Totto-chan

Towards the last three months of 2017, I've glued myself to the telly every afternoon between 12.30 pm to 12.45 pm. After Kuroyanagi Tetsuko afternoon talk show, it's the daily drama Totto-chan.
Kuroyanagi Tetsuko is the writer of Madogiwa no Totto-Chan or the English translated version The girl by the window.

The daily drama is about Totto-Chan which is not written in the book. Actually, it is a biography of Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (the writer). It started with the romantic love story of Totto-chan parents. The meeting of her father (a violinist) and her mother (a chorus singer). Totto-chan's mother was disowned by her family for marrying a violinist. How the couple go through a poor living condition as the violinist husband is not paid for playing in concert. Totto-Chan is born as a talkative and inquisitive girl. In fact, she was suspected of having a light autism syndrome but at that age, the medical condition in Japan has still not been able to recognise such malady.
The book started when Totto-Chan had to change to Tomoe School (the classroom in a train coach). The book did not get into how Totto-Chan's life changed during the WW2. Her father was called up by the military. Left hungry and undefended with her mother in war-tormented Tokyo, the mother decided to move to the countryside to get away from the bombings.

When the war was declared over, they moved back to Tokyo. Coming back from the war, the father continued as a violinist.
Totto-Chan took up an interview with NHK (Japan's television company) and successfully passed through. Within a couple of years, she becomes a celebrated tv personality. When she changed to another tv company, she is given a slot every lunchtime to interview other celebrities.
She had a romantic link with a pianist from French. She rejected his marriage proposal as she wants to concentrate on her tv career. They meet secretly at every chance when both are out of work obligations.
You may be wondering if they get married at last, but I'm a cruel person. AM NOT TELLING ~la~la~la~
Anyway, what you read in that small book is only a small part of her life. By the way, Kuroyanagi Tetsuko is still doing the talk show daily with TV Asahi now.
(4 Jan. 2018).
Originally Kuroyanagi was not a writer. She started her career as an actress. Upon insistent from her pianist lover to write about her life at the school in the train coach, she agreed to write. The book Madogiwa no Totto-Chan became instant bestsellers at that time. Even now the bookshops all over Japan still stock it.

Good thing I followed the drama daily for 3 months.

This is the link to the drama and the singer who wrote and sing for the theme song of the drama. Kuroyanagi Tetsuko keeps her onion hairstyle since she started the talk show 60 years ago.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZsmdHIumrY

*****

Japanese Book Scene.

1.  Saw this movie on Christmas Eve 2017. Left a lasting impact on my mind after watching it. A novella by Matsumoto Seicho called Kichiku. (The Demon).

Having no more financial support from her lover, the man's mistress dumped their 3 kids at his home. Out of her hatred for the mistress, the man's wife ordered him to kill off the kids one by one. The anguish of a man planning to kill his own children is mentally sickening. The book and movie are only in Japanese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon_(1978_film)

This book was written 80 years ago. To attract young readers, they made it into a manga. Recently it has become a best seller.

君たちのどう生きるか Kamu hidup bagaimana?

*****

Kalendar Jepun

Jepun mencatatkan tanggal khas tersendiri. Hari ini mengikut pengkiraan kalendar orang Jepun berbunyi 6 Mutsuki Heiwa 28. Heiwa itu menandakan tahun penabalan Mahajara yang bertahta sekarang.
Kalendar Jepun di rumah saya membuka tahun dengan sebuah tanka.

世の中を
何にたとへむ
猿（えん）狎（こう）の
かた手のへれは
かた手みしかし

Bumi sekarang
apa nak dicontohkan
monyet dan beruk
Hulur sebelah tangan
sebelah lagi singkat.

*****

Keretapi Hina

Penulis novel ini bernama Kenta Nishimura. Beliau menerima anugerah Akutagawa pada tahun 2010 dengan novel bertajuk Kueki Resshya (Kereta Api Hina). Novel menceritakan seorang lelaki yang tidak berjaya dalam kehidupannya. Protagonisnya kuat minum dan main perempuan tetapi hidupnya berubah setelah dia mengenali seorang perempuan di sebuah kedai buku.

Persekolahan penulis ini hanya setinggi kelulusan sekolah menengah. Ini novel kedua yang memenangai hadiah berkaliber dalam kesusasteraan Jepun.

