Two providential opportunities pushed him toward Fukienese. In one, the Asahi Shimbun needed a Fukienese person able to use both Chinese and Japanese to compile Amoy terms for a series on Asian liguistics.
「冥冥中有兩次機會安排調查福建及廣東的地方誌、作目錄並撰寫閩語系台灣方言的概況」，吳守禮說，一次是在東方文化研究所時，朝日新聞準備出版一套亞細亞語學叢刊，希望找一位兼通中、日文的閩南人負責廈門話的編纂，而他正符合這樣的條件。