Book Review: --The Shadow of the Wind-- by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

~Despite my busy work schedule, I've found the time to finish a few novels this year. One of the best I've read so far has been "The Shadow of the Wind" by Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafón (the original title is "La Sombra del Viento").

"The Shadow of the Wind" is a book for those who love books. The story takes place in postwar Barcelona, Spain, where a young boy named Daniel is taken by his father to a fantastic place called the "Cemetery of Lost Books", where books lost to the rest of the world are preserved. Daniel is allowed to take one book with him, and chooses "The Shadow of the Wind" by an obscure author named Julian Carax.

Daniel's choice of book has a massive influence on his life. His attempts to learn more about the author are at first fruitless, and other people seem to take an undue interest in Daniel's choice of reading. Daniel finds himself pulled into a world of intrigue and danger as he digs deeper into the mystery surrounding Julian Carax. For me, the lines became blurred between the actual book that I was reading and the titular novel-within-the-novel, to the point that I had to actually look in the book to remember the actual author (Zafón), rather than the fictitious author (Carax).

It's great stuff, really, in the vein of "The Da Vinci Code" with infinitely better writing. The characters are superbly realized and actually develop, unlike a certain symbolologist and his albino nemesis. Another interesting aspect of "The Shadow of the Wind" is the setting. Most of the book takes place in Barcelona, but the city as described feels so incredibly real. It's a fascinating city of mist and decay, where a war-weary population lives out their lives in a sort of vague fear/detachment from the fascist regime of General Francisco Franco. The city really does come alive within the pages of the book.

Bear in mind that the book I read was an English translation from the original Spanish. I'm a bit leery of translations, but Lucia Graves, the translator, has done an absolutely stellar job. The prose flows along like a swift-flowing river and retains its lyrical, metaphor-loaded style. I especially like how the translation manages to retain the sense of dry humor that pervades the book.

If there's one flaw in the book, it's that it uses italicized flashback sequences in several places to reveal large portions of the backstory. The omniscient 3rd-person viewpoint of these flashbacks was a bit too revealing; I think revealing crucial plot details through the characters' own discoveries and actions would have been a bit more effective in drawing the reader deeper into the multiple mysteries that intertwine in the novel. Still, the paperback tops out at 506 pages, so perhaps the author was merely attempting to accelerate the plot and keep it from dragging out to much.

To summarize, the cover lists "The Shadow of the Wind" as a #1 bestseller, and it's a reputation well-deserved. If you like mysteries (calling all Dan Brown fans!) loaded with heavy doses of excellent writing, realistic characters, and a fascinating setting, then check out The Shadow of the Wind.
~Oyasumi!

Labor Thanksgiving Day

~ Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope those of you in America have had a pleasant (and punctual) journey to wherever your family is meeting, and enjoyed your visit. Unfortunately for me, teleportation remains in the realm of science-fiction, and I'll have to spend my Thanksgiving on the other side of the planet.

Interestingly, there is a Thanksgiving Day in Japan...and it's today, November 23rd! The official name of today's holiday is "Labor Thanksgiving Day", and it was originally a harvest festival called "niinamesai" (勤労感謝の日). The modern incarnation was established in 1948 to commemorate the year's labor and production (how Japanese!). It's the one day of the year when people actually look around and say, "Wow, we sure do work hard around here."

I'll be in Tokyo this weekend, so my holiday was mostly spent shopping for supplies. As for my Thanksgiving dinner, it consisted of...wait for it...rice! But it was good rice. ~Oyasumi!

Catch a Tiger by the Tail

~Anyone who's been reading this blog knows that I like monkeys. While searching the dark corridor's of the Internet, I found this video of the coolest damn monkey ever:


^ The above video gives "Catch a Tiger By the Tail" a whole new meaning! Astute viewers may recognize the monkey as a Gibbon like the ones I saw at the Ueno Zoo. He certainly seems to be having fun teasing those young tigers, doesn't he? Keep in mind that the stakes for this particular primate were a bit higher than getting a punch or two. Law of the Jungle, and all that.
~Oyasumi!

Coffee, Tea, A Push Off The Branch?: Coffee Review #1

~Hello again, fellow humans. Today's topic is a drink that's near and dear to the circulatory systems of millions around the globe, including almost everyone in Japan. That's right, I'm talking about coffee!

^ Canned coffee is readily available from vending machines and convenience stores all over Japan, in both hot and cold varieties. The above image is only a small sample of the brands available; these are brands that I've tried (and collected, obviously).

The workaholic nature of Japanese culture translates into a massive per-capita consumption of coffee (3.7 kg/person/year). Yes, there's the occasional Starbucks or local coffee shop, but the majority of coffee drunk in Japan is canned. To clarify, I never drank coffee before arriving in Japan, but as a worker drone I am now as dependent on it as the next person. The prices are quite good; I buy cans of this stuff at the supermarket for around 85 cents each. Since I'm too lazy to brew coffee myself, I consider this a bargain.

Today's review is of one of my favorite brands, BOSS W.E.B., which stands for "World Executive Blend". The "BOSS" brand is produced by Suntory, Japan's largest beverage producer, which also makes juice and whisky.

I'm the kind of person that's always reading cereal boxes, which carries over to these cans as well. The BOSS W.E.B. can also has a map, which earns it extra points in my book. The text on this can says, in surprisingly lucid English, that it's made from the best coffee beans produced in Latin America, Africa, and Indonesia.

Lest you think this to be merely a marketing ploy, rest assured that it's true. The market for canned coffee in Japan is so intensely competitive that bean farmers all over the world send their best coffee beans to Japan, because they know their buyers will only take the best.

The result is, in a word, oishii (delicious). BOSS W.E.B. is semi-sweet with a mild amount of milk, creating a rich and easy-to-drink brew. I prefer to drink it cold, although the hot version is good as well. Speaking of hot and cold, one way to tell when summer and winter arrive is to check the vending machines: many of the products sold are switched from the hot versions to their cold counterparts for summer, and vice versa for winter.

That's it for today's coffee review. Perhaps I'll review another brand if I find something exceptional. ~Oyasumi!