皆さん、少し早いですがHappy Mother’s Day! 今日は母の日に見合う絵本を紹介します。2021年にCoretta Scott King Awards Honor とCaldecott Awards Honorを受賞した新しい絵本の名作、”Me & Mama“です。「私とママ」よりかは、「私と母さん」と自分はなんとなく略しました。とてもシンプルなタイトルなのに、深い愛情と暖かさを感じられます。今日はその魅力の何点かをshareします。
Amazing artist with a mission!
この絵本はCozbi A. Cabreraさんの作品です。実は絵本作家になる前に、彼女は様々なクリエイティブな仕事についています。あのSony Musicさんのデザイン・ディレクターとしても活動していたらしく、多くのアルバムカバーを手掛けたらしいです。その後、自分のパッションである人形作りをpursueし始めました。アンティークショッピングをしている時に気づいたことが, 黒人をrepresentする人形たちがおもしろおかしげにしか作られていないことを発見したからです。愛情が注がれていないような、人間ではないような感じがしたそうです。そこで彼女は、黒人の誇らしいカルチャーをちゃんと表した人形を自分で作り始めました。今では、あのOprah Winfreyもコレクターズアイテムとして買い集めているらしいです。彼女が手がける絵本も、愛情のこもっているのが分かります。その愛情の表現を子供が読む本のページに照明されていることが、素晴らしいと思います。それは、醜い差別社会に対してのパワフルな抗議だと思いました。
2. It’s all in the details!
Cabreraさんは洋服を作ることもしていて、彼女のプリントデザインのセンスがMe and Mamaのイラストを見るとわかります。ちょっとした細かいdetailがオシャレなんです。花柄のWall paper、「お母さん」が使う繊細なティーカップの形、そして語手の女の子が夜寝るときに上掛けとして使っているquilt。イラストの中で表現されている手作り感がストーリーをより暖かく包んでいます。
例えば、最初のsentence: “Good morning to you, sings Mama, bright as sun. Sometimes, she sings it like the birthday song.” これを略すと、「おはよう、と歌う母さん。お日さまのように眩しい。たまに、バースデーソングのように歌ってくれる」と言っています。[おはよう]の一言だけからでも、女の子の心がウキウキしていることが分かります。”… I want to be everywhere Mama is” で最初のページが終わります。「母さんのいるところには私もいつもいたい」という真っ直ぐな気持ちに感動しちゃいます。
その他のページでも、この女の子の表現力がすごい。窓の外は雨。その時に彼女は、「雲が影を着ている」「風が窓の外を水玉でペイントしている」など、自分の身の回りのものが生きているように語ります。そして彼女が夢の中で1日を振り返っている時も、最後に”There’ll be me and Mama” と言います。彼女のイマジネーションのパワーの源は「母さん」なんでしょう。そう私は読みました。
友達を探しに後ろからも前からも動物たちが歩いて行きます。そうするとどうでしょう。They meet in the middle! 本の真ん中で出会うことができます。本の真ん中が最後のページなんです。このように、本自体のデザインを活かして、まるで本の中のキャラクターが本の中にいることを意識しているかのように描かれている物語のことを「メタフィクション」、および “meta”と言います。こういうスタイルの本はアメリカの子供たちにもとっても人気です。
3. It’s a great introduction to Japanese and English onomatopoeia!
For those of you who answered “hell yeah!,” here’s a treat.
In honor of Yamachan and Aoi Yu’s big wedding announcement, I’m posting my own take on what Yamachan is saying on his beloved Yamachannel; a subchannel of Terrace House where he, alone, vents about all of the cast in the house without restraining himself (like he has to on the actual Netflix platform) while he recaps each episode. Since there weren’t any subtitles on this YouTube channel and there was no way for me to contribute translation on the clip, I decided to come up with my own version of what he is saying in a simple written document. This is the recap of the first episode of the newest season, “Opening Doors” in Karuizawa.
Just remember that these are not my words but of a genius monster with a sharp tongue and sweet disposition. That to me is Yamachan in a nutshell. Sweet and sour. God I love him. And I hope you learn to love him too after reading this, if you don’t already.