Saya ingin sampaikan maksud bahawa penulis tidak perlu berkelulusan ijazah saujana muda atau ijazah kedoktoran untuk menulis dan mencapai kecemerlangan dalam dunia persuratan.
Selagi Tuhan memberi ilham menulis, di situlah penulis menanam kepakarannya dan menyuburkan penceritaannya.

Buku ini telah difilemkan di Jepun.

*****

Hana

[imej NHK]
Semenjak mula belajar di sekolah Christian itu, Hana tidak pernah pulang ke kampung. Ini disebabkan dia tiada duit untuk tambang balik. Kawan-kawan lain sibuk bercakap tentang pertunangan dan perkahwinan mereka dengan orang-orang kenamaan tapi Hana tidak endahkan itu semua. Hana kata dia hanya bercinta dengan buku. Buku membuat hatinya berdebar-debar.
Setiap minggu, kelas Hana membantu rumah anak yatim dan di situ Hana berkenalan dengan seorang jejaka tampan. Hari meraikan Krismas, Hana dan jejaka tampan itu mengulang cerita "kami-shibai" untuk seorang anak dalam bahasa Inggeris. Hana terlambat dan pintu pagar tertutup. Kerana ini Hana dihukum. Hana dihukum membersihkan sekolah sebelum cuti hujung tahun. Hana tidak kisah pada cuti sebab dia tidak dapat balik rumah.
Walau bagaimanapun, guru besar dapat tahu Hana terlambat sebab mengulang kami-shibai untuk seorang anak dalam bahasa Inggeris. Guru besar memberi Hana duit tambang dan menyuruh Hana balik rumah merayakan tahun baharu.
Ahli keluarga Hana kagum dengan pertukaran rupa dan gaya Hana. Hana bagai seekor kupu-kupu yang baru menetas dari sarung kukun.
Abang Hana tidak setuju Hana meneruskan sekolah sebab katanya perempuan sesudah menjadi isteri, tidak ke mana perginya.
Adik-adik Hana tidak mesra dengan Hana lagi dan Hana merasa dirinya terpencil dan ganjil di kalangan ahli-ahli keluarganya. Hana kesal dengan keputusannya balik ke kampung.

*****

Hana

Lagu Youtube satu status di bawah itu ialah lagu tema pada drama pagi yang ditayangkan NHK berjudul Hana dan Anne. Drama bersiri ini berkisah tentang cerita hidup seorang wanita Jepun yang bernama Hana. Hana menjadi perterjemah buku sastera dan karya-karyanya dijadikan buku teks sekolah.
Hana bersama 4 orang adik beradik datang dari keluarga yang amat miskin. Padi tanaman mereka habis begitu saja untuk menampung bayaran cukai tanah. Keluarga mereka makan nasi campur bijirin. Hana ke sekolah mengendung adiknya sebab setiap ahli keluarga membantu kerja bendang. Waktu makan, Hana keluar kelas kerana tidak membawa bekal nasi. Minat Hana pada buku berputik setelah dia mencuri masuk perpustakaan di sebuah gereja. Bapa Hana tidak setuju cara guru sekolah mengajar dan bercadang memindahkan Hana ke sekolah perempuan christian. Akhirnya, Hana dimasukkan ke sekolah Inggeris itu.
Setelah dua penggal Hana masih tidak faham b. Inggeris dan harus lulus ujian untuk melanjutkan pelajaran di sekolah itu. Dalam ujian itu, kelas Hana perlu menulis surat kepada guru besar. Waktu membersihkan bilik seorang guru, Hana melihat surat dalam bakul sampah. Terdesak dan takut dibuang sekolah, dengan surat ini, Hana meniru surat Miss Scott (seorang guru) yang ditujukan untuk kekasihnya. Hana mendapat markah paling tinggi.
Walau bagaimanapun salah seorang guru b. Inggeris tidak yakin kebolehan Hana menulis surat sebegitu lancar dalam b. Inggeris. Hana disoal. Hana berkata surat itu ditulisnya sendiri dan tidak mengaku dia meniru surat Miss Scott.
Matlamat tidak menghalalkan cara (teringat saya ayat ini daripada seorang yang memberi nasihat, apabila saya mengambil sebuah cincin yang tercicir di bilik salinan Spa sebab terfikir untuk meninfaqkan cincin emas itu apabila melihatnya), jadi Hana berasa sangat bersalah setelah mendapat tahu Miss Scott jatuh sakit sebab suratnya ditiru Hana dan diumumkan. Rasa bersalah ini mendesak Hana berdepan Miss Scott and mengaku perbuatannya itu.
Hana ialah cerita benar seorang wanita Jepun yang menjadi penterjemah pertama buku sastera. Bukunya siri "Anne of Green Gables" menjadi buku teks sekolah.

