In Sendai, traffic lights are horizontal because it doesn’t snow that much (as confirmed by google streetview). At least I hope I got this right because I found this conversation a bit confusing! What I understood is that Sendai is not as cold as people think, and in fact the city is not well prepared in case of snow. Mami was not dressed enough for the cold, but only because she left with very little stuff as she was planning to go to her parents. She had actually steeled herself for a much harsher cold so she felt it wasn’t that bad when she got there.
.「息子さ聞いで」 means 息子に聞いて in 東北弁 (this is not an exact quote from the book, it was the actual son’s name instead 息子). I used 恋する方言変換 | BEPPERちゃんねる to get other “translations”. 「せがれに聞いで」 is 南部弁 or 津軽弁, 「息子に聞えて」 is 出雲弁, and 「息子に聞いてにゃ」 is obviously cat speak.
So Mami gets to finally live a more or less normal life around normal people who care about other things besides just getting married, and there’s also the obligatory “unsuitable” love interest. Good for her. This is all character growth she desperately needed, but at the same time it makes the book feel even more longwinded than it did until now. Is it a book about marrying, or a book about the aftermath of a tsunami and volunteer work? It feels too late to be introducing so many new people and opportunities. And seriously, has she never turned on her phone all this time? Has she never once contacted her parents or sister? Doesn’t she realize how worried they may be? Or aren’t they? They have been suspiciously cool about her disappearing, it’s true, but why not just call and say, hey, I’m taking a break, I’m okay, don’t look for me, all is well?
Yeah… when you put it that way it seems pretty far fetched. We’ll see if this gets addressed in the last part.
I don’t expect any big plot twists at this point, I feel like we already got the main one, but who knows?
Second to last quiz, get yours while you still can:
Your weekly dose of kanji reading: 石母田
いしほだ
いしぼだ
いしもだ
いしもた
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What is the average shoe size of women in Japan? (according to some guy’s ex girlfriend)
21.5
22.5
23.5
24.5
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What’s the most difficult part of map making?
Working alone without any company
Marking missing buildings with an X
Being interrupted by locals all the time
Walking for hours which puts a toll on your body
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Btw as I mentioned I’m in Japan right now and I actually saw a “book” of those super detailed maps the other day. I’m volunteering at a place that prepares and delivers bentos for elderly people. An (also elderly) volunteer was going to deliver to a new house, and was checking where it was and how to go there with those maps.
Yeah, all of that. Some of the new characters and situations were interesting (though the whole disaster recovery volunteering scenario feels a bit like the author putting their background research into the book), but it’s all rather late in the book for it to seem likely to be successfully tied off. And I didn’t much enjoy whenever Mami went back into “remembering scenes from her past” mode…
They’ve been portrayed as such a dysfunctional family I’d be rather more surprised if she did contact them. Had she tried to tell her mother, she would not have let it stand. She’d have questioned Mami and tried to get her to change her mind, get back with Kakeru so as not to lose him or even go behind her back to mediate. This mother has done nothing but invalidate Mami’s own agenda. Why would Mami risk any of that at such a vulnerable time? She’s not sure what she wants, but she knows she doesn’t want what her mother wants from her.
Of course it would have been nice to call and let her family know she’s safe. In a good, supportive family, where she’d feel safe sharing that much of herself. But I honestly think not doing so is better for Mami herself here. At the most, she could have called her sister and let her weather the storm of their mom’s entitlement. But I’m not sure they have such a good relationship either so she might not feel safe enough for that with her sister either.
Very good points. Mami never looked to me like she wanted to actually cut ties with her family, but I guess she knew what would follow if she opened up a communication channel. What surprises me more is how passive her parents have been about looking for her. They seem to not even consider she might be in danger. The worst fate in their eyes is not getting married apparently, that’s their only worry. Meanwhile I’d be out of my mind worrying she might be dead or being tortured, and would probably kill her myself when she resurfaced for all the heart attacks she needlessly gave me.
