On Reading/History

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  • Takashi Hiraide, “The Guest Cat”

    This review is part of the Cat Series. When the life goes with the common, somehow idle, everydayness, how do we respond to a quiet, uninvited guest? The question is mundane but when you think of it, a guest is like a “disruption” for your day-to-day activities. You would stop doing whatever things you’re doing;… Read more

  • Lunar New Year

    History comes late to me, and Chinese-Indonesian popped up in my head. I wanted to write about the economic storm in 1930: how did people respond to economic turbulence, especially the Chinese owning big and small-middle businesses. It was an intuition. I was too ignorant. Social history is not my fort but I adore testaments.… Read more

  • Shimura Takako, “Wandering Son” Vol. 3

    Friendship and siblings are hard indeed. Shu and Yoshino got into “silent” mode, because some boys read their shared diary, and now they were objects of bullying. Maho, Shu’s sister, forced Shu to have a date with her classmate, Seya because that boy apparently liked Shu (because they were cute). Their relationship was getting more… Read more

  • Kawamura Genki, “If Cats Disappeared from the World”

    This review is part of the Cat Series. I bought the novella because of the cover: shades of blue, a man, and a cat. The original book in Japanese was published in 2012, with its movie adaptation in 2016. The English version was owned by Flatiron Books and translated by Eric Selland. This review is… Read more

  • Shimura Takako, “Wandering Son” Vol. 2

    In this volume, both Shu and Yoshino have shared each other’s secret and embraced it together. Shu bought wig and dress, and went together with Yoshino in public place. There are a lot of things goin on in this volume, but I will just mention two main things. First, more appearance of Yuki, a woman… Read more

  • Shimura Takako,”Wandering Son” Vol. 1

    I have no idea about this manga until I browsed in Evanston Public Library. I was attracted with the art cover, and the title. From the cover, I imagined a coming-of-age, slice-of-life story like Goodnight Punpun which I genuinely love. (I’m a fan of slice-of-life genre, really–and it needs different post on why). The English… Read more