It would be interesting to ask a native speaker. If I get a chance, perhaps I will ask once of my 日本人 friends.
Incidentally, I was thinking about the distinct 昔懐かしい feel to the story. There is a double layer to this, since the story is set in the early seventies - corresponding to a period in Ogawa’s childhood (I think when I worked it out in the first chapter, Ogawa might have been close to Mina’s age when the story is set), but the house and its fittings date back to the first half of the twentieth century.
I think that maybe adds to the fairytale element of the story.
(Incidentally again (anyone have a theory on this?) the time period of this story is very similar to the time point that the Professor’s memory is stuck at in 博士の愛した数式. Coincidence?)
That’s what severe hypoxemia feels like : tunnel vision, hallucinating, elevated heart rate, palpitations ….
Even though every one downplay them, these attacks must be quite severe. I have a bad feeling about this ….
Yes, that was my first thought. Especially how everybody is tiptoeing and make-pretend-ing aroud the subject. This does not sound like a business trip to me…
Chapter 6
I must confess I kind of glossed over it - so thank you for the comprehensive list!
I showed the list to one of my Japanese language partners. For the record, he is in his fifties, so he was already alive - albeit a small child - in the time the book is set. While reading it, he started smiling, and when he finished, he said that these are all famous Japanese medicines, and commented on a few of them, like “you can see the age of the text as 赤チン of course isn’t in use any more because there is mercury in it” and told me which ones he had taken and which not (but I forgot the details). So basically exactly the feeling that @Magyarapointe had envisioned.
A minor detail of this week but the english localized title is Mina’s Matchbox. I wonder if it will make an appearance again or the english localization just took it from this chapter.
And speaking of 乗り物 at the start, all the english covers also feature a girl on the back of a hipo.
Chapter 6: More on the pharmacopoeia
You and @nikoru are right - these are apparently very familiar and commonly used. Here were a couple of responses from HelloTalk
It is an interesting comparison. I hadn’t looked at the JP cover in much detail.
Presumably that is Tomoko plus Mina (with her wavy brown hair) perched on top of the books. ( Are they in their underwear as they were in the scene in the solarium)
The books all look very European (one of them appears to be in German). We haven’t had any description yet of the books that Mina reads. Perhaps that is significant in a way that is not obvious yet. I wonder if the European books give an exotic feel to the setting (which they obviously wouldn’t to an English speaker).
As for the matchbox I think there was a description earlier of it containing Mina’s ‘collection’. I think there is more for us to learn about it
Welcome 雲さん! Great to see you here on Natively and to have you join us reading this very fun book.
I agree - that description is very evocative. I liked the bit (if I remember correctly) that described Pochiko’s tail as if it were a bit of clay rolled up and stuck on his bottom. I interpreted your passage as meaning something like ‘his eyes and ears were stuck on apologetically, or as a kind of afterthought.’ Though chatGPT tells me that the phrase 申し訳程度に is “a colorful and slightly humorous expression. It’s used when something is done just enough to technically count, but clearly isn’t sufficient or prominent — like putting a single leaf of lettuce in a sandwich “for the sake of appearances.”” So I was probably on the right track.
The overall impression to me is of a creature that, though real, looks like a child’s drawing with legs and features all out of proportion.
Another week mixing reality and (probably) fiction. For once, I was more moved by chapter 8, probably because I have memories of trying all the make-up products my grandmother had when I was 5 or 6; even though there weren’t any pictures. Chapter 7 was lovely too, but I do have trouble actually believing that Mina would go to school seated on Pochi-ko. The image is very nice, and will probably stay with me, but the bittersweet feeling of Chapter 8 felt more authentic
About the poll, contrary to the first round, I voted to stay with the current pace because even though it always feels strange for me to only read a book for a couple of hours one afternoon a week, and not regularly every day, this slow pace actually fits this book quite well. I’m enjoying my Sunday afternoons with Mina and Tomoko !
