下北沢について (幻冬舎単行本)

by Banana Yoshimoto, 吉本 ばなな

あなたがたった一人のヒーローになるためには？

試練の時にこそ心に効く、１９の癒しの薬。

高校受験の帰り道、父と歩いた下北沢の商店街。歩くのが速い父が、少しゆっくりペースを落として楽しそうに街を散策していたーー。思い出の地に住むことになった著者が、下北沢で出会った人やお店を通して見つけた、幸せな生き方とは。試練の時にこそ効く、１９の癒しのエッセイ。「選べなかったほうの人生を夢見ることはできない。でも、選べなかった人生が私に微笑みかけてくれるとき、いつでもその人生に恥じないようにあることはできるかもしれない。」（本文より）

Genres: Japanese Literature

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Banana Yoshimoto (よしもと ばなな or 吉本 ばなな) is the pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto (吉本 真秀子), a Japanese contemporary writer. She writes her name in hiragana. (See also 吉本芭娜娜 (Chinese).)

Along with having a famous father, poet Takaaki Yoshimoto, Banana's sister, Haruno Yoiko, is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. Growing up in a liberal family, she learned the value of independence from a young age.

She graduated from Nihon University's Art College, majoring in Literature. During that time, she took the pseudonym "Banana" after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous."

Despite her success, Yoshimoto remains a down-to-earth and obscure figure. Whenever she appears in public she eschews make-up and dresses simply. She keeps her personal life guarded, and reveals little about her certified Rolfing practitioner, Hiroyoshi Tahata and son (born in 2003). Instead, she talks about her writing. Each day she takes half an hour to write at her computer, and she says, "I tend to feel guilty because I write these stories almost for fun."

Reviews

[Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading 下北沢について, I could feel the harmony between the cleanliness of Banana Yoshimoto’s writing and the intensity of emotion within it. She always tells seemingly trivial little stories in such a calm tone, but they manage to evoke a powerful sense of resonance.

Although this was my first time reading Banana Yoshimoto’s work, I saw glimpses of myself. We try very hard to live in the present, but we are often pulled back by a fleeting moment, a passing scene, a person, a line someone said, or even just walking down a street from childhood. Suddenly we find ourselves drawn into a whirlpool of memories, with ripples of emotion and a vague sense of sorrow rising to the surface. We start to think about how strange the bond of feelings can be, how sadness sometimes lies in time that can never return, or wonder what the version of ourselves who made a completely different choice might be doing now.

But I think what Banana Yoshimoto’s writing also shows me is that she always manages to sort through these feelings, whether joyful, sorrowful, or angry, gently place them in her words, clearly and tenderly. With a calm but unwavering attitude, she faces everything with quiet optimism.

To me, reading this book is like a light, healing journey. Beneath the seemingly simple language, I felt an indescribable sense of comfort.

[Tavis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3/5

Banana Yoshimoto’s “Shimokitazawa ni tsuite” is a little collection of essays and musings about how Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa neighborhood has shaped her life and choices. In this collection, Shimokita sometimes takes the forefront, sometimes feels like a faint whisper, but nevertheless remains a constant presence. Now a trendy town filled with vintage shops and bustling cafes, Shimokitazawa has gone through tremendous and rapid change, and Yoshimoto gives us a glimpse into what her personal Shimokitazawa was like and currently is to her (I would have loved to visit the bookstore she mentions in one of her essays). The overall tone of the collection is tinged with sadness and loneliness but is at the same time filled with positivity and strength. I wouldn’t say this collection had an impact on me personally, but I still enjoyed reading it. This is actually the first book of Yoshimoto’s I’ve finished (I read Kitchen but never got to the second story), so I’m excited to read more from her.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I should make a point of reading Yoshimoto Banana's work in the original Japanese moving forward. I read the English translations of Goodbye Tsugumi and Kitchen and found them lacking substance, which is something that seems to occur a lot with translated Japanese fiction. The one exception that springs to mind immediately is Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. But anyway.

I stupidly went into this thinking it was fiction, and it wasn't until about two essays in that I realised that a) each 'chapter' is actually an essay and b) it's actually nonfiction--memoirs, if you will. I was charmed by her recollections of the people and neighbourhoods that she encountered, mainly in Tokyo and Kyoto, and although some of her observations are very much geared towards a Japanese audience (she name-drops some celebrities and I think I recognised maybe two names out of at least a dozen), the sentiments she shares about place and belonging and the feeling of home and the bittersweet sensations of moving house are universal.

[Luca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Piacevole raccolta di racconti e osservazioni personali sul quartiere di Shimokitazawa, una delle aree più hipster di Tokyo. La forma del racconto breve, dell'articolo di giornale e della pagina di diario si sposa alla perfezione con lo stile di Banana Yoshimoto che libera dalle cesoie della trama fa quello che le riesce meglio: raccogliere impressioni evanescenti, note ai margini della vita e osservazioni sull'essere umano infarcite di micidiali descrizioni di piatti mangiati al ristorante, ricette casalinghe e giardinaggio fai da te.

[Yuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

書腰上寫著：「想要好好生活，也想要追求喜歡的事物。⋯有個自己的所在，在下北澤，那就是自由。」

2021年是總結個人經驗的一年，嘗試用療癒的方式為自己找到訴說的方法，而這本書，讓我從痛徹心扉的撕裂中，重新感知隱匿已久的溫柔與初心。能找回這樣的自己真的很感激，謝謝吉本芭娜娜。（高中時和《雛菊的人生》相遇，也是一樣的心情啊）

[marcia]

DNF'ed @ page 59.

[Congyue Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s something deeply moving about how Banana Yoshimoto writes the mundane, like hearing the sound of a little pig stomping upstairs every day.

[Ryo · Rating 4 out of 5]

「雖也有很多場所讓本來開心的事變得悲傷，但靠著同樣的力量，也有些場所讓悲傷的事變得開心。」

這本小說是在講關於東京下北澤街區如何影響作者的一生以及形塑她的生活和想法。

當初會買這本是因為看了”孤獨搖滾”，對下北澤這個線蟲聚集的地方感到很有興趣，以前我是蠻不喜歡東京這個城市，人多又擠，然後生活在那裡的人看起來又很不好相處，但是看了動畫後，發覺東京的各個小區都有自己的小故事，就抱著想了解一個地區的心情來閱讀此書。

現在的下北澤，是一個充斥的二手古董店和各種文青咖啡店的潮潮街區，它和東京其他的街區一樣，曾經歷過巨大且迅速的變化，透過作者的筆下讓我們看見過去和現在的下北澤街區有什麼不同，雖然在故事的整體上看起來有些念舊的味道存在，但並非以充滿感傷的眼光看待變遷，而是以一種期盼的眼光來面對城市的種種變化。

作者在書中介紹很多下北澤的景點，大部分都是書店和咖啡廳，有點意外的是，也有提到Shelter 這家live house (孤獨搖滾裡的STARRY的原型)，所以說，有機會去下北澤的話，不妨可以去看看樂團演出🤓