Brought to you by Gifted Ones www.giftedones.net
Please do not stream or make profit from these subtitles.
Episode 257
At the end of February in 1956, two new cash registers
were brought to the new Tanokura store.
And new merchandise was also being brought in.
The customers place the merchandise
in these baskets and bring them to you.
The prices are already marked,
so you just punch in each purchase.
If the price is ¥145, you punch in ¥145.
If it's ¥86, punch in 86.
After all the purchases have been recorded,
you push the total key. Then, you get the total.
Do you understand?
It looks easy,
but we'd be in big trouble if we punch in the wrong key.
We'll just have to learn through practice.
Where's Michiko? I thought you called her.
She doesn't have to learn. She won't be in the store.
We might need her to fill in sometimes.
It's best if she learns now.
She says she's busy.
Can you come out to the store?
You want something done out there?
I'd like you to learn the operations of the store,
before we open up for business.
I thought my job was in the house.
You'll have to be ready to fill in when the need arises.
As a merchant's wife,
you have to be able to do everything.
It's best if you learned now,
before we're too busy with the grand opening.
If you have time to read,
please make the time to come out to the store.
Merchant wives aren't allowed to read magazines?
That's not what I'm saying.
It's just a good time for you to learn.
This isn't somebody else's store. It's yours!
Please show some enthusiasm.
Hitoshi says I don't have to work in the store.
If he's short-handed, he says he'll hire more people.
So you can't just order me out to the store.
You told Michiko that she didn't have to work in the store.
Why did you tell her that?
You were complaining to Michiko again?
But, she...
Her job is to keep the household in order!
That should be enough. She's a big help.
She has to mind you and Hatsuko every day.
If you make her work in the store on top of that, she'll get sick.
We can't have that, can we?
Hatsuko did both jobs very well.
And while I was raising you children,
I had to do all the housework and run the store, too!
Times have changed...
I'll handle Michiko, so stay out of it.
Every time you complain to her, she ends up taking it out on me.
I'm the one who has it the worst!
What are you doing?
Just polishing up the pot.
I think Michiko burned it and didn't clean it properly.
Again? Michiko never cleans up after herself.
I guess I'm just a little compulsive, that's all.
It's Michiko's job, so I should let her do things her way,
but I don't like sloppiness.
I'm sure she holds it against me.
Talking to her about it doesn't help.
She just gets upset.
Sometimes she will even talk back to me!
She grew up being pampered.
Back in my day,
the mother-in-law had the last word in everything.
I'm not saying that's good,
but the way Michiko does things makes me me wonder
what the world has come to.
It can't be helped.
It's the norm for young couples to live on their own.
It must be hard for her to have to live here with us.
Michiko doesn't have it easy here.
You have to under- stand her position.
I guess I'll just have to keep quiet about things
in order for things to go smoothly.
Michiko didn't come here to marry the Tanokura household, or you.
And if Hitoshi didn't side with her, she'd feel isolated.
That's what being husband and wife is all about.
I finally understand how Ryuzo's mother felt about me.
I'm just an unlucky mother-in-law,
stuck with a worthless bride.
Were you considered a worthless bride back then?
Yes.
She was against me marrying her son,
and I couldn't do anything to please her.
Then you should know better.
You have to try to be nicer to Michiko.
Then she'll surely come around.
I must be getting old if you have to lecture me.
I shouldn't have had any expectations.
I'm used to doing things for myself.
There's no reason why I can't run the store all by myself.
Starting tomorrow, Michiko will cease troubling me!
That's a lot of work. Putting price tags on everything.
Yeah, but without tags, the customers has no way
of knowing how much things are.
How do we sell fish and vegetables then?
Some vegetables can be sold self-service fashion,
but we might have to give up on a lot of our fish and produce.
We don't want to waste manpower on things
that don't generate that much profit.
We're a fish market. We have to sell fish!
We don't need to sell fish.
We'll cut costs and sell at a discount.
I'm sure we'll make it all up in volume sales.
So let's better our image by not selling fish at all.
Don't be silly.
The Tanokura store is doing as it's always done,
and maybe also pick up some other merchandise
we're putting in stock.
The fish and produce have to come first!
But, Mother...
I'll keep on selling fish and vegetables as always.
I'll buy it cheaper and sell it for less.
That's real service!
Then the store ceases being self-service.
You can't run a business by the book.
If you can't put a price tag on fish,
just write out the price on the wrapper
to be rung up on the cash register.
Who is going to do it?
Hatsuko and I will.
You and Hatsuko are supposed to be working the registers.
Selling fish and vegetables will increase personnel costs.
What's the use of having a self-service store
if you and Hatsuko insist on selling fish and vegetables?
And don't count on Michiko to help.
We'll just hire someone, and sell more to make up for it!
Mother!
Here.
Mackerel cooked in miso again?
I have to buy fish elsewhere now,
and this is the cheapest fish available.
One fish gives us four good pieces.
I know you are trying to save money, but...
With the money Mother gives me, this is the best I can do.
I'm sick of fish, too.
There are things other than fish you can use.
Tofu and other bean curd products are healthy.
And one can make variations with different kinds of inexpensive fish.
Hatsuko used to use sardines to make fishcakes and the like.
Fried fishcake with gobo and carrots.
They were good!
Sure. I can't cook!
But if I had more money to work with,
I could make better meals, too!
I don't want to be blamed
for not having the money to buy the ingredients I need.
You should get me more money!
You have no right to make me miserable like this.
Let's just drop it.
- Let's eat. - Let's eat.
Mackerel is really quite good.
When I was a child, mackerel was a real treat.
We'd be able to afford fish maybe once a year.
Stop talking like that!
Sure. People were poor in the old days.
And they could stand it because there was poverty all around them.
But times have changed!
We're wealthier now,
so you can't expect people to do without.
Michiko should be given more household money.
Before you go and tell us how poor you used to be,
just give Michiko more money!
I never want to hear your poverty stories again.
Those days are over for good!
Let's go, Michiko.
Once we start making money with the new store,
I'll never have you suffer like this again.
I'd like to have a housekeeper, too.
I didn't marry you to become a maid.
This is pathetic. Fighting over what we eat for dinner!
I guess I can't tell old stories anymore...
The times really have changed.
Perseverance doesn't hold the same meaning for people anymore.
Making money comes first.
I guess that's true...
Money does away with the need to persevere.
I grew up watching my mother and grandma suffer from poverty,
and I swore I'll never be poor.
That's why I was able to persevere.
I won't have my son's wife belittle me.
I'll earn more money, whatever it takes.
Oshin remembered this night for a long time.
The idea that money can make all things better
was to give Oshin an added incentive
to make her new store a success.
Translation: UTB Channel
Thanks to Avallac'h and XrayMind at D-Addicts.