In fact I Am..

Craft Ebbing & Co. "In fact I Am..", Heibonsha, 2002

I found a good restaurant in the magazine report. See, “the Vest Restaurant”. Being sited by seaside, offering an extensive menu. Note that you have to wear a vest there. Oh, do not worry, the restaurant supplies one. Strange? Yes…the owners look very gentle and I’m very interested it. How about having a lunch there?

I found another good report in this magazine. It is really nice for book lovers like you and me. This library opens only in winter. In summer members of this library work hard and stock books there. In winter we enjoy great holidays there. It opens from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. and look, they even supply nice hot stew and bread! This lady of the photo makes us dishes for us. How wonderful! They call this library “the winter-sleep library”.

In fact I called the publishing company and inquired about membership of this library. Then I found it fiction…I was so disappointed. I was completely deceived! Later they compiled these tricky articles into THIS book.

Ainu Meets India

Chikappu, Mieko "Tsuki no Shizuku ga Kagayaku Yoru ni ---Ainu-Moshiri kara Indo eno Tabi"
("On the Night of Glistening Dewdrops from The Moon --- Journey in Prayers from Ainu-Moshiri to India”), Gendaishokan, 2003

　　　My husband is from Hokkaido, the northernmost land of Japan and Ainu country. At our marriage, I encountered the land and Ainu culture, which is very unique and profound. Ainu, an aborigine, has its own language and own view of the world but is disappearing due to a past forced assimilation of "Japanese".

　 　　Mieko Chikappu, being of Ainu origin, is a famous embroiderer of traditional Ainu patterns. This time Mieko met Hindu world through her trip to India and recalled her history as an Ainu. This book is like her embroidery work, filled with a magnificent worldview, a relationship between God and human beings, human behaviour and sadness of Ainu.

　 　　It is rainy season in Japan. (This year there's low rainfall, maybe because of an unusual weather.) Hokkaido has no such season though. It begins dry, cool and beautiful but short summer there.