Imai Kazumi (65), a home appliance repair expert who boasts a 90% success rate for repairing any retro home appliance. The program has been following her for six years. This time, she goes to Thailand, where the repair culture is deeply rooted. The item requested is a "film projector" used for outdoor movies that the Thai repair expert had given up on. Will Imai be able to fix it? ■Home appliance repairman with a 90% success rate goes overseas Imai Kazumi, a home appliance repair expert who boasts a 90% success rate for repairing even home appliances that he has never seen before. The program has been following Imai solving difficult problems from all over the country for six years. This time, she finally answers an SOS from overseas! Imai: "It's Thailand. There are many people walking around who look a lot like me." Imai has come to Thailand, one of the world's most pro-Japanese countries, located about 4,300 kilometers from Japan. As soon as she arrives, Imai is surprised by a sight that she cannot see in Japan. Imai: "It's amazing that they do this (repair) from an outdoor stall." Lined up on the side of the road in the capital, Bangkok, are stalls that repair home appliances. More than 20 stalls are lined up along a 250-meter street. Repairman at the stall: "We've been doing this (repair) for over 20 years." Imai: "Do you specialize in electric fans?" Repairman at the stall: "Most of them." Imai: "I'd like to show this to the manufacturer's serviceman. He's trying his best to fix them. In Japan, they're always telling me to buy them." The idea that home appliances should be repaired and used for a long time, rather than replaced, is deeply rooted in the country. Repairman's customer: "You keep fixing it and using it until it breaks completely. My father still uses the refrigerator he bought when I was little." ■A desperate SOS Can it be fixed? A mysterious giant device This time, Imai received a desperate SOS from Thailand. We headed to a suburban town with a peaceful rural landscape, about an hour and a half drive from central Bangkok. There, a machine waiting for Imai was bigger than Imai's height. It was an American-made film projector that he bought second-hand more than 20 years ago. Imai: "Hehe, what a mysterious machine." Client Bright (46) "I started outdoor movies for the Thai people. There's not much entertainment here." Bright, who requested the repair, says that he runs an "outdoor movie" projector because he loves movies. He travels around the country, visiting parks and event venues around the country, screening 200 films a year. It's unique to Thailand, where the average annual temperature is 29°C. It has been a popular form of entertainment that can be enjoyed outdoors regardless of the season. However, about six months ago, it suddenly broke down. Bright: "I asked Thai repair experts, but they couldn't find the cause. I got into debt to start this business. I sold my car and everything. It was hard to get to this point." Just when he was at a loss, he found Imai and asked him to repair it. However, Imai, who went to Thailand with the program... Interpreter: "Have you ever repaired a projector like this?" Imai: "No, I've never seen one before." Interpreter: "First time?" Imai: "Not at all. It's a mysterious machine." Will they be able to meet Bright and his friends' expectations...? ■The projector is an important "partner" A friend of outdoor movies Bank (29) "I don't know why, but it won't stop rotating. It should stop rotating." The broken part was the part that rotates the lens that projects the image onto the screen. It should stop automatically and immediately according to the position of the film, but for some reason it kept rotating and couldn't stop. Imai: "What does it switch like this?" This is the first time Imai has seen a commercial film projector. First, we learn how it works from scratch. Imai: "This one rotates, right? What about this one? It's a magnet, it sticks to it. There are two switches that turn on when the magnet gets close. Why don't they turn on, or even if they do, the control device beyond that doesn't work?" Bright looks on as if praying. Bright: "Outdoor movies were my favorite entertainment when I was a child. It's always been my dream to do it as a job. In Thailand, movie theaters are becoming more digital, and film is being removed. The images are better here. They're more beautiful here." Bright says that as a child he was obsessed with outdoor movies held at a local temple. For Bright, who is particular about film movies, this projector is an irreplaceable and important "partner." Imai continues to search for the cause of the malfunction in silence. Before long, it becomes pitch black. Imai: "It could be that one of the parts on this board is defective." After a thorough investigation, he decides to take care of the board that seems most likely to be broken. The next day, he attempts to repair the board at the hotel. Imai: "They should all be connected. About four are broken. The short ones are broken." He repairs the broken wires with solder. Furthermore, the copper wires on the board were also broken. Then, he