I voted to up the pace because I could comfortably manage more of this book. But as you say, there is something special about enjoying this book slowly. Indeed I was reflecting that the experience of reading this in English would be quite different partly because I would read it so much faster.
I’m also happy to stick at the current pace if that is the general view, and I’ll keep reading my other Ogawa in the background.
Now for this week’s reading!
Chapter 7
There is something innocent and simultaneously awkwardly precocious about the whole section about the two girls - sitting half dressed in the solarium and crunching “nipple balls”. I was unsure how to interpret Tomoko’s feelings about her beautiful pre-pubescent cousin. There are some bits where she is describing Mina (whose delayed puberty and small size is blamed on her asthma) that evoke the exquisite self awareness and curiosity at physical changes in themself and those around them of the tween mind. [I’m guessing at the mind of tween girls, but others here who have more direct experience may confirm or refute the authenticity of this]. Other sections (describing her imaginings about chewing the 乳ボーロ) that suggest nascent feelings towards her cousin. But I wonder too about the narrator’s place in these feelings (writing years later as an adult, with feelings that might be changed in her adult remembering, including perhaps if our premonitions are correct longing mixed with grief).
What do others think about Tomoko’s feelings for Mina?
Chapter 8
I loved the image of the school ride on the pygmy hippo. It is such classic Ogawa - magical, but just bordering on the believable. It of course now explains the title of the book Mina’s parade, or ‘The March of Mina’, and the scene here was one of several that had me chuckling aloud while reading. I think perhaps there is a connection to the 乗り物 theme of the first chapter - because of course this extremely odd 乗り物 is one of the most distinctive features of Mina’s household. (But I wonder [speculation] whether there is a metaphorical march ahead for Mina, when she may journey into that internal world that she describes, and not return.)
I continued my attempt to find locations in the book.
The other chuckling moments were some of the lovely descriptions of Tomoko sitting at the grandmother’s dressing table and trying on makeup. I loved the whispered instruction to keep it a secret from 米田さん (as if she isn’t going to notice the face powder and perfume), and the bit where Tomoko is asked to choose her favourite scent, but they all smell the same so she just chooses her favourite shape bottle…
And there was the tender story of おばあさん’s missing twin sister.
speaking of missing. Is 叔父さん still not back…? Paradoxically, the length of his absence seems to be less worrying. If he is gone for this long and the rest of the family aren’t intensely worried, he must have done this before and returned many times…
PS @Kumojin there is a reappearance of 申し訳程度に in chapter 8. Look out for it when you catch up to this bit!
Happy with the pace you all are taking. Have just completed C4 by reading daily for a week so am hoping to catch up soon.
An absolutely charming description of visiting a 洋菓子店さん with 伯父さん and the impressive Crepes Suzette are very much of the era. I suppose now Japanese would call this a ケーキ屋さん just as 喫茶店 is now more often than not called カフェ.
Yep, I’ve just read that chapter and started the next (wanted to read what I could today as rest of week will be busy).
I’m happy to revisit the pace in the future but currently this works for me - means I can catch up when I fall behind. Mid June I’m doing a road trip which I anticipate will be bad for my reading.
Another sentence I liked from C5 天窓や踊り場の丸窓から差し込む月明かりが、ところどころにぼんやりとした光の筋を作っていた. Apart from being partial to the phrase ぼんやり it’s always nice to hear a description of moonlight, particularly in Japanese.
BTW, how does one make it so that the JP phrase appears fuzzy so as to avoid spoilers?
I don’t know if a Japanese native would find it well expressed or if it’s simply my parsing it as a non-native, and coming to an understanding despite it being expressed with different grammatical structure.
I can’t say that any of the three covers appeal. The first one I saw was the red one, and I didn’t pay that much attention … so somehow I thought it was a cover of a girl bullfighting ! Thanks for pointing out that it’s ポチ子 !
