Shimada and His “Top Curry” Restaurant

By Zhou Xianxian

“I feel happy for the first few days when I come back and eat delicious food in Japan, but after several days, my spirits will sink, and I’ll be eager to get back to Wuhan,” Mr. Shimada said with a smile on his face.

Shimada Kouji, 71 years old, is from Fukuoka, Japan. He began to travel around the world at the age of 35 and has visited a lot of places. Eight years ago, he decided to settle in Wuhan because he liked the greenery and fresh air here which were similar to that of his hometown. What’s more, he liked the local people who were friendly to him, and he felt at ease while living here.

Mr. Shimada opened a curry restaurant named “Top Curry” in Wuhan. Because of the taste and affordable price, as well as the free Japanese lessons that he offers in the evening,his restaurant is popular among the youth, who prefer to affectionately call him “Grandpa Dao”(“Dao” is the short form of Daotian, the Chinese translation of Shimada). Grandpa Dao, growing old and having no child, doesn’t need much money, so his restaurant is not for making a fortune. For him, it’s great to communicate with young people, and he believes that, in this way, he can always be full of energy and happiness.

島田和他的“頂屋咖喱”

文/周獻(xiàn)獻(xiàn)

“我回日本的頭幾天，能吃到好吃的會(huì)很開(kāi)心，但過(guò)不了幾天就會(huì)沒(méi)精打采，然后就想回武漢”,島田先生笑著說(shuō)道。

島田是日本福岡人，今年71歲，35歲開(kāi)始游歷世界，去過(guò)很多地方，八年前選擇留在中國(guó)武漢。他說(shuō)武漢綠化好，空氣清新，和福岡很像，更重要的是，這里的人很友好，住這里安心。

島田在武漢開(kāi)了一家咖喱店——“頂屋咖喱”，美味實(shí)惠，每天晚上還有免費(fèi)的日語(yǔ)教學(xué)，來(lái)吃飯的年輕人很多，他們都親切地稱他“島爺爺”。島爺爺說(shuō)，他開(kāi)店不是為了賺錢(qián)，年紀(jì)大了，又沒(méi)孩子，也不需要什么錢(qián)，能夠和年輕人接觸交流，他覺(jué)得有活力，非常幸福。

島爺爺?shù)牡杲唤o店主丹子打理。丹子，武漢本地人，是一個(gè)帶點(diǎn)文藝范的90后姑娘，和島爺爺認(rèn)識(shí)已經(jīng)四年多。島爺爺不會(huì)講中文，丹子日語(yǔ)專業(yè)畢業(yè)，和島爺爺交流沒(méi)有什么障礙，兩個(gè)人一起研發(fā)新品，還時(shí)不時(shí)地用日語(yǔ)開(kāi)玩笑，像朋友，更像家人。

除了咖喱店的事和日語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)會(huì)，島爺爺多在家看書(shū)、下圍棋，很少出門(mén)。丹子有空就帶島爺爺看畫(huà)展、話劇。兩人都很隨性，出去旅游時(shí)也不做計(jì)劃，坐上公交車(chē)，從起點(diǎn)到終點(diǎn)，中間有想看的就下車(chē)。過(guò)年過(guò)節(jié)，丹子還會(huì)帶島爺爺回家，體驗(yàn)中國(guó)百姓人家的節(jié)日氛圍。

島田（右）和丹子 Mr. Shimada (right) and Dan

Mr. Shimada entrusts his restaurant to a local post-90s girl named Dan who is fond of literature and art. She has been employed by Grandpa Dao as the manager of his restaurant for more than four years. Grandpa Dao can’t speak Chinese, but Dan, majoring in Japanese,can communicate with him in Japanese fluently. Thus, they often work together and discuss how they can develop new menus,and sometimes they also make jokes in Japanese. They look like friends and family too.

When not running his business or giving Japanese lessons,Grandpa Dao usually stays at home reading or playing Go,rarely going out. When Dan is free, she will bring him with her to art exhibitions and dramas. Both are free of other commitments,so once they decide to travel, they just take a bus from the departure station to the terminal station.As such, when there is something attractive outside the window,they will get off. Additionally,Dan often invites Grandpa Dao to spend Chinese festivals with her and her family.

When asked about life in Dan’s hometown, Grandpa Dao gets very excited and describes vividly all he saw and heard.Dan’s home is in the countryside,where cicadas can be heard in summer and dogs and roosters can be heard at dawn. Grandpa Dao imitated these voices with extraordinarily high and delightful tones. He said he felt extremely moved when he heard them. In winter, he saw there was a wood-burning stove and insisted on boiling coffee by making a fire,despite the fact that there were modern domestic appliances.“Before the water boils,” he said.“I just watch the burning fire and smell the fragrance of firewood. I really enjoy it.”

