What I talk about when I talk about running.(村上春樹)　10/15/2010
　I would go so far as to say that this is the runner's bible and so is it to me. I found I had so much in common with Haruki as a city runner, which makes me pleased. I think Haruki has something special in his philosophy of life, but has nothing special in his philosophy of running, for which I repect him all the better.
　He once was a serious runner, claiming to have run every day and 300km a month. He reached his zenith at the age of 40 when he finished in 3 and a half hours in races several times. I might as well say I have almost the same running history as his.
　What I like most about this book is that he presented the answer to the questions I've often been asked ー Why do you run? What are you thinking while running?
　In this book are right answers to the questions non-runners are likely to ask, to which I am much obliged.

The miracle Harry Potter and I shared
(ハリーポッターと私に舞い降りた奇跡)10/13/2010
　I was so much impressed with this book, written by Yuko Matsuoka, that I could identify with her way of life. Every one of her episodes has given me enough courage to step forward and to try something innovative. I've learned from her that there is no futile effort in life and life is something like an unpredictable jigsaw puzzle. It is not until the jigsaw puzzle is completed that we can realize the whole picture of it. I think the genius is reffered to as the ability to keep making effort.

漢文力(加藤徹) 6/9/2010
　This is a book Dr. Yamaoka at Ehime Prefectural Central Hospital, recommended to me. To tell the truth I didn't have much interest in Chinese classics and I had no idea why he picked it up of all the books; however, it didn't take me half an hour to find the book truly worth reading. This book claims that Chinese classics already offered the answers to various problems modern people are faced with and gives some tips for who we are, what the life and death are, what the life after death is like, and etc.

　In fact I felt totally refreshed after I read some chapters of the book - it is as if some of my worries were thrown away. I am encouraged to do what I really want to do for the rest of my life. The author seems to tell me that I have made the right choice. Now I'm much obliged to Dr. Yamaoka for recommending this book.


The Great Gatsby　5/11/2010
　It takes much more time to read The Great Gatsby than the books I’ve ever read and I like this book all the better for it. There are a plethora of sentences and phrases as if studded with jewels in it. When I came across such sentences I found it quite hard to proceed to read, glued to its enchantment. I tasted it again and again until I was fully able to extract genuine pleasure out of it and digest it.  

　Tom and Miss Baker … strolled back into the library, as if to a vigil beside a perfectly tangible body, ….
　They were, at least, agonizingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity and convinced that it was theirs for a few words in the right key.

　Reading this kind of books requires not just competency in English but the best possible imagination. It is more of picturizing what we learned from the book. When we fail to visualize the story we’ll fail to enjoy it. The Great Gatsby is a book I want to read several times and it won’t fail me.

Sherlock Holmes 3/15/2010
　"Sherlock Holmes", starring Rober Downey Jr. and Jude Law, offered a totally different image of characters from what I've had for them. They sure are a new type of superheros. I appreciate the director Guy Ritchie's bold challenge of reimaging that makes the famed sleuth a daring man of action as well as a peerless man of intelligence. I assure you Sherlock Holmes �U comes out.

The Lost Symbol 2/12/2010

I can't stop reading once I started. I bet you, too.

The Catcher in the Rye 2/12/2010

　I bought a translation of this book by Haruki.
　"He was two years younger than I was but was fifty times as intelligent."
　 I think Holden uses very simple and clear-cut way of description: not twice as intelligent nor very intelligent, but fifty times! His brother Alli must have been more than a genius or Holden must have been very stupid.
　Another way of his description is the way he told how red Alli's hair was. He said, "He was sitting there, about a hundred and fifty yards behind me, watching me tee off. That's the kind of red hair he had. "
　He didn't just try to use any metaphor to describe the red hair: red as blood, setting sun, pomato juice and so on, but tried to teach us in a unique dimension- You could have seen his red hair even from such a far-distant place.
　This is what I really love about the book.

The Catcher in the Rye
　"Do you feel absolutely no concern for your future, boy?"
　"Oh, I feel some concern for my future all right. Sure. Sure, I do." I thought about it for a minute. "(1)But not too much, I guess. Not too much, I guess."
　"You will," old Spencer said. "(2)You will, boy. You will when it's too late."
　
　(1) The repetition of the same phrase in the original could result in the same tactics in translation, as well. 　Hakuki, however, avoided this awkwardness, which I really appreciate.
　(2) Instead of present tense, Haruki used present perfect tense for the phrase when it's too late., which, I think, best fits asr its translation.「でもそのときにはもう手遅れになっておる。」)

The Catcher in the Rye
　I compared the two translations, one by Nozaki Takashi and the other by Haruki. The most impressive part of Haruki's translation I've read so far is putting "boy?" into "Ahmu" or "あ〜む", for which Nozaki gave "Boya" or "坊や."
　"Boya"is within the scope of my assumption, while Ahmu is not.　Who but Haruki on earth could think of giving "Ahmu" to "boy"?　He must have thought Holden felt something provoking and exasperating about the term "boy", which old Spencer used too often in their conversation. Haruki, I think, tried to find another patronizing Japanese word which really gets the boy's nerve.　Iｔ had to be something other than "坊や."