Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (3-c) : 人生初めての長旅 - ヨーロッパそしてイスラエル（3）

イスラエルのキブツ訪問の続きです。

On my sister’s Kibbutz, they produced grapefruit for export to Europe, milk (They had a dairy farm.), and grindstones (abrasive products). My sister worked in the clothing and seamstress section. She made towels and mended work clothes. Years later, those abrasive products were my competitor against the Japanese company I was working for. I frequently saw them at exhibitions around the world. I would visit their booth, talk to the Israeli person there and explain that I visited them decades ago. The Kibbutz is called Kibbutz Sarid and near Haifa They were kind enough to explain how their Kibbutz had changed over the years.

Bonnie met her husband (Julian) there on that Kibbutz. He was from South Africa and worked in the dairy. So, Julian would wake up at 03:00 AM to go milk the cows.

I was in Israel for a month, about two weeks in the Kibbutz and the rest of the time traveling around the country. I had no idea at that time that I would have the chance to make repeated trips to the country years later for work, providing sales training to Isuzu Motors dealership salesmen there. I saw the Golan Heights in the north and all the way down to Sharma Shek in the South. At that time, Sharma Shek was part of Israel, but it was returned to Egypt years later in a peace agreement. I found the country fascinating.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (3-ｂ) : 人生初めての長旅 - ヨーロッパそしてイスラエル（２）

カナダに行ってきました。滞在中、阿部元総理死去の速報がありました。



日本ではコロナの感染が急拡大。第7波？と大騒ぎですが、カナダやアメリカでは、コロナ関連のTVニュースはほとんどなし。

ちなみに、カナダのコロナ新規感染者数は一日あたり3千人強。人口が38百万人ですので、日本の人口規模でいうと約1万人。

飛行機の中と空港以外では、ほとんど誰もマスクせず。もう終わっています。

日本はWHOが「風邪と同じ扱いでいいです」というのを待っているのでは。自分で決断できないので混乱！？





では、本題にもどります。ロンさん、当時、妹さんがイスラエルにいたそうで・・・・・・

キブツ（kibbutz）と日本式経営の共通点！

From London, I flew to Israel to visit my sister, Bonnie. When I was studying in San Jose, Bonnie decided to save up her money and live on a Kibbutz in Israel to learn more about the Jewish religion and the Hebrew language. She went to work on a Kibbutz that specializes in teaching the religion. Kibbutz is Israel’s way of setting up protective communes. The Kibbutz’s set up businesses (mostly agricultural and manufacturing operations), have schools, dormitories, cafeterias, medical clinics, and a wide range of recreational facilities. There are sports teams, social activities and a wide range of studies. Depending on the type of business they are in, there are rich Kibbutz and poor Kibbutz. The one thing common among all is that the pay is very low, but you have all the necessities of life. Some Israelis love that type of life, some hate it. This concept has even been exported with Israelis going overseas, setting up business and asking their home Kibbutz to lend them contract workers. Here again, the overseas operation takes care of everything, but the pay is very low, quite often below minimum wage. The Chinese have done similar types of activities to get cheap labor in their restaurants in many countries outside of China. Also, I guess you could think of them as the business model that many Japanese companies set up after World War II when they set up dormitories for employees because many people lost their homes. The company provided full living support.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (3-a) : 人生初めての長旅 - ヨーロッパそしてイスラエル（１）

メキシコから帰国し、イスラエルとヨーロッパの旅に・・・・・・・

Shortly after returning from Mexico, I traveled to Israel and Europe for the first time. Those were the days when college students would hitchhike from country to country with a pack on their back. So, I borrowed a pack, bought a discount air ticket, and a Euro-pass train ticket for one month, and I was ready to go. I remember the Euro Pass was US$85. Today, it is over US$300. I could take night trains and sleep on the train and not have to go to a hotel to save money.

First, I flew to London and spent four days with Jimmy Chan whom I mentioned in Chapter #2. He was at the London School of Economics at that time working on a PhD in Mathematics as I said. At his place, I took a bath in the smallest bath I’ve ever seen in my life. Also, he gave me good directions on what to see and how to get around on the “Tube” or “Underground” as they say. For us in the USA, it’s a subway. In those days my vocabulary was improving too. I learned what a “WC” was. I learned that “being pissed,” means being drunk in England, not angry (as an American would think) and many other important terms.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (2-ｌ) : サンノゼのシェアハウスの仲間たち（７）

悲しい知らせとメキシコ旅行、そこで見たもの。それは貧しい国、しかし、米国よりも安全・・・・・・・

Then, disaster struck. One day, I came in late from my security job at the refrigeration plant to be surrounded by policemen and a lot of sad, crying faces. I think it was Bill Minkel, another roomer who gave me the bad news. Bill Minkel, Ken Holden, David Koppel and several others in the house were also from Mountain View. On weekends, Ken Holden would hitchhike home to be with his family. Well, evidently a murderer picked him up. He was killed brutally, and his body was found in the mountains in the area. That was my last semester just before graduation, and I was going through final tests at the time.

The atmosphere in the Roger Williams house would never be the same. David Pool, another person in the house had an old camper, and we just wanted to get away. So, about 5-6 of us took off for Mexico. That was in February 1971.

Going to Mexico was my first experience outside the United States. I had a close feeling for Mexico though growing up in California where many people originally from there, like our neighbors the Osegueda’s. We drove down the Pacific Coast and finally stopped just past Mazatlan, Mexico. I think the last city we stayed in was San Blas, Mexico. We loved not only the warm weather but the people as well. Also, I was very surprised to see children playing outside very late at night. In spite of it being a poor country with hustlers, prostitutes and poor sanitation, the people seemed safe, even the women and children at all hours of the night. That was a first for me.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (2-ｋ) : サンノゼのシェアハウスの仲間たち（６）

身近に迫るベトナム戦争の影・・・・・・

As the Vietnam War was still raging, we were all susceptible to go to fight. Then, came the lottery, which was the newest selection method for drafting men to enter the US Army, training them as solders and sending them off to Vietnam to fight. In the system, there were 365 numbers, one number for every day of the year. The higher the number, the less likely you would go.

Well, I got the number 108, a sure number to be drafted. That was a real blow, as I hated fighting and hated even the smallest of guns. So, I joined whatever military reserve unit I could get into to avoid going to Vietnam. That was a six-year obligation though. I felt that would be much better than two years in the active Army and a chance of being killed.

Anyway, I found an Army Reserve training unit right in San Jose. I signed up for whatever specialty they had available, and there was only one assignment open to me, drill sergeant! That is the instructor that is always yelling at recruits. So, I could peacefully, carry on with my studies, do my security guard job and go to my monthly US Army Reserve meetings without being killed.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。