Details

Synopsis

»» Author's

»» Publisher

»» Taiwan

»» China

At the age of eight, the author was sent to live with his grandmother in Kyushu. Even though they were so poor that they didn't always even have enough to eat, the author has fond memories of his childhood thanks to his grandmother's indomitable spirit and ability to laugh whatever the circumstances.
This book is an account of his life with her and at elementary school and junior high. Interspersed with anecdotes about his grandmother, he relates his escapades with his friends and his love of running and later baseball, and how he achieved his dream of becoming the captain of the baseball team. Included are stories such as his "first love," which ends abruptly with a teenage angst that anyone will be able to identify with. It ends with the author having won a place in high school in Hiroshima that is not only famous for baseball, but will enable him to live with his mother once more. Mixed with his feelings of elation, however, is his sadness at leaving his grandmother.
In his prologue and afterwards, the author maintains that his childhood upbringing with his grandmother has shaped his view of life. He claims that today we live in the relative luxury regardless of the recession, and hopes that through his account of a happy life in real poverty readers will be able to reevaluate the way they live and learn to appreciate the simple things in life.

Category Level

Non-fiction
Humor

Editorial Review

This is a delightfully funny book, and a timely reminder to everyone who complains about being hard up. The author's story is, on the one hand, truly tragic - having lost his father when still a baby, he was separated from his mother at a young age to be brought up in the most extreme poverty. However, while confessing his childhood longings for his mother, he never allows himself to become sentimental, always managing to find something funny in the situation. Indeed, he goes on to triumph in his world, achieving the coveted position of captain of the school baseball team. His grandmother is an extraordinary figure - brave and tough, with a remarkable ability to survive on whatever means are available, yet at the same time kind-hearted and hilarious. The author's vivid account is so entertaining that you almost wish that you had experienced it for yourself, and reading it you have the opportunity to see your own life from a different perspective.

Table of contents

• Prologue
• Chapter 1 – Pushed Out
• Chapter 2 – From Poor to Poorer
• Chapter 3 – The Flashy New Pupil
• Afterword

About the Author

Yôshichi Shimada (real name Akihiro Tokunaga) was born in Hiroshima in 1950, and grew up in Saga, Kyushu. In 1975 he teamed up with Yôhachi Shimada to form the manzai-style stand-up comedy act B&B and won the NHK award for best manzai act of the year. They went from success to success, forming part of the so-called manzai boom of the eighties that first propelled Beat Takeshi to fame. These days he still appears on TV and in live performances around the country.