>Hugz<

In Otonarisann , which means a Mr/Ms Neighbor, by Osamu Kodama , Yoshio (left) and and his living-next-door neighbor Kenzou (right) find themselves bumping into each other after they lose wives by the same accident. (c) Pontaro How would they manage to keep their lives straight? What would happen to these two middle-aged men? Only text version with no illustration is available in the Kindle store of Amazon Japan .

Recently I purchased two famous Japanese gay novels. One is Kinjiki by Yukio Mishima . And the other is Nansyoku Ookagami by Saikaku Ihara . Both books were translated into English Books.

Last week, this book arrived. I purchased it early this month. I surfed the net before I ordered it, but the only place where I can read this book is the library of one university in Suwon(a city located at south of Seoul). And only one local on-line bookstore sells the book only in Chinese (which I can't read). It's hard to find the image of this book. Not like the cover image up above, if you hold the book, you can see the boy (on the cover) stare back at you (very straightforward). Glad to have the book in English.

While surfing the net to choose where to buy English version of Crystal Boys , I found this book. I don't know the writer but the cover instantly caught my eyes.

Several weeks ago, I came across a few gay literatures of Japan in English at one secondhand bookstore. One is Comrade Loves of the Samurai by Saikaku Ihara and the other is Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. That is selective stories from Saikaku Ihara's " The great mirror of male love " and easier to read so I'm reading the book while commuting. I also bought two more books of Ihara, Scheming World and Life of an amorous man . What an unexpected suprise! Even when I visited Japan this summer, I couldn't find those books.

Ihara Saikaku is a famous Japanese writer in 1600s. He wrote many modern novels including, Life of an Amorous Man and The Eternal Storehouse of Japan . Safe from Christianism through centuries, Japan has old traditions of homosexual relationships. So Saikaku also wrote on homosexual relationships which were common among samurais and monks in this book.

James Baldwin's 2 novels, Go Tell It on the Mountain and Giovanni's room were translated in Korean in 1980's. While searching for "Giovanni's room" in local libraries, I came to know the fact. After some more research I could purchase the book from one used books store(which was several months ago, maybe more than a year ago).

The title "Notes of a desolate man" was changed to Korean title meaning "The portrait of a gay man". The subpublisher knows how to sell a book, I suppose. It was almost 9 years ago since I read this novel. So I didn't remember anything about the story. I came across this book while moving my books here and there.

During my short trip to Japan, I found this book unexpectedly. The cover caught my eyes instantly. And from the word "forbidden" I could guess this book is about homosexual desires. So I bought it but I haven't finished the first chapter. When I looked back, I couldn't remember finishing any English novel besides Maurice . Maybe I just like collecting gay-themed things. Anyway, this book is about a man who uses young lover to hurt women's feeling because he dislikes women.

Long ago, I heard from someone or read from somwhere about a Japanese writer who killed himself. He was Yukio Mishima. This novel is his semi-autobiographical novel. He confesses his sexual desires to workers on the street or a classmate from his childhood in this novel. But the protagonist didn't do anything sexual with any man, even not a brief kiss in this book. Rather than accepting himself, he tried to sleep with a prostitue, in vain or pretend to be straight all along. Not like "Queer", I could read and enjoy this novel without any efforts. Maybe I feel more comfortable when reading Japanese literature.

Years ago, when I ran into a movie called "Naked Lunch", it didn't catch my eyes at all. But when I ran into a novel from the same writer whose book became the movie, I felt thrill. The title "Queer" caught my eyes instantly. And I never realized that Penguin Classic books are finally translated into Korean!!! I read the novel during last weekends. But I don't feel moved or thrilled at all except got the feeling that this book is really raw and honest. Maybe I read this book too late? Even if I didn't catch all the meanings, who cares? This is who I am right now.

Giovanni's Room is a novel by African-american writer James Baldwin. The narrator of the book is David, a white American. While staying at Paris after proposing to a girl named Hella, he met an Italian bartender, Giovanni and fell in love with him. But David left Giovanni which devastated Giovanni and in the end Giovanni was about to be executed for killing his employer. I don't know since when and why.. But I got obssessed with this story and I finally found a used book (thanks to my friend's help). And that, it's a Korean book. Now I'm waiting the book's delivery.