(bilamana ada ruang masa, saya cuba bawa cerita Hana ini).

******

詩仙と自然はよい詩選になる。

Shisen to shizen wa yoi shisen ni naru (pada tajuk).
Ini ayat saya ilham sendiri. Ayat ini banyak persamaan aligrasi (atau mainan bunyi).
Ayat ini bermaksud:
PUISI DAN ALAM MENJADIKAN SEORANG PEMUISI CEMERLANG.

Menyedari alam ini hidup, alam ini bergerak, alam ini mempunyai peribadi sendiri, alam ini bernyawa ialah asas bagi seorang pemuisi menjadikan bahan dalam karyanya.
Bacalah Williams Wordsworth dengan puisi daffodil atau Blake dengan sajak Tiger.
Sajak-sajak sasterawan ini masih hidup sampai sekarang sebab penulisnya membaca alam dan menghidupkan alam dalam puisi-puisi itu.

Ini patung Basho. Di Jepun, patung Basho didirikan pada laluan pengembaraan yang dilaluinya untuk mengingati orang ramai haiku-haiku yang diilhamkan di tempat itu. Cara ini sebagai menghormati karya sasterawan ini dan menghidupkan karyanya.

Dari peringkat sekolah rendah, kanak-kanak diajar menulis puisi dan untuk bermula meneroka ilmu ini, mereka dilatih melihat alam dan persekitaran.

Sajak dan haiku yang dihasilkan dipamerkan di pinggir jalan untuk ditonton orang ramai dan untuk menggalakkan lagi minat kanak-kanak dalam sastera.

Ini contoh-contoh karya dari kanak-kanak sekolah rendah yang dipamerkan di sekeliling sekolah dan pada pinggir jalanan.

Alangkah menjadi kebanggaan kepada kanak-kanak ini mendapat penghargaan dari orang ramai apabila karya mereka dipilih menghiasi jalan raya.

Ini sebahagian dari contoh bagaimana sekolah-sekolah menggalak perkembangan sastera di Jepun.

*****

逢いたくていま-Misia

MISIA – Missing You Now Lyrics: MISIA Music: Jun Sasaki

Do you remember the day we first met?
I haven’t forgotten a single day that’s passed
I want to feel everything you had your eyes on
I looked up at the sky, are you there now watching over me?

Tell me… I’m missing you now
There’s so much I want to tell you
Oh, I miss you, I miss you I sadly long for your presence
Where are you?
Hold me I’ll always be here
If I knew that we’d never see each other again
I would never have let go of your hand
If I had just cried and told you, “Stay with me”
Would you still be here, smiling beside me?
I’m missing you now
There’s so much I want you to hear
Oh, I miss you, I miss you
Tears flow as time just passes me by
Oh, I miss you, hold me close I’ll always be thinking of you
Even if my destiny won’t change,
I have something to tell you “I want to go back…”
to that day, that time, this one wish is all I need I’m missing you now
There’s so much I want you to know
Oh, I miss you, I miss you
All I could do was wish it was all a dream
This heart of mine is still crying I’ll always be thinking of you

courstesy of http://www.quartet4.net/?p=7611

初めて出会った日のこと　覚えてますか
過ぎ行く日の思い出を　忘れずにいて
あなたが見つめた全てを　感じていたくて
空を見上げた　今はそこで　私を見守っているの?　教えて…
今　逢いたい　あなたに
伝えたいことが　たくさんある
ねえ　逢いたい　逢いたい
気づけば面影　探して　悲しくて
どこにいるの?　抱きしめてよ
私は　ここにいるよ　ずっと
もう二度と逢えないことを　知っていたなら
繋いだ手を　いつまでも　離さずにいた
『ここにいて』と　そう素直に　泣いていたなら
今も　あなたは　変わらぬまま　私の隣りで　笑っているかな
今　逢いたい　あなたに
聞いて欲しいこと　いっぱいある
ねえ　逢いたい　逢いたい
涙があふれて　時は　いたずらに過ぎた
ねえ　逢いたい　抱きしめてよ
あなたを　想っている　ずっと
運命が変えられなくても　伝えたいことがある
『戻りたい…』あの日　あの時に　叶うのなら　何もいらない
今　逢いたい　あなたに
知って欲しいこと　いっぱいある
ねえ　逢いたい　逢いたい
どうしようもなくて　全て夢と願った
この心は　まだ泣いてる
あなたを　想っている　ずっと
 ===========

