I'm really looking forward to this challenge! There are different levels to choose from:
Hajime
- Read one book
Sheep Man
- Read 3 books
Toru
- Read 5 books
Nakata
- Read 7 books
Sumire
- Read 10+ books
Super-frog
- Read everything Murakami has written! (that is available in English, or your preferred language) For a list of the books available in English, visit the
Books Page
.
My goal is the Toru level of 5 books. I'll be happy if I reach Sheep Man of 3, though.
Books I want to read:
1Q84
Norwegian Wood
Kafka on the Shore
Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
A Wild Sheep Chase
I'll probably save at least 3 of them for Bellezza's Japanese Literature Challenge later in the year.
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 2009
My grade: A+
I had no idea what
Departures
was about when I chose it on Netflix instant view. I just knew it won Best Foreign Language Film and it was something about a cello player. I'm kind of glad I
didn't
know, because if I had I might not have watched it.
At the beginning of the film, Daigo lives with his wife in a beautiful apartment in Tokyo and is employed by an orchestra. The orchestra ends up disbanding, and Daigo must sell his cello and go back to the town where he grew up because he can't afford to live in Tokyo any longer. He returns to his childhood home that his mother left him after she died. As he's searching for a job in the classifieds, he notices an ad for 'assisting departures.' Thinking it's a travel agency, he applies. When he gets to the agency, the boss informs him it was a misprint and 'departures' should be 'the departed.' The job entails the Japanese tradition of preparing dead bodies for cremation. Needing the job and the money it provides, he reluctantly accepts.
I cannot begin to describe to you the beautiful ceremony of this Japanese custom, and it is all done directly in the presence of the deceased's family. The care with which the body is prepared astounded me. I was really taken by surprise with this film. Also beautiful was the cinematography. Just gorgeous scenes, and not just the snowy landscapes. The indoor shots were beautiful as well.
I highly recommend this film to anyone with an interest in Japanese culture or in foreign films in general. I really, really loved this one.
He first came to the Iris one day just before the beginning of the summer season.
I was really excited when I received
Hotel Iris
from Picador in the mail. I hadn't requested it, but because I loved
The Housekeeper and the Professor
so much last year, I knew I would want to read this one. The problem was, though, that I didn't know what it was about. It has a very different 'love story' -- one that didn't appeal to me at all.
Mari is a seventeen year old girl working at the front desk of her mother's hotel when she meets a middle aged man whose voice and manner intrigue her. As they get to know each other, it leads to a sexual relationship involving SM. It wasn't extremely graphic, but still just not my cup of tea nonetheless.
I still enjoy Ogawa's writing style and the translation was great, but I just didn't like the subject matter so unfortunately I was extremely disappointed. However, I'd still read another Ogawa novel -- I just would learn more about the storyline first.
"The place I like best in this world is the kitchen."
I didn't quite get to
Kitchen
for the
Japanese Challenge
, but I'm still glad I read it shortly afterwards. I liked the book, but I didn't love it.
Food and kitchens play a central role int he book, but it's essentially about two people finding their way through the grief process. Mikage has recently lost her grandmother, whom she lived with, and her friend Yoichi and his mother Eriko take her in. Yoichi ends up losing someone close to him as well, and the bond between the two of them becomes even closer.
Note: This book has been added as one of the new titles in the latest edition of the
1001 list
.
1988, 1993 for the English translation;
105 pp.
4/5
Bellezza
was a wonderful host for this second Japanese literature challenge, and I enjoyed this one as much as I did the first challenge.
My favorites were
The Housekeeper and the Professor
and
Fear and Trembling
.
Fear and Trembling
was not technically Japanese, but it was set in Japan and had a lot to say about Japanese culture. I loved both of these books! I also read two mangas, a Japanese vampire book, and a book by a Nobel laureate. I'm very happy with the books I read, and I continue to be very much interested in both Japanese books and movies. Thanks, Bellezza, and I look forward to the next challenge as well!
I absolutely loved
Fear and Trembling
. I actually watched
the movie
first and loved it as well. I must say it follows the book almost exactly. It's a fascinating study of the clash of cultures. The book is translated from the French, and the film is a combination of French and Japanese with English sub-titles.
In this short semi-autobiographical novel, Amelie Nothomb describes the experiences of 'Amelie' during her year at a Japanese corporation. Amelie is smitten with Japan, knows the language, and is ecstatic that she obtained a corporate position as a translator in the country where she was born. The job is not all she hoped, but she tries her best to stick out her position the way a Japanese person would. I found this book (and movie) to be truly fascinating. Nothomb obviously loves Japan and Japanese culture, but even she finds that the differences of East and West are sometimes difficult to overcome.
In speaking of the Japanese woman:
"It is best to avoid any kind of physical pleasure because it is apt to make you sweat. There is nothing more shameful than sweat. If you gobble up a steaming bowl of noodles, if you give in to s*xual craving, if you spend the winter dozing in front of the fire, you will sweat. And no one will be in any doubt that you are coarse.
The choice between sweat and suicide isn't a choice. Spilling one's blood is as admirable as spilling sweat is unspeakable. Take your life, and you will never sweat again. Your anxiety will be over for all eternity."
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (
John 13:34-35
,
ESV
)