[Opening scene: Yama-chan commenting on the show and showing off his assholery]
Hi everyone, my name is Ryota Yamasato from Terrace House and this is the start of my Yama Channel for the Karuizawa season, episode one. So good to be back! This is a channel where I let go of my emotional brake pedal and express my uninhibited thoughts about what’s happening on the show — after all, I don’t want to see Tori-chan’s sad face when we’re on air together — and really get into the nitty gritty. So everyone, my hope is that you all go re-watch the first episode after you see me here so that you’ll know my true feelings about the different moments that I’m about to discuss.
Side note, I’m starting to realize that so many different people are watching Terrace House now. Just the other day, Ohta from Bakushou Mondai [a comedian from a popular manzai group] asked me why that stupid Taishi [from Hawaii season] kept on swinging around a Samurai stick like an idiot everyday. [Cut to an image of Taishi swinging around his stick]
Ohta is very emotionally engaged to Terrace House and he really has a soft spot for the show. He said that he was so into it that he even felt homesick for Japan when he was watching the Hawaii season. This made no sense to me at the time but I guess what he was trying to say to me was that he was that invested in the show. So that’s nice. He asked if he could be invited to be one of the commentators like me so I said to him: “Yes, of course, Ohta-san, I’ll let the producers know.” But we probably won’t invite him. I don’t want to risk him ruining everything.
Alright everyone, the first episode is here! First off, we have Ami Komuro [cut to an image of Ami].
She is a 20 year old aspiring model. There’s no one more basic than her on this planet. She’s someone who is pretty but doesn’t have a job. This show is often used by aspiring models as a huge stepping stone for their careers, so my guess is that she’ll do the same.
Then, we have Mizuki who is a freelance writer and a translator [cut to an image of Mizuki].
She lived in Korea for two and a half years and writes columns that introduce Korean cosmetics to Japan. So that’s impressive and she seems very mature. But my first impression of her, seeing the way she awkwardly interacted with her housemates with intense eye contact and weird intros, gave me concerns for a hot second. I just had a feeling that she may end up being disliked by everyone in the end.
Next, we have Tsubasa [cut to an image of Tsubasa].
She is an ice hockey player and is absolutely flawless. She is such a nice person. If she was your classmate in school, she would be the type of person you can count on to bring everyone together. And if I was her classmate, I would nickname her: ‘the Momma.’
On to the male housemates. We have Shion — Shaaawn [cut to image of Shion].
He aspires to walk the Paris runway. He is half Japanese and half American. He is 190 cm tall [6’2]. His purpose of joining Terrace House is to get more attention and special treatment. You fxxxing bastar … I mean excuse me, I almost went off at him there. Shion, haven’t you already gotten enough admiration in your life with your impeccable visual specs? Even with the amount of attention that I’m sure he has received [as a half model in Japan] over the years, it is not enough. No, he wants more admiration by being on the big screen so he can widen his influence even further. He is so selfish. I suspect that in his next life, he will come back as a dirty insect.
And then there’s Nakamura, whom I nicknamed “Dignified Super Mario” [cut to image of Takayuki].
He’s 31, the oldest of the group, and is a professional snowboarder. Winter sports is hot so his stock should go up and he may even win over a girl’s heart. But being the oldest, I fear that he will try too hard to bring everyone together and end up becoming the caretaker of the house. And eventually, the girls will friend-zone him as the “nice guy” but they won’t look at him romantically. He will get discouraged, and in the end, he’ll probably quit at an awkward timing. So yea, I’m a little worried about him.
Lastly, someone with the most potential, the Ace of Spades, at the young age of 19: Yuudai Arai [cut to image of Yuudai].
When I saw him on screen, I smelt it all over him. I just had one thought: “oh he’s dumb.” I anticipate him causing a dramatic storm in the house. He’s indulgently unique.
I’m sure you can tell now that I am very pleased with the six people who were brought together here. I look forward to making friends with all of them.
So, let’s begin with what happened in the first episode. A really great question came up during dinner which was, ‘what is your type romantically?’ to which Ami answered in the best way that I’d hoped for. Just right on the money for me [cut to image of Ami announcing her romantic type].
She said, “Ami’s type is…”
— Oh sidenote, she calls herself by her own name. She’s one of those —
So any way, she said “Ami’s type is someone who doesn’t have any interest in me.” This is really something. Someone with a lot of confidence can only say this about herself. The subtext here is ‘I like someone who doesn’t like me at first because normally, people can’t help but fall in love with me and immediately approach me. It’s so rare when someone doesn’t take interest in me at all. Like who would actually have the guts to talk to me? ME!’