いとしき日々よ

 O Endearing Days - theme song of JIN season 2

Even if time fades away
Our interwoven bond will never come apart
Oh your voice
The more I go about forgetting it
The more it imprints in me.

Holding your hands tightly
And embracing you
Even though I know that those things are our impermissible fate
That smile, those tears And that earnest memory
I wanted to touch them all
From the bottom of my heart...

O endearing days,
please don't say goodbye
I want to see you, I want to see you one more time I will keep crying out until I reach you
I will not forget, even if this body disappears
Oh the wind that blows to you,
the flowers that bloom for you
Oh the tomorrow that I chased after with you
I want to see you again

Right now, in my heart there remains
The most beautiful setting sun in the world
Oh and that eye,
Rather than uneasiness, it gleams with great hope
By just gazing into your eyes from a close distance I knew everything about happiness
Even if sadness is awaiting on the road ahead
That wish, those words And that single ray of light
I wanted to protect them all
Till forever...

That smile, those tears And that earnest memory I wanted to touch them all
From the bottom of my heart...

O endearing days, please don't say goodbye
I want to see you, I want to see you one more time
I will keep crying out until I reach you
I will not forget, even if this body disappears
Oh the wind that blows to you, the flowers that bloom for you
Oh the tomorrow that I chased after with you
I want to see you again

O endearing days,
Let's dash out now.

 いとしき日々よ 平井堅 たとえ時がうつろうと 縫いあわせた絆は決してほどけない ああ あなたの声は 忘れれば忘れゆくほどに 焼きついてた あなたの手を 強く握ることも あなたを抱きしめることも 許されない運命(さだめ)だと知ってても その笑顔に その涙に そのひたむきな想いに触れたかった 心から… いとしき日々よ サヨナラは言わないで あなたに会いたくて もう一度会いたくて 届くまで叫びつづける 忘れはしない この体が消えても あなたに吹く風よ あなたに咲く花よ あなたと追いかけた明日よ また会いたくて 今も胸に残るよ 世界で一番美しい夕陽が ああ その瞳には 不安より大きな希望が輝いてた ただ近くで見つめあえるだけで 幸せのすべてを知った 道のさきに哀しみが待ってても その願いを その言葉を そのひとすじの光を守りたかった いつまでも… その笑顔に その涙に そのひたむきな想いに触れたかった 心から… いとしき日々よサヨナラは言わないで あなたに会いたくて もう一度会いたくて 届くまで叫びつづける 忘れはしない この体が消えても あなたに吹く風よ あなたに咲く花よ あなたと追いかけた明日よ また会いたくて いとしき日々よ いま歩きだそう
 Itoshiki hibi yo Hirai Ken

Tatoe toki ga utsurou to
Nuiawasera kizuna wa kesshite hodokenai
Aa anata no koe wa Wasurereba wasureyuku hodo ni Yakitsuiteta
Anata no te wo tsuyoku nigiru koto mo Anata wo dakishimeru koto mo Yurusarenai sadame da to shitte te mo
Sono egao ni sono namida ni Sono hitamuki na omoi ni furetakatta
Kokoro kara...
Itoshiki hibi yo sayonara wa iwanaide
Anata ni aitakute mou ichido aitakute
Todoku made sakebitsudukeru
Wasure wa shinai kono karada ga kiete mo
Anata ni fuku kaze yo anata ni saku hana yo Anata to oikaketa asu yo Mata aitakute Ima mo mune ni nokoru yo
Sekai de ichiban utsukushii yuuhi ga
Aa sono hitomi ni wa Fuan yori ookina kibou ga kagayaiteta
Tada chikaku de mitsumeaeru dake de Shiawase no subete wo shitta Michi no saki ni kanashimi ga matte te mo Sono negai wo sono kotoba wo Sono hitosuji no hikari wo mamoritakatta Itsumademo... Sono egao ni sono namida ni Sono hitamuki na omoi ni furetakatta
Kokoro kara...
Itoshiki hibi yo sayonara wa iwanaide
Anata ni aitakute Mou ichido aitakute Todoku made sakebitsudukeru Wasure wa shinai kono karada ga kiete mo
Anata ni fuku kaze yo anata ni saku hana yo Anata to oikaketa asu yo
Mata aitakute
Itoshiki hibi yo
Ima arukidasou

