefers to be in the back seat as the sight of vehicles weaving in and out unnerves him.

His work leaves him little time for sightseeing. But he recalls with pleasure the boat race he managed to watch.

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