Up Pohnpei (Paul Watson)
This is a book that resonates with me pretty well, in that its origin comes from a similar place and time to my own footballing woes. With England out of the 2006 World Cup with a whimper, yet again, it was an easy time to be disillusioned with the English National Team. I bought a Japan shirt from Sports Direct in Birmingham for twenty quid; and decided that only getting pissed off at Villa was for me from now on.
But Paul Watson looked to a different set of Pacific islands for inspiration. In a comedian challenge-style affair – though he is a bona fide sports journalist, who only has a comedian for a brother – he and his friend, Matt Conrad, decided to look for a national team they could play for after becoming turned-off by England.
Soon realising that getting a new passport and playing for another nation was going to be difficult, they sought a national team they could coach. Enter the small island of the Federated States of Micronesia Pohnpei. But with zero set-up and footballing heritage on the island, they had to make contacts and start from scratch with any male of playable age.
With the island’s nation status and no one willing or able to fund, they endure a long distance, tiring struggle to organise a kit and competitive fixture, let alone an elaborate corner routine. With Conrad leaving for real-life commitments, Watson is left lonely in a far away place from his family, friends and girlfriend for extended periods, in one of those mad ideas gone awry.
Perseverance sees him get to a respectable outcome and a lot of learning. To his credit, Watson still promotes and reports on football’s more obscure leagues. And to my credit, I have bought Japan’s World Cup shirt for each tournament up to Qatar 2022.
- Days to read: 15
- Days per book: 14.3
Seven Samurai (Joan Mellen)
A re-issue, this is a BFI Film Classic originally published in 2002, when Japanese cinema was riding the wave global success and DVD was the format all the cool kids were raving about. Accompanying the BFI’s DVD releases of Akira Kurosawa’s finest works, Joan Mellen is something of a fan girl praising the late master’s work, but this would probably have also served as an introduction for many, as discoveries of new Japanese cinema and a new digital format saw many search Japanese cinema’s past, as well as its present.
This revised edition published last year is a forerunner to the BFI’s recent Kurosawa retrospective, but with Mellen shedding new light on various aspects of Kurosawa’s work, notably the role of women in his films, which in itself could form a whole new analysis of his work.
This covers the film in detail and Kurosawa’s ability to craft a story and develop characters, but particular attention is given to the film’s ending, highlighting the social differences between the heroes and those they save from the bandits. While they had a common enemy, they are now once again strangers.
Originally coming not long after his death, there is also an analysis of Kurosawa’s reception in the second half of his career, gradually being frozen out in Japan, and looking to international fans for support.
The BFI always having a strong connection with Kurosawa’s work, anything with the BFI stamp on it when it comes to Kurosawa is generally worth your while.
- Days to read: 10
- Days per book: 14.3
Seventeen and J (Kenzaburo Oe)
It’s fair to say these two early stories from the late Kenzaburo Oe are controversial, with the latter certainly likely to not win much favour in the contemporary West.
The opening short, “Seventeen”, is the easier to digest, charting a young man’s increased nationalistic and military outlook over his teenage years, resulting in joining various political movements. Feeling his voice unheard, a dramatic act is felt his only breakthrough
It is the second story, “J”, however, which is a more difficult one to get through. The mysterious “J” is a man of wealth, with a film director wife, who regularly holds get-togethers with other young people, often ending in more animalistic ways. Taking an excursion to a seaside town to shoot a young actress, the local villagers don’t want their sordid, urbane gatherings on their doorstep, and so try and force them out of town. His life subsequently moved on, he spends his days groping young women on trains, a ‘pastime’ he takes up with another man. Noticing another about to commit the crime, they stop him in the act and take him under their wing.
Early works in his career from the early Sixties, these are far from his best, but their influence can be felt. Hints of “J” can be found in early Ryu Murakami; while the unheard cries of youthful anger boiling over is an oft told tale. Predating “A Personal Matter”, “Seventeen” fits well alongside his other tales of a youth caught up in war, such as “Prize Stock” and “Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids” from a similar time. Indeed, this was very much his style in the early days, before family life became the main focus of his work.
“J”, however, is from his more sordid works, and very questionable form a moral standpoint. It is a selfish world of sexual gratification for the self, where men do as they please. Though still an issue today, it is an examination of those who commit the act.
These a very much finding his feet works, with shocking subject matters that many will struggle with. And they are far from easy. Though, much of Oe’s oeuvre is. With the sad news of his recent passing, I am pretty much towards the end of what is available in English of one of my favourite writers. Perhaps it will spark a call for more works to be translated: a writer whose work represents Japan from the Second World War onwards better than anyone else.
- Days to read: 14
- Days per book: 14.3
Territory of Light (Yuko Tsushima)
At a loose end with what to read next, I spied this on a bookshelf and was drawn to the cover. Then it turned out to be Osumu Dazai’s – a writer of whom I’ve read a single work – daughter.
This is an okay piece of writing, but not something I found to be particularly standout. A young single mother moves into an airy and bright apartment, where light shines through in all directions, and this relatively short novel plods along nicely enough.
Despite the light shining in on her daily, her life is fairly dull and repetitive due to her situation. She cannot live the life she would like, left by her husband who she chooses to keep out of her daughter’s life as much as possible. The light and height offered by her habitat, therefore, offer her some solace and hope. Her escape from the world.
- Days to read: 13
- Days per book: 14.3
The Crazy Iris (Kenzaburo Oe et al)
The late Kenzaburo Oe is a widely-known anti-nuclear campaigner, having written extensively about the bombs that ended the Pacific War. Here, he doesn’t write about them though, editing and introducing a selection of short stories about life after the bombs, some written by survivors themselves.
And quite a bumpy collection it is. Stories such as Mitsuharu Inoue’s “The House of Hands” take us a little away from the subject, and so do not really captivate, or are just a little dull. Katsuzo Oda’s “Human Ashes” with its diary account, however, is more direct and so are more memorable and impactful.
That is, however, the nature of the impact of such an event: it impacted on all who were in the geography, indiscriminate in who it touched. Lots of lives were affected, and so lots of stories are there to be told. Some will grab you more than others, therefore, so while it gives a broad picture, it won’t compel throughout.
- Days to read: 22
- Days to read: 14.3
We Should All Be Feminists (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
Bought as something of a joke present for me from a friend – who is one of those feminists we have these days now – this is a very short essay of one woman’s journey and the various interactions she has had that have shown her the various ways in which the world works, from growing up in a largely male household in Nigeria to the US.
It is written from a very simplistic viewpoint – perhaps so us there men can understand it – but to prove a point of just how silly the way the world works is. Sexism forces stereotypes and roles on men, as well as women.
This isn’t overtly lifechanging, therefore, but more a collection of anecdotes pointing out many of the world’s flaws, and perhaps to make you think a little before you act next time.
- Days to read: 3
- Days per book: 14.3
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