Courtesy of http://yuizaki-libra.livejournal.com/3796.html

 ===========

借りぐらしのアリエッティ

 As I mentioned in previous entry, this island is going to some weather transformation. The winds doesn't know which way to blow and sometime get confused over the season. I avoid going out at this time.
Sometimes I do get stuck over plotting and story lines. I guess this is a good time to explore. Explore for me is not going into abyss blue lagoon under the sea or struggling over thick iceberg on the Himalaya. No, those are too much suffering.

There are many novels and comic books that are adapted into drama series and anime in Japan. Some of these novels are historical and some educational. Mostly those novel adapted in movies are block-busters and written by famous writers.
I will write down some of the movies and anime as we go along. Such a waste to let people out of Japan to be ignored.

If you see the screen up there, the title is Karigurashi no Arriety or Arriety-The Borrower.
This animation is from Gibli Studio which made Tonari no Totoro. The story is about a community of small people living underground. They survive by borrowing (actually taking) food from houses like lump of sugar or tissue papers. They cleverly hide but live peacefully without betraying their existence in this world.
I was studying the screen. I see every grass and how the winds blow those flowers, nature brought out so real and alive, though just anime or graphic drawing. One can never compare the talent of those graphic artists from Gibli Studio. 

=====

個人的な体験

個人的な体験

Getting ready for another project, I try to gather all material first. I need this book and first thing on my mind is Amazon. Japan. They have it on the second-hand book section for only US$2.50 (JY198) plus delivery charge at US$3.25 (JY250).
Not bad, I said. All in all, less than US7/-
So my fingers go clickety-clicketic.
Today, it came.
What shock me is the price itself on the back-cover (as all Japanese books have to publish the selling price on the cover).
For a clean and well-kept second-hand book with the original price at US$58 (JY4500), all I paid was less than US7/-

Beautiful.

*******

Poem on stone

My writing in English is after the Malay words.

Batu puisi
Tanya kepada sesiapa yang pernah datang ke Jepun. Adakah mereka pernah melihat batu-batu yang ada catatan dalam tulisan kanji. Mesti pernah. Kepada orang yang tidak kenal tulisan kanji, mesti tidak faham akan tulisan yang terpapar pada batu-batu yang berdiri itu.
Pada mula berpindah ke negara ini, saya fikir apa yang tercatat pada batu itu mungkin ayat-ayat mantera penganut shinto atau Buddha.
Setelah beberapa lama baru saya difahami ayat-ayat yang diukir pada batu-batu itu adalah rangkap-rangkap puisi.
Setelah berkecimpung dalam dunia haiku dan tanka (salah satu bentuk puisi Jepun), baru saya difahamikan batu-batu yang didirikan pada lokasi-lokasi yang strategik adalah ukiran puisi-puisi dari sasterawan ternama dalam sejarah sastera Jepun.
Puisi-puisi yang dicatatkan pada batu-batu ini terpilih di antara karya-karya yang terkenal dan mengandungi mesej-mesej nasihat atau menguatkan semangat untuk dicontohi.
Saya teringat sebuah buku yang mengalu-alukan rangkap-rangkap pantun dijadikan seperti ini di Malaysia (penulisnya dari Malaysia). Sebenarnya cadangan penulis buku itu sungguh mulia. Inilah salah satu cara bagi menerapkan bahasa dan budaya atau menonjolkan karya-karya sastera kepada khalayak ramai. Setakat ini belum pernah saya lihat batu yang diukir dengan pantun atau kertas iklan yang bertulis puisi di mana-mana kenderaan umum atau tempat umum di Malaysia.

Berbalik kepada cerita saya, gambar ini mengandungi serangkap tanka karya dari salah seorang ternama di pulau ini.

Inilah yang diukir pada batu itu. Sebuah tanka.

