Book Break / 本の紹介

Just in case you thought I was slacking off on reading books in Japanese, fear not, I'm keeping in practice. This is Ayumu Takahashi's latest book - "Island Story". He is currently my favorite Japanese writer (because his sentences are short and they're easy for me to read), and I love his topics and the pictures that he takes. Yes, this is more like a photo essay than anything. If you've been following my book posts, you would know this is my fifth Takahashi book. I find his life story fascinating. In his twenties he started his own western style rock bar. That became a success. He then opened a couple more and those became successes. So he wanted to start something new. He decided to write a book about opening a rock bar, but since he couldn't sell his story, he decided to start up his own publishing house. That became a success. Instead of wallowing in his success, he got married and then went on an around the world trip with his new bride (which spawned another book). Now, his latest project was to create a self-sufficient village in Okinawa which is the core story of this particular title. But as always, once he succeeds at his little project, he tends to pass it on to friends, and starts a new project from zero. As of November 23, 2008, to celebrate his ten year anniversary with his wife, he has once again set out to travel around the world, not only with his wife but with their two kids in tow as well. I'll be looking forward to reading about that adventure once he finishes writing it.

If you're interested and able to read Japanese, you may want to check out his website - "AYUMU CHANNEL" at http://www.ayumu.ch/index.html

最近日本の本を紹介してない為、もしかして僕は読んでないと思う人もいるかも知りません。でも、ちゃんと挑戦つづいてます。今回紹介する作品は高橋歩の最新作「アイランド・ストーリー：終わらない夏の物語」。高橋歩は僕が一番気に入ってる日本人の作家。文章は読みやすいし、写真も綺麗。書籍と言うより、フォトエッセイと言ったほうが良いかな。彼が送ってる人生が素晴らしい。二十代で仲間とロックバーを開け、それが成功したら、それを捨てて、また新たな挑戦をする。次はロックバーをオペンするまでの本を書きましたが、中々売れなくって、それで自分の出版社を成立。それも成功したら、それを捨てて、結婚して、新妻と二年間近くの世界一周の旅に出る。（その話の本になりました）。今回のプロジェクトは沖縄で自給自足の村を作るとゆう壮大な計画。これが成功するまで結構時間がかかったらし。そのすべての話がこの本に詰まってます。面白いですよ。現在高橋歩は結婚十周年の為に、２００８年１１月２３日から、妻と子供二人で無期限の世界一周にまた旅に出ました。

興味ある方はネットで「AYUMU CHANNEL」をご覧になって下さい。

http://www.ayumu.ch/index.html