takes out something from the bag he brought from Japan... Imai: "Well, if you add a wire like this, it becomes a 'random wire'. Any wire that happens to be there is fine. As long as it's a wire that conducts electricity." The repair is complete for now. However. Imai: "This is the first time I've used this machine, so I won't know until I try it out. Let's go to the site." Will Bright's projector be repaired? Imai: "Okay, let's test it out with this." And sure enough... The broken part that had been spinning stopped in the exact right place. The repair was completed. Imai: "The mysterious machine is fixed." Everyone was overjoyed that it was fixed. Bright: "He's a genius. Imai's skills are like a god." That night, a screening was held to celebrate the restoration. The guests were local residents and Imai. Imai: "That's nice, outdoor movies are great. If they do it in Japan too, it'll be nice to watch it outdoors in the summer." This is the end of the matter, but in fact, Imai's repair trip to Thailand is not over yet. ■SOS continues, "The sound of a keepsake" revisited A year ago, Imai-san's unusual summer vacation was closely followed. The destination was Taketomi Island, a remote island in Okinawa. Islander: "There are no electronics stores. Even if you want to fix something, it's often impossible." He went to a remote island with no electronics stores to repair the home appliances of the islanders who were in trouble. Imai-san: "There are malfunctions that are unique to each place. It's good to have various experiences." Being able to experience repairs in a different environment than usual ignites Imai-san's craftsman spirit! And so... Imai-san: "There's something amazing for sale. Horseshoe crabs." While enjoying sightseeing, he asked the local interpreter to look for other requests, and he ended up in a house in Bangkok. What was waiting for him was a vintage audio device. It was a Japanese-made vacuum tube radio with a record player manufactured more than 60 years ago. The person who requested the repair was Prasert (59). Client Prasart: "It was in this house when I was old enough to understand. My father used to play it for me when I was little. I've been waiting for a chance to repair it someday." Prasart's father passed away five years ago. He loved listening to the radio and music, and this was a treasured memento. Prasart: "My father always taught me to take good care of things and keep using them as long as they can be used." He immediately began inspecting it. Imai: "The switch is broken." Prasart: "There's no sound when I turn it." The power switch is broken. Imai: "It's old, so that can't be helped. There are a lot of things. Let's do our best. Let's take it apart for now." When he looked inside the switch parts... Imai: "It's broken." The part that turns the power on was broken inside. Imai: "Well, after so many years, it probably snapped due to aging." He welded it back on firmly. And then... Imai: "It went in. The switch is fixed." However, it's quite an old item... There were creaks everywhere. Imai: "There's noise." The noise was caused by rust and dust that had built up inside over the years. Imai: "It's pitch black." He scraped off the rust with a cutter and thoroughly cleaned the fine dust with a spray. ■What to do? There are no parts in Thailand Imai was making steady progress with the repairs. But then he ran into a problem. The dial string for selecting the radio station had broken due to age. Imai: "If it was connected here it would turn, but... it's torn off and won't turn." Apparently, this was not something that could be substituted with ordinary string, so Imai hurried off to Bang Mo, an electronics district like Akihabara where you can find anything related to electrical appliances. Imai: "Thailand is amazing. Their electric fans are amazing. There aren't that many in Japan." He said that this is the largest and most diverse electronics district in Thailand, but... Interpreter: "The previous store said they barely have any left." Clerk: "No, no." "No." Imai: "I thought maybe they didn't." Dial strings for retro radios are hard to come by. Even Imai, who is a great person, is all over if he doesn't have the parts... Then. Imai: "I'll bring some from Japan." Wanting to repair it somehow for Prasert. In response to Imai's request, the program staff in Tokyo rushed to Imai's workshop in Mie Prefecture. There, there were thousands of parts that Imai had stocked over the years to respond to all kinds of repair requests. Dial strings for retro radios were certainly there. Imai: "Now, now, now, this, this." Back to Prasert. He skillfully winds the dial string that arrived. Imai: "It works." The repair is now complete. The sound of a local radio station was playing from the speakers. Perhaps Prasert's eyes were filled with the image of his father in his old days. Imai: "I'm glad it was fixed." Prasert: "I was happy to meet you, Imai." Even in Thailand, where old home appliances are repaired and reused, Imai's amazing skills have brought many smiles to people's faces. [TV Asahi News] https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp