"What did I read yesterday?" 7/28/2024 (Sun) - 8/1 (Thu)

Returned to Sendai. I spent a relaxing 3 days and 2 nights reading a lot of books. I ate plenty of vegetables, and I feel like I've become healthier... or is that just an illusion? I also talked with a friend from high school until I was out of breath.

"All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me" 7/27/2024 (Mon)

"What did I read yesterday?"

The weekend I returned to Sendai. I read about seven books, feeling moved by how perfect my parents' house is for reading. Among them, this one left a particularly strong impression. The moment I finished reading it, I exclaimed, "Wonderful!" and my parents were startled.😂

"All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me" (by Patrick Bringley, translated by Yoshiaki Yamada / Shobunsha)

After his brother fell ill and passed away at 26, the younger brother headed to a place where the world's beauty gathers---.

A documentary by an author who chose to do monotonous work in a beautiful place while carrying the sense of loss of losing a loved one. It covers how art and beauty affect the human heart, the origins and ways to enjoy museums, and the interactions between people who work at and visit museums. It is a wonderful book that makes you deeply feel, "Ah, art is great." Once you read it, you will surely want to go to a museum next weekend.

I think that the energy and healing that art releases, and what the space of a museum brings, can sometimes be effective for emotional wounds. I remembered the trembling of my heart I felt when I visited the Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki during a business trip when I was exhausted from work (or is it always?). Come to think of it, at the beginning of Maha Harada's "The Canvas of Paradise", there is a part where the protagonist (a guard at the Ohara Museum of Art) asks herself if perhaps the profession that faces art most purely is that of a museum guard...

For those who love museums, this is a book you surely won't regret. I hope you will pick it up.📚

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"In My Sixties, Invited by Kimono" 7/29/2024 (Mon) Book Read

"What did I read yesterday?"

Tokyo is especially hot this week, isn't it?💦

I really dislike summer. Perhaps as a form of escapism, my heart has already flown off to autumn. Now, how shall I wear a kimono when it gets cool...?

I haven't even put on my new yukata yet, no, I haven't even received it, so I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?😂 But it can't be helped. Once I read this, my head is already full of thoughts about kimonos! (Ah, this is also an escape from work, I suppose)

"In My Sixties, Invited by Kimono (For Adults: Towards "The Me I Want to Be")" (by Chizuru Misago / Akishobo)

Ms. Misago says she started living in kimono in her mid-40s. As a professor at Tsuda University, she reportedly stands at the podium wearing a kimono every day. If I had a teacher like that, I'd be following her around!

I love her book "Kimono is Very Good for the Body", which chronicles her kimono life, so I was excited to read this one, which feels like a sequel. Ms. Misago's kimono essays aren't about intense obsessions or desires; they feel very natural, comfortable, and just wonderful. 🥰 (Though I do love those intense kimono essays too!)

What left an impression on me this time was Ms. Misago's longing for Okinawa. It's a place she has deep ties to, as her father once worked there, and she herself spent time researching at the University of the Ryukyus. And finally, Ms. Misago takes the plunge and moves there.

Speaking of Okinawa, it has deep ties to kimono, such as Bashofu, Minsa weaving, and Ryukyu Kasuri. (I even have a Minsa-woven half-width obi! 😆)

In the scene where she wears an "ushinchi kimono" (a way of wearing a kimono without an obi)—something she had long admired—to a restaurant in Minami-Aoyama in the height of summer, I could picture Ms. Misago sitting across from her student in her cool, refreshing attire. I felt deeply, "Ah, kimono really is wonderful... I want to wear kimono in my own way, too."

Well then, maybe I'll go consult the proprietress about my next kimono this weekend. ♪

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"Hints for Resting." Book read on 7/31/2024 (Wed)

"What did I read yesterday?"

"Even if you're told to take a break."

A bitter smile and a sigh escape my lips as I think, 'Exactly.' Even if you're told to take a break, right?

My stress tolerance is probably on the lower side among people in my world, and I'm not the type who can push myself to the limit, so I stop before things get truly painful. I read plenty of humanities and business books, so I'm showered with arguments about resting more, finding balance, and protecting one's mental health. Often, I end up feeling like, 'That's so true, when things are tough you have to rest, let's build a society like that' 👍.

But you know, I understand the reality of things very well, too.

In the real world, people who take breaks are looked at twice with the question, 'Are you sane?'

You get grilled in a meeting room: 'Can you prove with evidence that your "break" is different from slacking off? ASAP.' Even if I try to convince myself that it's fine, that I'll live without worrying about such things, I sometimes bleed out from being pierced by the gaze that asks, 'Have you lost your mind?' If I'm going to be subjected to such embarrassment, wouldn't it be better to work until I collapse and die a glorious death? (Shudder 🥶

Thinking about all that, I enjoyed reading "Hints for Resting." (Edited by Gunzo Editorial Department / Kodansha).

It's a collection of contributions from 34 people—popular authors, critics, essayists, manga artists, etc.—on the theme of 'how to rest.' Literary critic Kaho Miyake highly recommended it, saying, 'None of the people who appear in it are actually resting!' and she was absolutely right. 😂

Resting, when broken down, is actually a complex accumulation of difficult decisions. And perhaps it's something that can't be done without a strong mentality that doesn't worry too much about other people's standards. That heavy concept of 'what it means to rest'—if you can't rest before your mind and heart die, it just doesn't work, does it?

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Books read on 8/1/2024 (Thu): "The Profession of a Novelist"

"What did I read yesterday?"

One of the few joys of a weekday is the lunch break. I get a little down if I can't even take that... Even if overtime is going to run long, I'm in the camp that wants to take a proper lunch break.

It would be perfect if I could go to a bookstore after lunch, but it seems the bookstore nearest to my workplace is closing for renovations starting this month... 😳 Standing in front of the notice, I could practically see the sound effect "BAM!" floating above my head. (I saw it through the glass

I was reading this while in that "BAM!" state. It's a new book written from a unique perspective by author Hiroshi Mori about the profession of being a novelist.

"The Profession of a Novelist" (Hiroshi Mori / Shueisha)

I read on the note of Keiya Iwai, who was recently a candidate for the Naoki Prize, that Hiroshi Mori's "The Income of a Writer" is his bible as a novelist. (I love Keiya Iwai's note.) I read that first, and this was next. Hiroshi Mori is cool as ever. He doesn't break the public image of being a quintessential science-type teacher. No, that's just Mori-san's personality.

Mori-san writes clearly that the reason he started creating was "to earn money," and he writes with that premise in mind. All his behavioral patterns and beliefs are consistent; there's no self-indulgence. Before even liking or disliking it, it feels good to read. I wish I could work like this too.

There are many books on writing by writers, but it's different from, for example, Haruki Murakami's "Novelist as a Profession", Stephen King's "On Writing", or Amy Yamada's "My Drifting Words". Being a writer really is a different job for everyone, isn't it?

The content was a bit too cool for my current weak self, but the message "You have to create your own freedom" was what hit me the most. I will create my own freedom.

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