Grandpa Dao is always ready to resolve customers’ problems with patience, so his “Top Curry”is regarded as another “Namiya General Store.” Now, it is becoming difficult for this aging old man to answer customers’questions and teach Japanese on his own. Sometimes, Dan, will communicate with customers on his behalf. Then she translates their conversations to Grandpa Dao and he usually praises her,saying, “Wow, excellent! I didn’t think about that at all. Good job!Good girl!”

To others’ eyes, Dan is like Mr.Shimada’s daughter, but for him,sometimes she is more like his mother. Dan not only manages his curry restaurant but also takes care of him in daily life. Mr.Shimada has a good disposition and he can’t speak Chinese, so he would sometimes be tricked and suffer losses. Once Dan was informed of such a slight, and she confronted the dishonest person directly and demanded justice for Mr. Shimada. Grandpa Dao who was protected behind her attempted to stop her and said in a low voice, “Well, it’s all right.Come on!” He remarked that he felt very happy when he was like a child being protected by his mother.

Grandpa Dao likes China because he is deeply affected by the kindess and warm care from the locals. Due to his poor Chinese, he doesn’t have many friends in China, and he has become acquainted with many of them just in the restaurant or in Japanese lessons. Although they have little contact in daily life, these friends will give him a hand when he is in need. Some even come to visit him from other provinces, which moves him very much.

Grandpa Dao’s Top Curry,which was once relocated, has developed into two restaurants in 2016, still run by Dan. What is most interesting is that both restaurants were completed and opened after Dan became pregnant, so she said jokingly that she gave birth to three children:her son and the two restaurants.She hopes all of them can grow healthily. No matter what, Top Curry will always be there, and she will make sure they are brought up right.

島田在日語(yǔ)交流會(huì)后與同學(xué)們合影 After a free Japanese lesson, Mr. Shimada took photos with students from different countries

談及在丹子家的經(jīng)歷，島爺爺非常興奮，繪聲繪色地描述他的所見(jiàn)所聞。丹子家在鄉(xiāng)下，夏天能聽(tīng)到蟬鳴，黎明時(shí)能聽(tīng)到雞鳴狗吠，島爺爺用格外高的聲調(diào)模仿這些聲音，說(shuō)自己聽(tīng)到這些會(huì)莫名地感動(dòng)。冬天，他見(jiàn)丹子家里有燒木柴的爐子，非要自己生火煮咖啡。看著燃燒的火焰，聞著木柴的香味，等待水的沸騰，他很享受這個(gè)過(guò)程。

島爺爺總是耐心地幫陌生人解決困擾，因此也有人說(shuō)他的“頂屋咖喱”像“解憂雜貨鋪”。現(xiàn)在島爺爺年紀(jì)大了，身體不太好，答疑、教學(xué)不像以前都親力親為，丹子有時(shí)替他和客人溝通，之后再翻譯給島爺爺聽(tīng)。“哇，好厲害啊!這一點(diǎn)我都沒(méi)想到呢，做得好！做得好！”島爺爺經(jīng)常會(huì)這樣夸丹子。

在外人看來(lái)，丹子像島爺爺?shù)呐畠海趰u爺爺看來(lái)，丹子有時(shí)更像他的“媽媽”。丹子除了打理咖喱店，還照顧島爺爺日常生活。島爺爺脾性很好，又不懂中文，時(shí)不時(shí)會(huì)吃虧。丹子知道了，就會(huì)找上門(mén)和人家理論，島爺爺被她護(hù)在身后，一旁小聲勸著：“哎呀，好了，好了啦！”他說(shuō)，這個(gè)時(shí)候，自己就像被媽媽保護(hù)的小孩，感覺(jué)很幸福。

島爺爺喜歡中國(guó)，說(shuō)他在這里感受到了自然的關(guān)懷和樸素的溫暖。因?yàn)檎Z(yǔ)言問(wèn)題，他朋友不多，大部分是在店里和學(xué)習(xí)會(huì)上認(rèn)識(shí)的。這些朋友雖然平常聯(lián)系不多，但是在需要的時(shí)候都會(huì)伸出援手，有一些外地的朋友還特意來(lái)看他，他非常感動(dòng)。

島爺爺?shù)摹绊斘菘о苯?jīng)歷過(guò)拆遷、重新選址，2016年后發(fā)展為兩家，都是由丹子負(fù)責(zé)。巧的是，它們都是在丹子懷孕后建好營(yíng)業(yè)的，所以她笑稱自己生了三個(gè)寶寶——自己的兒子，還有這兩家咖喱店。她希望這三個(gè)寶寶都能夠健康成長(zhǎng)，哪怕島爺爺以后不在了，“頂屋”還會(huì)在，她會(huì)為了島爺爺好好經(jīng)營(yíng)，一直開(kāi)下去。