Di lereng gunung
berkuntum dengan megah
Si Azalea
buat selama-lama
tinggal dalam kenangan.

********

Anybody who have been to Japan would surely have seen such stones as in the picture above. For people who cannot read the Japanese kanji character, those words might mean some Buddhist mantra or Shinto incantation.
I thought that was so during my early living in Japan.
This is not likely so, as the Japanese are people who feel religion is a private matter and cannot be imposed on another person so publicly.
Actually, I came to know this information after I was active writing haiku and tanka, that those words written on the standing stones are poems of famous people, past or present. These poems are selected for their inspirational messages or message of hope.

Written on the stone is a tanka.

Over the mountains
blossoming in full glory
The Azalea
remaining for a long time
in the looker's memory.

******

花王

Yang tersirat

Tentu pernah melihat logo ini bukan? Mungkin produk ini ada di dalam rumah sendiri. Logo ini ada pada botol syampu, sabun mandi, lampin pakai-buang bayi (Merries), tuala wanita, pencuci cecair dan banyak lagi.
Nama logo ini senang saja. KAO. Memang sengaja dipermudahkan agar mesra pengguna dan sebutannya tidak menyukarkan.

Istilah KAO membawa erti rupa, wajah, iras, muka. Itulah yang digambarkan bersama lambang logo ini.
Kita belah maksud tersiratnya pula.

Tulisan yang berbentuk 花　(KA) itu bermaksud hana atau bunga.
Di sisi hana itu pula 王 (OU), ini berbunyi ou yang membawa maksud raja.
Kedua-dua abjad ini 花王　jika dicantumkan berbunyi hana ou atau Raja Bunga. Lebih tepat maksudnya dikaitkan dengan raja segala keharuman bunga.
Tanpa meneliti tulisan kanji pada logo ini, Kao hanya difahamkan dengan rupa, wajah,iras atau muka sahaja.

Tetapi orang Jepun membacanya dengan abjad kanji yang membawa lebih dari maksud harfiah KAO iaitu Raja Bunga.　花王

*****

Consideration

This is what the video says.

Nobody can see feelings,
but COMPASSION can be seen,
Thoughts cannot be seen,
... but everybody can see CONSIDERATION.
(translation by Leyla Shuri).

*****

Gegege Mangga

Mizuki Shigeru came home with only one arm after the war. Japan economy was at its lowest after the war with high unemployment. With only one arm and what with the bad economy, Shigeru used his only talent to live. Drawing cartoon.

A few years when the war ended, he sold his cartoon to a small printing company. But his comic books did not sell well. His family lived a very poor life. The electric to his house was cut off due to unpaid bills. They eat very ripe bananas (almost black), to survive the hard life.
NHK is showing this drama now, GEGEGE Nyobou or Gegege's wife. The drama recalls the cartoonist life as recollected by his wife.


Shigeru break came when his talent was found by a friend who owned a printing company. Then, after several issues of his mangga, a well-known comic book company found his work. At first, Shigeru was asked to produce sci-fi cartoons but he rejected this offer because he feels his talent was not in sci-fi.
Then, Shigeru was approached again and this time he was given his choice of any comic. He agreed but the printing company gave him one condition. That he must also produce his mangga (comic story) for the TV company.
That was the beginning of GEGEGE KITARO on television.

Shigeru already have a theme to his mangga. All the characters in the mangga are ghosts. His comic ghosts are the One-Eye Cup baby, the flying carpet ghost but the heroes among the ghosts is the One-Eye boy named Kitaro.

There was no turning back after his first mangga came on the first comic book followed by series program on television.

To make story short, Shigeru is now a very rich man. Selling his mangga on television, mangga magazine and they even make video games out of it!

*******

The laughter of past
comes but once in a lifetime
wilting rose petals

*******

Hisashi Inoue (Sasterawan), The man of Literature

Inoue Hisashi

"The world of imagination is my reality", says Hisashi Inoue who passed away Friday evening 9th April, 2010 at age 75 of lung cancer.
His famous peom, which is quite easy to remember.

難しいことをやさしいく、Difficult things do it easy
やさしいことを深く、Easy things do it deep
深いことを愉快に、Deep things do it enjoyable
愉快なことをまじめに Enjoyable things do it serious.

Muzukashii koto o yasashiku
Yasashii koto o fukaku
Fukai koto o yukai ni
Yukai na koto o majime ni.

