How I Got Parenting Tips from Momoko Sakura's Essays
I have yet to encounter any essay collection that surpasses those written by Momoko Sakura.
"Momono Kandume" (Peach Canned), "Saru no Koshikake" (Monkey's Stool), "Tai no Okashira" (Sea Bream Head)—why are they so funny? I laugh every time I read them.
"Momono Kandume" was published in 1991. That was 34 years ago, when Momoko Sakura was 26. Isn't that incredible?
It's still so funny that it's hard to believe it was written 34 years ago. It even makes me feel like this humor might be universal.
The charm of Momoko Sakura's essays is impossible to fully describe, but what's especially interesting is her worldview, which is an exquisite blend of listlessness, cynicism, and humor. Her brilliant punchlines.
It's hard to find anything that compares to this.
Her stories about treating athlete's foot, counting bell crickets, or buying a suspicious sleep-learning pillow are so funny they make me laugh out loud.
How was she able to write such funny manga and essays?
There was an impressive episode in an essay titled "Days of a Slacker" included in "Tai no Okashira."
For seventeen years since I was born, I had never helped my parents with anything. For the ten-plus years until I graduated elementary school, I played wildly outside and would return home looking like a mud doll. When I got home, I would just eat and sleep.
Every day was just spent reading books I borrowed from her (a friend) or manga I bought myself, or watching romance game shows after I got home.
During the summer vacation of one such year, my mother's anger finally exploded.
I was lazy from morning till night, pursuing nothing but the pleasure of the cool sensation of the kitchen floor. I would crawl around the kitchen like a lizard all day, wandering in search of fresh coolness. Because I did that every day, I forgot to feed my pet budgie and it died. My Chinese pond turtle also died. I left the turtle's carcass as it was, so my grandmother had to reluctantly clean it up.
My mother called me over and began to plead with a serious face, asking me to please change that rotten, lazy heart of mine.
My mother let out a small, strained sound like "Kuu," and while sniffling, she cried, saying, "I shouldn't have given birth to such a child... I had such bad morning sickness I thought I was going to die... I gave birth to you at the risk of my own life... it's just pathetic."
I hadn't become a delinquent, nor was I violent at home, but just by being a "slacker," I had made my parent cry.
A few years after that, from the age of eighteen, I became a hard worker.
Momoko Sakura achieved her dream and became a super-popular manga artist.
My mother, who used to be so angry, has now become a completely gentle elderly lady, and she comes over to cook meals for me, saying, "You should rest a little."
The seventeen years I spent being lazy were me storing up energy to work after that.
"Storing up energy"—perhaps that really was the case.
If Momoko Sakura hadn't spent her childhood being lazy, her wonderful works would never have been born.
There is no doubt that Momoko Sakura's unique perspective and observational skills were born from this period of idleness.
You can tell by reading her other essays and "Chibi Maruko-chan." Momoko Sakura's laziness in childhood was the real deal. It was professional-grade. Lol
Once such a Momoko Sakura was able to do what she wanted, she said, "Every day is fun." And she became a hard worker as a busy, popular manga artist.
Even if it looks like they are just being lazy now, it might be that they are in the middle of storing up energy.
You never know when or where someone will blossom.
No one knows what will happen or how things will turn out.
Momoko Sakura's mother seemed to nag her, but I think that also lives on in works like Chibi Maruko-chan.
Providing warm meals and a place to return to, and letting them be carefree. A relationship where you can escape with a bit of sophistry even when scolded might actually be just right.