If you live in Japan long enough, various shipwrecks of odd jobs will float your way. For example, a short while ago I was asked to do some translation work regarding . . . fish.
Which is funny enough. But the bigger joke is my translation ability. After residing here almost forever, one would think I would have a whale of talent in that regard. Yet, in the growing ocean of translators, I swim with the minnows.
Therefore, I usually decline such work. Yet, this time the request came from a good friend of a good friend. Japan is a fishnet of harmony and one thing I have learned in living here almost forever is that one does not knot things up. When the "friend dominoes" fall and you are the last in line, you must topple too. Or they might not fall at all when the next task — perhaps a plum — is also set in motion. Not to mention that dominoes can fall both ways.