Exactly !
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I think both 
The former is my question, and the latter was yours, iirc…
OK glad it isn’t only me 
I can’t work out how to make the original post into a wiki, which would make it easier.
If you want to phrase a specific question, I’ll add it to the original post.
Here are some questions that I have noted
- In a number of your stories (the poison in Pregnancy Calendar, the bees in Dormitory. The nature of the disappearances in the Memory Police), there is an unresolved ambiguity about the nature of a central element - is it real, is it in the mind of the characters. Is that ambiguity important to you? In your own mind, when you are writing, do you have a single view about these elements. Or do you too remain unsure about their nature?
- Mina’s matchbox is set in Ashiya - where you currently live or have lived. How is location important in this story?
- Memory appears to be a recurring theme in your books (housekeeper, the memory police). In Mina’s matchbox, memory preserves a world, protects it from change. (LP Hartley - "the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there”)
- The suicide of Yasunari Kawabata has a profound impact on the book loving Mina. Do you remember this event from your own childhood? Did you read Kawabata’s novels at a precocious age (like Mina)? Did you seek to echo any of Kawabata’s novels or writing style in Mina’s matchbox?
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You’d need to be a Regular for this. (Or you’d need to ask an admin, and I don’t know who is admin besides Brandon who seems to be absent…)
I’ve created a post in the home thread and turned it into a wiki, maybe you can link to it in the home post?
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Actually, I’ve had another look at the Japan Society event, and I have a feeling that I misunderstood/misinterpreted their website (The Japan Society - ONLINE EVENT - The Japan Society Book Club: Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa ).
I suspect that Ogawa sensei won’t be appearing at the online bookclub 
So although I’ll certainly join the event (and others are welcome to, too), I don’t think we’ll get to ask her our questions.
(I might see if I can work out a way to send her a message via her agent, and see if she would consider responding to some written questions - but let me work on that…)
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I think chances would be much higher if this message was in Japanese, as Ogawa is probably not fluent in English, just like many other Japanese (whether authors or not…) 
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Week 8 ミーナの行進！ 
(Join the 小川洋子 book club here)
| Week 8 | 14 June 2025 |
|---|---|
| Chapters | 15 and 16 |
| End point (kindle) | 1378 |
| Previous week | Week 7 |
| Next week | Week 9 |
| Home Thread | ミーナの行進 |
Will you be reading along with us this week?
- I’m reading along
- I have finished this part
- I’m no longer reading the book
- I’m reading this book after the club has finished
- I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
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voters
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Once again, I’m in awe of ミーナ’s storytelling ability.
I don’t care wether サブロウ’s story is real or not : it probably isn’t. But it’s lovely, lovelier than any other possible explanation, and therefore it’s the only one that deserves to be remembered. And now we know that’s why, more or less, ミーナ keeps those matchboxes. She is indeed preserving her universe in them. I only wish there were other matchbox stories : maybe later ?
Two wonderful sentences this week:
chapter 15
小さな箱の世界を彼らは行進してゆく (the whole paragraph, in fact)
chapter 16
それは線路というには余りにも華奢で頼りなく、半ば土に埋もれ、子供たちを喜ばせた輝かしい記憶は欠片も残っていなかった
And interestingly, those sentences are clearly written by the adult 朋子 reflecting on her childhood. ミーナbuilds her universe on make-believe, 朋子 builds hers on reminiscence
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I’ve been busy this week, so slow to finish the week’s reading
Chapter 15
I enjoyed all the matchbox images (though it took a bit of time to decipher them). Did embark on a little bit of googling, but didn’t find any of them. So perhaps they are pure Ogawa.
Two lovely passages this week
Yes, it feels as though we have now uncovered the central appeal of the matchboxes (and the matchbox boxes), and the link to the book’s title. The mostly housebound invalid Mina draws on the matchbox labels to stimulate her imagination, and in doing so is able to travel beyond the walls of the Ashiya compound, unhampered by her physical frailty and travel sickness. The metaphorical version of ‘Mina’s march’ allows her to parade into fantastic worlds filled with musical frogs, and abluting Santas, and hammer-eating platypuses (platypi).
(I suspect, that we will see Mina embark on a different march/parade before the book’s end).
I also enjoyed the image of the elderly bald vet, crawling on his knees, oblivious to hippo slobber, while attempting to auscultate Pochiko
Chapter 16
As you note, the story of the train driving monkey seems very reminiscent of the elephant on the seesaw. So perhaps this is an invention by Mina.
But in a household that contains a pygmy hippo (on which the title character rides to school), the line between fantasy and reality seems pretty blurred.
叔父さん seems to have disappeared again. Will he be as long, and will we learn anymore about where he is going?
Week 9 ミーナの行進！
(Join the 小川洋子 book club here)
| Week 9 | 21 June 2025 |
|---|---|
| Chapters | 17 and 18 |
| End point (kindle) | 1542 |
| Previous week | Week 8 |
| Next week | Week 10 |
| Home Thread | ミーナの行進 |
Will you be reading along with us this week?
- I’m reading along
- I have finished this part
- I’m no longer reading the book
- I’m reading this book after the club has finished
- I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
0
voters
