Violence in comedy
My sister, who was a manga connoisseur, often introduced me to her new favorite manga when I lived in London. Among her favorite was a manga called “Nodame Cantabile,” which […]
Tsuyoshi the cruel – 2
Tsuyoshi the cruel, who once flaunted a girl’s sanitary pad around the classroom, had eagle eyes as to one’s vulnerability. He would then use that to pull attention on himself. […]
Masa the kind
There was one boy who never hurt me physically or verbally. His name was Masa, and I liked him not so secretly. He always wore his hair shaved, which didn’t […]
Tomo the savage
Tomo was short and stooped, and his head narrow with large ears and slant eyes. He was academically behind and spoke crudely. He was not strong, so he wouldn’t challenge […]
Shuji the rancorous
Mr. Hoshi broke us into study groups of four to work on math problems and science projects. Groups had to form with two boys and two girls. In my group, […]
Mr. Hoshi
Miss Kawano retired after three years of her reign, and Mr. Hoshi took over our class. He preached like hell. At the end of the day, before we were dismissed […]
Barefoot Gen
My sister told me about the black rain. She said if you got showered by the black rain, first, your hair would fall off, and then you would vomit blood […]
Two faces of the Emperor
I was nine years old when Emperor Hirohito passed away. The 64th year of Showa had just begun several days before. It was unfathomable to me that Japan went from […]
“Angry Jizo”
We had an annual movie-watching day at school before the summer break. In my first year, they played a stop-motion animated film called “Okori Jizo (Angry Jizo).” The protagonist was […]
Grandmother
My grandmother passed away in June 2011, a few months after the Tohoku earthquake. She was 98 years old, but she had stopped living much earlier. When I went home […]