Sorry-ology

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan London: Vintage, 2008. On Chesil Beach is the second Ian McEwan book that I have read; the first one is Atonement . On Chesil Beach is a short story (160 pages) about a long night, telling about the mental and physical struggles endured by a newlywed couple on their wedding night. Their respective anxiety over, resistance to, fear of, and longing for, physical intimacy, are narrated in a voice that feels quiet and calm but powerful and enchanting. The pace of the narrative is very steady and peaceful so that the climax simply catches one off guard. After a space of several lines of the climactic moment, the narrative flow resumes its normal pace, but the narrative impact is overwhelming. McEwan's prose is a amazingly crafted tapestry of memory. Every moment is intricately intertwined with a long lost moment in the past; every thread of thought and doubt now is interlaced either with a unnamed cause in the past or a unknown consequence in the fut...

What I saw, had, and enjoyed these days Eryngii has been a recent favorite on our dinner table. This type of mushrooms is full of texture and flavor either fried with asparagus or just simply baked with butter. I also love the way that it is presented in the supermarket. They always come in a pair: one is always bigger than the other. They are always presented with a taste for elegance in a black container wrapped up nicely with film. The two eryngii are always placed side by side, as if they are just inseparable. The ground coffee is a nice surprise from C in the beginning of the year. The green can is such a beautiful object for gaze itself, reminiscent of the beautiful Easter and St. Patrick's day in spring and the aroma of coffee late at night on Siward street. This is a public art, entitled 'Three Piglets', that I found in Ueno station in Tokyo. I was attracted to the colors and the piglets (one of my favorite object for research and curiosity), but a close-up view m...

Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate I was reminded of a small city, Harrogate , the other day. The lady and I talked about Durham, York and a city nearby which is know for its hot spring and the Betty's tea house . We couldn't recall the name even after the afternoon tea came to an end. I asked K what the place is called at the breakfast table, and, to my surprise, he came up with the word, Harrogate , without any effort. The lady friend also texted me to say that the place name popped up in her mind around midnight. Recently, I became very cautious of the situation that some terms and names that were used and encountered daily during my stay in the UK are no longer familiar. Last week, coincidentally, it took me almost two days to remember the name of the debit card that overseas students use in that country: Solo card. My memory about Harrogate started to take shape after the place name was recalled. In 2007, C and I made a day trip to the Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate to...

Another play by Shakespeare BBC 'Double Falsehood', a play that was discovered around 300 years ago, was recently credited to William Shakespeare. It is believed to be a work of collaboration between Shakespeare and another playwright, John Fletcher. 'Double Falsehood' is now included in, and published, by the Arden Shakespeare. I am still waiting to see more debate about this 'discovery', but the news itself is exciting enough for people who enjoy the bard's talent and wit.

Treasures of the Imperial Collections: Splendor of Japanese Art 皇室の名宝ー日本美の華 01/10/2009~03/11/2009 Tokyo National Museum At the end of last year, K and I went to an exhibition of the collections by the imperial family of Japan, an event that commemorated the emperor's 20 th anniversary of coronation. The showpieces all belong to the Museum of the Imperial Collections (三の丸尚藏館) in the imperial palace. The event was very well-advertised and much anticipated by the public. The day of our visit was, as expected, another busy one in the museum. It was not easy to appreciate beautiful details of paintings when viewers jostled against each other. However, I did manage to see things that I had never seen, imagination that I had never encountered, colors that I had never thought of, and the nostalgic taste of the past that I have always enjoyed. One of the biggest stars in the exhibition was the Chinese Lions by Kano Eitoku (狩野永徳) source of picture The weighty presence of the painted scree...

How to Japan: A Tokyo Correspondent's Take by Colin Joyce