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Can you imagine any of the Western powers allowing such a situation?
Yos
And no doubt these are the very paintings you are most fond of.’
Lollll rehashing the scene with the dad
He still gave no sign of having heard me.
So u notice when its not u
No doubt you have made arrangements.’ ‘As a matter of fact, I have made no arrangements whatsoever.
Lollll complacency inded
‘I am the man on whose information you have been brought here. I am Masuji Ono, the artist and member of the Cultural Committee of the Interior Department.
‘I had no idea’, I said, ‘something like this would happen. I merely suggested to the committee someone come round and give Mr Kuroda a talking- to for his own good.’
Indeed, sometimes Japan has come to look like a small child learning from a strange adult.’
‘Oji’s not to worry. Because if he worries, he won’t get to sleep. And if old people don’t sleep, they get ill.’
‘Noriko told me she was extremely puzzled by Father’s behaviour that night. It seems the Saitos were equally puzzled.
‘Taro-san was somewhat concerned Father should be so interested in Mr Naguchi’s death. Indeed, it would seem Father was drawing a comparison between Mr Naguchi’s career and his own.
we have all been somewhat concerned lately that Father is not becoming a little downhearted following his retirement.’
:( depression can take weird forms, including denial
Father was simply a painter. He must stop believing he has done some great wrong.’
‘Things have turned out very well. She’s now expecting a child in the autumn.
‘As a matter of fact,’ I said, ‘my elder daughter is expecting her second child next month.
Do you remember those arguments we used to have, just before you and Michiko-san were married?’
‘And tell me, Ono, are you painting these days?’ ‘A few watercolours to pass the time. Plants and flowers mostly, just for my own amusement.’
Awww
Well, it seems in the end neither of us had a broad enough view.’
Eeyup
‘We at least acted on what we believed and did our utmost. It’s just that in the end we turned out to be ordinary men. Ordinary men with no special gifts of insight.
‘The smell of burning still makes me uneasy,’ I remarked. ‘It’s not so long ago it meant bombings and fire.’
Oof a mega trigger for ono
His endeavours to bring European influence into the Utamaro tradition had come to be regarded as fundamentally unpatriotic,
But it is my fancy that the bench occupies a spot very close to where our old table in the Migi-Hidari would have been situated, and I have taken at times to sitting on it.
