Jiahan/Cindy Lyu's Blog post for 10/25

The Little Woods in Fukushima: This is a quite serious text to read this week, quite different from other stories we read. It is kind of like a biography that encapsulates the author and his relatives' life experiences, great traumas, and human efforts to reach a reconciliation of peace. As earthquakes, increase of competition in markets, and nuclear meltdown took turn to happen in Fukushima Prefecture, people's life are challenged and they strived to make a living. In face of those great, inevitable disasters, the writer by his text, poses a resilience shining in human nature. All is so difficult to deal with, which makes people think of suicide and all those negative things, but still, they are trying to get things done, and to get the broken part sewed together once more. And the author's description of mass media's artificial tragedy and fishing somehow hold the seriousness of matters from public eyes, which lead to a certain degree of public indifference, is painful to read.

The Easy Life in Kamusari: I enjoy the writing style of Shion Miura as I read this short story. It is as if that I was watching an anime movie, and his sense of humor often makes me smile while I was reading it. Certain aspects of the story sometimes even make me feel unreal and fantastic, such as the setting of a mountain forestry which has no internet at all. And I am fascinated by such a town as Kamusari.

Memory Police: This novel has an interesting theme focused on disappearance of things. It is also scary. I think that the author might be alluding at something, but I am not able to figure it out. I am looking forward to discuss this piece in class.