None of the works of this literary man in Japan is ever translated yet. He is well-known in Japan for his novels, novelette, short stories and TV script.
He has 56 books under his name which has sold 12 million copies, making him the most successful writer in the world today.

"His most celebrated book, Kirikirijin (People of Kirikiri), is an 834-page comic novel about an imaginary hill town in northern Japan that secedes from the rest of the nation. More than 850,000 copies have been sold in two years.

(Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921346,00.html#ixzz0kz6lQ7tP)

But he laments, 85% of his income passed under his nose as taxes. Last year, he earned US$542,000 from his writings.
"Some people offer as much as a million yen ($4,200) for an hour-long lecture. You can even get away with a talk about what you did yesterday. I refuse any such request. To me it is corruption."

(Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921346,00.html#ixzz0kyqfG6SV).

****************

Tatkala monyet dan tupai sedahan...

Jahrera merenung haiwan ini, digelar sebagai Squirrel Monkey. Haiwan ini tupai atau monyet?

Wajahnya bagai tupai tapi perangainya bagai monyet. Dengan kekuatan yang ada pada monyet dan keligatan yang ada pada tupai, mungkinkah haiwan ini terjatuh ke tanah?

Bak peribahasa melayu ini.

Ini sebaris peribahasa Jepun.

Saru mo ki kara ochiru.

Even monkeys fall from trees.

Sepandai-pandai tupai melompat, sekali gawal juga.

Rupa-rupanya orang Jepun juga ada peribahasa yang seakan-akan dengan peribahasa tupai itu.

**************************

Tatkala momo itu momo...

Japanese proverb

Sumomo mo momo mo momo no uchi

********

Can you say the whole proveb with a straight lip?

Literally, if you take the sentence it means.

Prune and apricot are both from the peach family.

***********

Cuba baca peribahasa Jepun di atas itu dengan bibir yang lurus. Mustahil!

Prun pun aprikot pun dari keluarga pic.

****************

Homeless Chugakusei

The cover of novel Hiroshi Tamura "The Homeless Junior High School Student."

Comedian’s autobiography on homeless childhood becomes record bestseller
Comedian Hiroshi Tamura’s autobiographical novel “The Homeless Junior High School Student” (Wani Books) has in the only two months that have passed since its Sept. 3 release sold more than 1 million copies, the Sports Daily reported Monday.

Now 28-year-old Tamura, member of the comedy duo Kirin, saw his family break up while he was still in junior high school, forcing Tamura to in periods spend his nights in public parks. The autobiography tells frankly about hardships Tamura went through, such as having to eat cardboard to survive, according to the Sports Daily.

His autobiographical novel, “The Homeless Junior High School Student,” has become the fastest selling non-fictional book in Japan on record, and the publisher is currently looking into sending an application to Guinness World Records for fastest selling non-fictional book ever, while bids for the rights to make screen adaptations and TV-series out of the novel are flooding in.
Link: http://www.japannewsreview.com/entertainment/books/
20071113page_id=2998

I showed this book to my husband when I saw the attractive title. He remarked it is impossible for a secondary-age school boy to live as homeless in Japan. The social welfare department see to it that he should not live a homeless life.

This is an autobiographical novel, his true life.
Question is how did he end up as a homeless high school boy?
He was living in the neighbourhood children's playground, hungry all the time, eating cardbox paper and on top of that he managed to attend school everyday.
In Japan, every neighbourhood children's playground is facilitated with a small public toilet and wash basin. He used this public toilet and washed himself everyday while living in the cardboard box.
How did he end up homeless in a rich country like Japan?

This is a light review of the book.
His mother died and his father was unemployed due to the re-structuring economic trend during the early 1980's.
His father left them, his brother studying in the university, his sister in high school and him.
One day, they have to vacate their house due to unpaid rent. The brother and sister decided to stay at a temple but he told them he wanted to stay at some friend's house. But he ended up at the playground secretly.
Imagine a boy who had warm meals home-cooked and home-served everyday, imagine a boy who has clean clothes laid out for him every morning. Imagine how he managed his life while sleeping in the public playground.

His homeless plight for one month was known and they were put in the government's children home. He becomes a well-known television comedian now. Lately, there was some rumours that he found his father but that is another story.

Within two months of release, the novel sale jumped into the one million mark!
The fastest best-sellers ever!