"MOSHI MOSHI" (Banana Yoshimoto)

吉本ばななさんの「もしもし下北沢」はイタリア、アメリカ、台湾、韓国、中国とこれまでに世界中で出版されています。わたしも大好きなこの物語、そして「下北沢」という街のことを世界中の人が想像するのだと思うとわくわく嬉しい気持ちになります。海外版でも、日本版と同じ絵を使って頂いていて、光栄です。

“A beautiful translation…Yoshimoto deploys a magically Japanese light touch to emotionally and existentially tough subject matter: domestic disarray, loneliness, identity issues, lovesickness…” ―ELLE

In Moshi Moshi, Yoshie’s much-loved musician father has died in a suicide pact with an unknown woman. It is only when Yoshie and her mother move to Shimokitazawa, a traditional Tokyo neighborhood of narrow streets, quirky shops, and friendly residents that they can finally start to put their painful past behind them. However, despite their attempts to move forward, Yoshie is haunted by nightmares in which her father is looking for the phone he left behind on the day he died, or on which she is trying― unsuccessfully―to call him. Is her dead father trying to communicate a message to her through these dreams?

With the lightness of touch and surreal detachment that are the hallmarks of her writing, Banana Yoshimoto turns a potential tragedy into a poignant coming-of-age ghost story and a life-affirming homage to the healing powers of community, food, and family.

2020年6月2日

Copyright © Mai Ohno