But no no no. Girl, no one’s interested. Oh, the audacity for you to say that you’re only interested in a guy who doesn’t get fazed by someone as “amazing” as you.
She also added that she cools off once the guy ends up liking her. In that moment, I knew this:
Hey, everyone, this is when I kick off the real Yama-channel!!
It’s like when you ring the bell to begin a wrestling match. Gong! She’s done with the guy when he shows interest?? There’s nothing I hate more than girls who play games! “Oh I only like guys when they don’t like me. When they do, it gets too heavy and then I just release them!” Like what?! Do not think that you can play games with the black bass, Ami.
[Yamachan then goes off on a mad rant about how he plans to go to a pond near her parents’ house and mess with its ecosystem]
I guess Ami grew up thinking that this kind of thinking is socially acceptable, but she should know that this will only fly within her small community. As they say — big fish, little pond. I would advise her not to think of herself as more than a big fish in a puddle, and not to pretend that she knows anything about being in the big wild ocean out there.
Moving on. Wow, Professor Yuudai. He’s so different from the others. His romantic type is: ‘someone who can take care of him and everything around him.’ What a shock. I thought maybe he just has a really close relationship with his grandmother because he mentioned that she applied for a spot in Terrace House on behalf of him. He must really love his grandma, how sweet. But it turns out that he is a grandma. He actually needs elderly care. He says that people tell him that he’s like a puppy. That’s a lot.
[cut to image of the three boys in their bedroom]
And then when the boys moved into their bedroom, Yuudai was asked about the stuffed animal pandas [cut to image of the two pandas.]
He said he sleeps with both of them all the time. The name he gave one of them is Yukari. There are three possible scenarios involving these pandas here.
1) Yuudai wanted to show how adorable he is by showing his pandas.
2) Yuudai is actually adorable.
3) Yuudai wanted to use the pandas to construct his character on the show as the cute boy in the house.
I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s number three. Here’s why. He did not have a name for the other panda.
Yuudai, you freakin’ idiot, you didn’t finish your homework on solidifying your cute-guy-of-the-house character narrative before coming on the show!
At this point, I’m actually not sure if Yuudai is smart or dumb. Maybe he is calculating and smart on some level. But maybe he’s also stupid for not being able to carry out his plans.
So that’s the beginning of episode 1 of Karuizawa. I wonder what’s going to unfold throughout the show. I have a feeling Ms. Ami hasn’t really shown her true claws yet. She hasn’t reached her full potential. Or maybe I’m completely wrong about her. If that turns out to be the case, I’ll apologize. I’ll call her Ami-chan [adding ‘chan’ after a name shows affinity towards that person] and I’ll say “I was wrong, Ami-chan.You are actually a very pure person and … [long pause]”
Naw, she’s definitely not pure.
There are so many girls out there who say the same thing Ami said: ‘I want someone who can correct me when I’m wrong.’ Girls who say this usually get mad and smash-punch you when you correct them. “Why are you saying that to me?” they’d say. They’d look down at you at a sharp 45 degree angle with half of their eyes closed and say “Yah? Oh really? Uh huh? Say wah?” and undermine you. Also, they’d only accept scolding from guys who are really rich or hot. If guys like me went up to them, all they’d feel are annoyance and anger. Am I right? Yea, you know I’m right! Bring it, XXX [I think the most fitting word to insert here is ‘biatches’]!!!
You can take Chako out of Japan, but you can’t take Japan out of Chako.
As an accidental Japanese transplant based in Boston, I’ve recently realized that the bulk of my daily life revolves around scavenging for pieces of my original home. Whether that may be through consuming food, culture, and something weird and awesome, I try to find ways to stay rooted. Here, you’ll find a curated guide to some of my findings in my pursuit of bridging the gap between Japan and the states for that real connection.
ボストンベースの日本人として、日本食・日本文化・日本の色々な面白い情報を取り入れていきたい。そして伝えきれない日本語のニュアンスも英語に変えていき、より多くの人たちに広めていきたい。知ってもらいたい。そんな気持ちで始めた、チャコの生活をバイリンガル系に綴るブログです。Conversational english を学びたい方などにはお役に立てるかも。
The Daily Chako ｜ チャコの日々 