Goda Mamora, Mori no Asagao (郷田マモラ、モリのアサガオ）)

  Maybe you don't know, but Japan is the one of the country which has had capital punishment. And many Japanese feels a little bit uneasy, but think that it is necessary to remain this type of punishment(www.moj.go.jp/content/000023824.pdf). However, most ordinary citizens know nothing about Japanese capital punishment. One of the main reasons for that is a policy of MOJ. MOJ remains to keep silence on how they enforce various punishments, including death penalty, as possible as they can. This is called 'Gyokei Mikkou Syugi', in Japanese（http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A1%8C%E5%88%91%E5%AF%86%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%BB%E7%BE%A9）.So, capital punishment is one of the area of secret in Japan.
　Goda Mamora's this work is a challenge to reveal and explore to this secret area, through the eye of a young prison guard who happens to be assigned to a death-row in Osaka.  This young man, Naoki Oikawa got shocked on its real life of convicts, deep sorrow, suffering, agony  of victims and their families, and severe face of Japanse cirminal institutions. From the beginning to the end of this seven-volume manga, he keeps questioning, gets confused, suffers from many contradiction, cries about distress of death-row convicts... and dicover a slight hope.
  Fiction sometimes has a great power. Goda Mamora's work should make you re-realize that.  

Hirakata Ikorusun, Naruhodo（平方イコルスン、成程）

   The title of this manga, Naruhodo means 'Oh, I understand ' in Japanese, but this is one of the most un-understandable short slapsticks in recent japanese manga.
　Firstly, every stories in this volume contains some very unusual situation. For example, in 'Totteoki no Wakizashi( Japanese dagger as a trump )', women in this world seem to be permitted to resolve the trouble by duel. However, the author never explain this extraordinary world-settings. So we get confused, 'What the hell is this? What's happening in this?'. And as story goes, we finally get the idea about what is it about, the story ends abruptly.
   Sounds terrible? but you may not believe, this weired, short, reader-unfriendly slapsticks are incredibly funny! Try it!

Here's the author's website.
http://blog.livedoor.jp/love_cry/

Pixiv site.
http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=70277

C82 Doujin Softs Round Up

Recently I've visited C82, as you may know, it's biggest festival of Japanese Pop Cultures. My aim is Doujin Softs(as you may know, nearly Japanese indie games. But Doujin Games or Softs≠ Japanese indie games).

This video is C82 Doujin Softs Round Up made by えーでるわいす which is one of most famous Doujin Game circle. 

I've bought some Doujin Softs, but stockpiled(in the Japanese language "積みゲー" sound "tsumi-ge") most of them....

So I will write about them in this blog. Maybe I wil.

New taxation act has passed.

ねじまき少女 上 (ハヤカワ文庫SF)
パオロ・バチガルピ 鈴木康士

I've read Nejimaki-syoujyo(The Windup Girl, written by Paolo Bacigalupi) . This book is widely known as a new great cyber-punk SF. I agree it is splendid novel, but i wonder if it is a SF...
  First of all,  it is not so fictional. The stage is near-future Thailand, but political situation is so much like real Thailand.

氷菓 (角川文庫)
米澤 穂信 上杉 久代


I finished the Koten-bu(classic literature club) series by Honobu Yonezawa .
I'm not a fan of mystery novels, but this series are pretty good.

Honobu Yonezawa always picks up relatively small incidents such as 'who locked the door?', or  'why a certain book is rent on certain days?'. but these initially seemingly trivial matters finally turned out to have surprisingly meaning.

And characters he made are slightly different from ordinary mystery hero or heroin. They are, more or less, hesitate to behave like a detective.For example, Kobato Jotarou, the main character of the other series by Yonezawa, always does NOT try to solve problems around him. Moreover, He wants to live as a syo-shimin(an ordinary citizen) , and believe that running into troubles and trying to resolve it are  unsuitable behavior as sho-shimin.

test, test.