Seasick
When Taro Yamada was a senior majoring in Chinese history, he chose “The Battle of the Red Cliff[1]” for his graduation thesis. It was fought in AD 208 between the southern warlord Sun Quan[2] and the northern warlord Cao Cao[3]. Yamada did a lot of research reading books concerning the battle. He even went to China to visit the Red Cliff, located on a branch of the Yangtze[4] in the Hubei[5] Province.
Arriving at the office of Hubei Province, Yamada told an office employee why he was visiting, she said, “Let me introduce you to one of the descendants of Sun Quan, named Zhou[6].” According to her, they were living a water-based life from birth to death on Lake Honghu[7]. They bartered necessities and food in exchange for the fish they caught. About 20 children went to an elementary school built on a raft.
When Yamada telephoned Zhou about his visit, he said, “I am glad if I could be of any help, but please bring seasickness medicine.”
“All right,” Yamada said, thinking Zhou was worrying about him becoming seasick.
The next day, he reached his house on the water. It was just like a tiny apartment.
Zhou talked about how the battle was fought, how his ancestors used fire to destroy the Cao Cao’s boats, and about the commander, Zhou Yu[8].
After talking for about twenty minutes, he asked Yamada whether he had seasickness medicine.
“Yes, I took some before coming here,” Yamada said.
“Good. Could you give me some?” Zhou said.
“All right, but why do you need the medicine?”
“Because my second son will enter junior high school on land tomorrow. My first son had terrible land-sickness two years ago. I went to the shore to buy some medicine yesterday, but they were all sold out.”
