All I can think of is the Mobro 4000 "incident"?
but tbh that part also confuses me. Maybe it's a Japanese joke that can't really be translated.
well in my understanding, it's a small scow (think small boat, flat and long, steered by a pole), used to transport garbage down the river - not really the kind of job you'll take on to make a career (still neccessary and important, especially for growing cities)
It's a ship that hauls trash... Since he used the "Life Boat" reference which is meant to save life/rescue people... he used "Trash Barge" as the opposite which is a boat meant to haul trash/garbage across the coast... meaning that he is trash, collecting trash...
In the case of this story, Arima says that he played the part of a rescue ship when the count was talking to the "potato" looking girl. Arima then, later, refers to himself in the same nautical terms as a "trash barge". The first is looked upon with relief and elation where the second is something no one wants to see or is something to be hidden. Trash barges of the era only traveled at night so as to not disturb residents of river and seaside areas with having to see them. He calls himself a trash barge because not only is he seen as a wayward son by his parents, the count also thinks the rumours of his affairs are true. Later, when they both speak of the trash barge, they are referring to their love and their homosexual relationship being something that must be kept hidden.Like the trash barge, society knows that homosexuality exists, but they choose to hide or ignore it. It is quite an apt metaphor.
i read the whole thing and i still have no idea what a 'trash barge' is