Kageyama-san suggested taking the Katou sisters out for lunch yesterday, so we did. Here are the self-styled “Soul 兄弟”.
And the Katou sisters. Other than my own, I don’t think I’ve met a nicer bunch of sisters. Look how nice they look.
After which we had a pleasant stroll round Shokokuji (here’s an elephant):
And of course no day is complete without Karaoke. We even persuaded Kageyama to sing one of his (in)famous Queen renditions.
Now in between teaching English, deciphering classical Japanese poetry, carousing and hanging out with the Katou sisters (who have now sadly gone back to Tokyo) I’ve been reading this:
What is the What is a novel by David Eggers, written in the style of an autobiography and based on the true account of Valentino Achak Deng of his life as a refugee in the Sudanese civil war. Here’s a brief synopsis:
Back in the 1980s, thousands of child refugees were displaced from their homes and wandered hither-and-thither in search of security, all the while in danger of attack by big scary animals and even scarier people… They went first to Ethiopia and then when war broke out there too, to Kenya where many of them were settled in a refugee camp for at least a decade. Finally, about 4000 of these “Lost Boys” were resettled in the USA where they dreamed they would find work, get an education and save enough money to help their families and friends back in Africa. But even then, the challenges they faced were immense….
This is a wonderful book. If you read it you will be amazed by the spiritual strength of the Sudanese refugees, who suffer terribly from hunger, disease, war and atrocity upon atrocity only to keep struggling, to keep walking, to keep offering each other the hand of kindness. Valentino Achak Deng himself comes across as such a likeable guy that by the end of the book I felt kind of lonely… So sad to say goodbye. Yes, a wonderful, if heartbreaking book. Heartbreaking beyond belief in fact. Read it yourself and see. I definitely recommend it. Oh and money raised from sales will go to help Sudanese refugees in both Africa and America. Only available in hard-back now though. But dead good. Go on, buy it.
Now from another corner of the African continent, Udo Bartsch has sent me some pictures of the kids he’s trying to build an orphanage for. I wrote about this before but so far only one person has voiced any interest, and that was Val Chew, (Malaysia’s own answer to Mother Theresa - only better looking… and alive). So maybe these pictures of cute chislings will stir some sympathy in your cold cold stony hearts. As I said before, you can email me if you want to contribute some money, and I can send you the bank account details, or you can email Udo directly here: udobart@yahoo.co.uk
And remember, these children have no other place to go, some have been abused, even raped and they don’t always have enough to eat either. No children should suffer so much and I’m going to keep hammering on about it till you cough up some loot!
I picked this up in Neutron Cafe last weekend on the same friend’s recommendation. Now I find reading long articles in Japanese somewhat overwhelming, but these little thought-provoking poems are ideal for quiet study when you have a few moments to kill. Here’s one that I particularly liked, because I think we’ve all experienced this kind of pointless relationship:
