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it was, after all, much the same as being involved in a marriage negotiation.
The war years had turned her into a thin, ailing old woman.
she gave only the briefest of commiserations on hearing about my wife and about Kenji,
‘Father takes a lot of looking after now he’s retired,’ Noriko went on, with a mischievous grin. ‘You’ve got to keep him occupied or he starts to mope.’
She only remembers you from when you were a tyrant and ordered us all around. You’re much more gentle these days, isn’t that so?’
Getting their perspective on the dad
There’s no need to be afraid of him any more.
in a most noble posture, hands on hips, his shoulders flung well back.
Lol
The table’s so heavy I’m not strong enough to put that away on my own. I wonder who could help then?’ This brought Ichiro abruptly to his feet, and he went striding indoors without glancing back at us. Noriko laughed and followed him in.
Plays into gender stereotypes
For there can be no doubt, Setsuko is becoming better looking as she gets older.
Even as a child, Setsuko had rather masculine features,
Noriko was always able to get the better of her elder sister by calling her ‘Boy! Boy!’ Who knows what effect such things have on personalities?
thought she was play-acting a little,
The Miyakes, from what I saw of them, were just the proud, honest sort who would feel uncomfortable at the thought of their son marrying above his station.
and with all the talk these days of the new ways,
Indeed, I have never at any point in my life been very aware of my own social standing, and even now, I am often surprised afresh when some event, or something someone may say, reminds me of the rather high esteem in which I am held.
The privilege not to think of privilege
will exert every particle of my being to be worthy of your recommendation.
Sarcasm?
This visit – I must admit it – left me with a certain feeling of achievement. It
He does like the role of benefactor
it being no easy thing now to come across someone so untainted by the cynicism and bitterness of our day.
Sometimes he will even ask me questions relating to technique or style with all the eagerness of a young apprentice
I hope we learn more about the mc's art
declaring cheerfully of a general who had just been executed as a war criminal: ‘I’ve always admired that man since I was a boy.
Dealing with the aftermath of war
In fact, it is probably this very quality of Shintaro’s – this sense that he has remained somehow unscathed by things – which has led me to enjoy his company more and more over these recent years.
On the warmer evenings particularly,
Nostalgia
artists and writers lured by the promise of noisy conversations continuing into the night.
had played my own small part in the Migi-Hidari’s coming to so dwarf its competitors,
I would not myself have objected to his joining us, but there existed a strong sense of hierarchy amongst my pupils,
that Sensei
Interesting that they keep the third person grammar which is more awkward in english. Is it just for flavor or is it a bit sarcastic?
Masuji Ono.’
First time his name is mentioned
I experienced a warm glow of satisfaction.
On entering, one tends to be struck by the contrast between the bar counter, lit up by warm, low-hung lights, and the rest of the room, which is in shadow.
Artistic view
I remember looking around me with approval that first night, and today, for all the changes which have transformed the world around it, Mrs Kawakami’s remains as pleasing as ever.
anything provided she no longer had to live in the midst of a graveyard.
you might feel compelled to pause a moment and gaze at that wasted expanse before you.
And you may be able to make out the dark clusters of birds perched uncomfortably on the tops of the poles, as though awaiting the wires along which they once lined the sky.
:(
But I am digressing. I was trying to recall here details of Setsuko’s stay with us last month.
It ok man u r in an Ishiguro novel. Just embrace the MAD CHAOS of time and memory
It’s more interesting, more interesting by far, to pretend to be someone like Lord Yoshitsune.
You must forgive your Oji-san. He was forgetting for a moment.’
technique was not at all bad,
‘Father says you had to finish. Because Japan lost the war.’
‘No, that’s by an artist called Urayama.
‘Where are Oji’s pictures then?’ ‘They’re tidied away for the moment.
:(
‘English? Extraordinary. So that’s what it was.’
‘only a few years ago, Ichiro wouldn’t have been allowed to see such a thing as a cowboy film.’
‘Suichi believes it’s better he likes cowboys than that he idolize people like Miyamoto Musashi.
Tradition vs globalization
‘Well, Ichiro, have you told your aunt about tomorrow?’
Class A triangulation
occurred to me that evening was that Setsuko would have her own reasons for wishing to remain in the house with me.
Lolllll
Later in my life I was often to surprise colleagues with my ability to realize a scene on canvas based only on the briefest of passing glances; it is possible I have my father to thank for this skill, and the inadvertent training he gave my artist’s eye during those formative years.
Hm a complicated relationship with his own domineering dad
My sense of shame was matched only by a terrible fear
but I have never ascertained just why he put me through these ordeals.
‘You’ve brought all of them?’ he asked. ‘I’ve done as you instructed.’ I laid beside my father the pile of paintings and sketches I had been holding in my arms.
He gon burn them
And no doubt, Masuji, the missing paintings are the very ones you’re most proud of. Isn’t that so?’
