Reading

One of the nice things about Singapore is that you get a lot of SE Asian and East Asian "cultural offerings".  Kinokuniya is not too far from my brother's place and it has a much larger stock of titles from the region (including Indian titles) than I ever saw in Australia.  I have been bingeing a bit on translated Japanese books, mostly from the early 20th century and I truly haven't had enough of them whether it is Tanizaki, Dazai or Soseki. There is a lot of non-fiction too, e.g. Essays in Idleness that I haven't got around to. Suffice it to say that one can send a few hours browsing titles.

I haven't read much contemporary Japanese literature, bar Banana Yoshimoto (many happy hours spent at Melbourne University devouring her books).  Almost all contemporary literature shelves are taken up by Murakami, a writer I have never taken to. So when I spotted Strange Weather in Tokyo, I decided to give it a spin. Like so many Japanese books I have read it is written with a spare simplicity but never feels facile or lightweight. Unfolding in bars and trips where a good deal of food and copious amounts of alcohol are consumed, it traces the growing affection between a 30 something woman in the city and the much older teacher she meets by chance. Though not as hypnotic and more quotidian than Banana Yoshimoto, it draws you in and you have finished it in one slow but constant gulp, at one point I was reading it while walking to and fro from the station:) Next up, Manazuru!

Like with Murakami, I don't get the appeal of graphic novels aka comic books either.  I don't mean to diss them but they are just not my thing. Of course the Japanese produce a LOT of this, Kinokuniya in its English section itself has titles that run into several books.  But I was attracted to Oishinbo (Japanese Cuisine) - a bit strange given my usual reaction to books about the preparation of food is:

It turned out to be quite fun, an easy read. informative but never weighed down by descriptions of food. Though getting the hang of right to left reading takes a few pages. And what is with fictional Japanese and Korean fathers, on the 1 to 10 bastards scale, they are doing an admirable job holding up the 10 end:) 

K-Drama Overload

Eun-chan and food

I feel like I have watched one too many Korean dramas. This was partially because I was knocked out by a minor illness for nearly a month and it was an easy watch to while away the hours. In retrospect it wasn't a huge number of dramas though sufficient to pick up Korean TV tropes:)  Hello My Teacher and Pasta was largely because of my Gong Hyo-jin love (I first saw her in this segment on a flight, nothing special about the segment but I noticed her and I have liked her in almost everything I have seen, the best of her work being Crush and Blush). Hello My Teacher's "noona romance" was cute and I surprisingly liked Pasta's depiction of a somewhat sadomasochistic romance. I tried Lovers in Prague (what's with lame Korean drama titles-and let's never speak of the soundtracks) but gave up despite it starring one of my favourite Korean actresses, Jun Do-yeon.  But the best was reserved for the last, Coffee Prince. It was one of those dramas that suffuse one with a happy feeling at the end, kind of like watching 17 episodes of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (though the lead actor reminded me more of Shahrukh).  It's a great ensemble cast, where the casting is right for even the small parts.  And it has a secondary romance with a girl who doesn't go in for simpering innocence or fidelity. And it is based on a novel - novels that are rooted in genres (in this case romantic fiction and with more than a nod to Shakespearean cross-dressing tropes) but try to do more with it than a paint by numbers plot are always intriguing, if the TV serial is any indication the novel is neatly plotted and well thought out. But without doubt, the thing that makes Coffee Prince such a great drama is Yoon Eun-hye's portrayal of the garçon manqué, Eun chan, who never changes colours.  There has never been a better or more adorable tomboy on film. So if you have to watch a Korean drama, let it be Coffee Prince!

I am not the greatest fan of TV dramas, it is hard for me to sustain interest even in something like Mad Men.  Few K-dramas are perfect and there is a similarity to them once you watch a few - yet they have a certain hook which keeps you watching. But I can't see anything topping Coffee Prince so I will give it a rest. Though for research sake I should probably watch the original K-drama that started it all, Winter Sonata:)