The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina (translated by Lucy Rand)
Last year I read and loved The Library of Heartbeats, so I was very keen to read more from this Italian author who has lived in Japan for many years. Like Library, this book has a fundamentally sad premise but the way that it is written is so beautiful that it is easy to close the book with a smile, even while you ponder the emotions that you have felt while you read.
Near the coast there is a place where there is a man who has a disconnected phone booth, some times known as a wind phone, installed in his garden. People come from miles around to pick up the phone and speak to the people that they have lost. Some times they speak softly and tell their stories. Some times they yell at the top of their voices.
Yui has suffered great loss when her daughter and mother were killed in the 2011 tsunami. Yui finds herself drawn to the garden time and time again, despite the fact that she can't bring herself to actually pick up the phone to speak to her loved ones. There she meets Takeshi who has lost his wife and now his young daughter refuses to speak at all. Can these people who have lost so much, find something to help them be able to live a more full life? Can they allow themselves to be happy.
I have a friend who is a Japanophile and I was talking to her about this authors books, and she started to cry because she said that the stories just sound so Japanese. Interestingly, it seems that this idea of a wind phone has spread around the world. I recently learned that we have some in Australia. There are also at least three Japanese movies/short films about wind phones.
I also wanted to mention how much I love both of the covers on this authors books. They are so simple but totally beautiful!
I don't think any more of this authors books have been translated into English, but if they are I will be reading them!
Rating 4/5
The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama (translated by Takami Nieda)
A while ago I read What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama. Whilst I mostly liked it, I did struggle with one particular aspect. So while I looked a this title and think that looks like fun, I was a little nervous. Unnecessarily so it turns out.
This book is set in a Tokyo neighbourhood where there has recently been a new apartment block built. Nearby, there is a small park where one of the installations is a rather worn plastic hippo whose name is Kabahiko. He has scratches on his body and paint where he shouldn't have. But that doesn't stop people from coming to visit the hippo. You see, there is a local legend that if you touch the hippo in the place where you feel pain, then you will be healed.
As the new residents move into the area, we get to understand where their pain is, from a struggling student to a new mother who is feeling lonely and a young man who fakes an injury to get out of sports at school and more. They each find their way to Kabahiko, and slowly they also find others in their community.
Like so many of these cosy, feel good Japanse books, this one of these stories which is episodic in nature. The characters are seemingly very separate but as the book comes together we see how the lives are interconnected.
I was relieved that there was no such issue in this book, and I am really excited that this year we get two new books from Michiko Aoyama, the first of which is called Hot Chocolate on Thursday and it is out in February!
Rating 4/5
Both of these books qualify for the Books in Translation challenge hosted by Jen at Introverted Reader. Healing Hippo also counts for the Japanese Literature Challenge hosted at Dolce Bellezza, and I am sharing this post as part of my personal January in Japan event!
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