The Night of the Full Moon After Finishing '3 Kilometers to the Moon'

Today, 1 hour of walking round trip and
a moon-viewing walk with my daughter after dinner, and
my usual stretching!

Oh, today is the night of the full moon!

In a group chat with friends for reporting exercise, I was told that today is the night of the full moon.

Just as I left the office, my phone pinged, and when I looked up, there was a beautiful full moon.

And today, with two stories left, I will finish reading Iyo-hara's short story collection, '3 Kilometers to the Moon'.

・3 Kilometers to the Moon (Hamamatsu)
・Star Snowflakes (Tokyo)
・How to Find Ammonites (Fumibetsu-cho, Hokkaido)
・Tennoji Hiatus (Abeno, Osaka)
・Alien's Cafeteria (Tsukuba)
・Carving the Mountain (Mt. Nikko-Shirane)
・The Newcomer's Fuji (Mt. Fuji)

I read the previous book, 'The One Who Inherits Indigo,' while in the car during a trip to Shikoku. There was a short story featuring Tokushima, and I took a photo with the scenery outside the window as the background, thinking, 'Oh, it might be around here.'

And today, on the night of the full moon, I thought the same thing again and took a photo as if holding it up to the moon.
I'm so predictable... haha

Painfully gentle

As I felt in 'The One Who Inherits Indigo,' just as nature happens naturally, misunderstandings between people and the sad events caused by those misunderstandings also happen naturally due to some mechanism, and no matter how sad they may be, there are things that cannot be helped.

Something like a trigger to accept those 'things that cannot be helped' appears like the laws of nature. It feels as if science unravels hard-to-accept facts into something easier to digest.

There is such an unavoidable sadness in Iyo-hara's stories, and because the people in the stories manage to accept it, it makes me cry.

'3 Kilometers to the Moon' is a clever mystery

When I was waiting for my niece for our ninth lesson, this was the book I was holding, and when I showed it to her after she asked what it was,

3 kilometers to the moon?
There's no way it's 3 kilometers!

she retorted.

That's true! But actually, there is a place in Shizuoka Prefecture that is 3 kilometers away! Isn't that strange? She seems to read books often. It's still a little early, but I'll lend it to her in about two years. Reading stories about adults that you don't quite understand while pretending you do is the most fun thing ever.

'Star Snowflakes' Friendship Romance

I hope this will be an opportunity for them to be free. To be released from the shackles of 'it must be this way,' and to spend fun time with people you like as human beings, in a natural way. Because there are human relationships that last forever precisely because they don't become a romantic couple, I think this kind of thing is truly a romance.

'How to Find Ammonites' I want Tomoki-kun to become stronger

My heart aches when I imagine the situation Tomoki-kun is in as if it were my own. He just wants to innocently keep working hard toward his goal, but that choice has a huge impact on the power balance between his parents. He can't choose, but does that mean he has no choice but to give up? It's extremely unreasonable, but it's not like someone else will fix it for him. Mr. Togawa, who doesn't directly reach out a hand, but just teaches him how to find ammonites (well, he doesn't even teach him much... haha).

If an ammonite can be found inside a large nodule that has been cracked open, I hope Tomoki-kun can also find something that helps him break through his own barriers.

'Alien's Diner': Fate is nothing more than coincidence.

Among this collection of linked short stories, this one is the most romantic. Just the idea of a customer who visits the diner every night at the same time, eating the same set meal on the same day of the week at the same pace before leaving, is intriguing and mysterious.

Suzuka-chan becomes convinced that this female customer is an alien (Prea-san from the Pleiades) who communicates with UFO-like flying objects, and despite her father trying to stop her, she can't contain her curiosity and ends up talking to her.

Just when you think it's a story about how the three of them will grow closer, you realize that Prea-san, as well as this father and daughter, have all drifted to this place called Tsukuba after going through so much. Opening the diner, and serving fish dishes with such care for ingredients and taste despite it being an inexpensive place and ignoring profitability, comes from a desire to fulfill the plans made with his late wife.

What's interesting is the reason why Prea-san never ordered the 'Daily Special,' which is the best value. It was because of a certain side dish. Her father thought she could easily be flexible about that, but if she had ordered something different every day, it might not have left such a strong impression.

It's not always best to say everything that's on your mind.

Gathering such small coincidences, in the end, the three of them are laughing while looking up at the night sky. It doesn't say what happens from here, but it was a wonderfully romantic ending.

'Don't say it all,' the old guy in 'Tennoji Hiatus'

'Tennoji Hiatus' is set in Osaka, and because it features a quintessential Osaka old guy, it was particularly interesting, poignant, and kind.

Those from the Kansai region will understand, but it really features that kind of old guy who is misunderstood but is actually a good person—the type who says, 'Don't say it all.' He's the kind of guy who is loved for being 'a handful!' (though he really is a handful). There's someone like that around me, or even close to my own family! Haha.

'Carving the Mountain': I was fooled by this one!

The combination of the volcanology professor and the graduate student is incredibly good, with them saying whatever they want. Such a relationship would be really difficult to have nowadays. You can't exactly say, 'That's academic harassment!' to someone who is engaging in power, sexual, or academic harassment.

I was most deceived by 'Carving the Mountain' in this short story collection. Ah, it's that common story where a full-time housewife, dissatisfied with her family who doesn't respect her work, resumes mountain climbing—a hobby from her youth—meets a wonderful man, and leaves everything behind to go to him...

Even though I knew Iohara-san wouldn't make it that straightforward, the story kept pushing forward in a way that made me think it had to be that.

However!

When it was over, it was a refreshing ending that made me appreciate the mountains anew, though it was by no means a guarantee that things would work out. As expected.

'The Newcomer Fuji': This person loves Mount Fuji.

Although it's a short story added for the paperback edition, it's interesting that the protagonist declares they hate Mount Fuji, which most people are captivated by.

There is no doubt about its title as Japan's number one. It's not the best in the world, but it is the best in this country. The protagonist says they dislike how that sense of dignity feels like it's threatening their own weaknesses.

Interesting.
By the very fact that they perceive Mount Fuji this way, this person is competing with Japan's number one mountain.
And then, by gaining a sudden piece of knowledge, they find a commonality between their own 'weakness' and Mount Fuji's, become kinder to the mountain, and that becomes a trigger for them to move forward (it doesn't explicitly say that, but I'm sure it did).

I wonder what respect really is.

It shouldn't mean being respectful and reserved and not saying what you think. Pretending to be polite and letting things slide because you think saying something would hurt the other person is actually looking down on them.

Like in Iyohara-san's novels, when I face someone, I want to face them as I would face something in nature—behaving without any ulterior motives, being returned to my natural state, and thinking, 'Well, of course.' I want to behave simply.