Tiny island in the looking glass
Print Edition
IN the graphic novel “Manabeshima Island Japan”, Florent Chavouet tells the story of the summer he spent getting to know one tiny island out of thousands in Japan. There’s 4,000 islands, “if you count isolated rocks,” Chavouet humors in the preface of his second work on Japan.
This speck of dirt in the Inland Sea, off the coast of Osaka, has a total population of 300, and Chavouet sets himself the task of recording everything and everyone he meets there in quirky detail.
This isn’t the usual travel guide book that tells you where to go, for there aren’t any historical sites or natural wonders on the island, only a bar, two restaurants, three public restrooms and five temples.
Instead, it is a book on the local inhabitants who form the very heart of Manabeshima.
We get to meet a cast of interesting characters, such as Ikkyu-san, owner of the island’s only bar, who introduces the author to Japanese Shochu; Hiroshi, the local fisherman, who offers to broaden the author’s knowledge of the history of labu-labu (love-love) spots on the first night he arrives; the lay-about Shimura-san, a living relic from the hippie 1970s; Reizo-san, the island intellectual in his elegant Meiji-era home; and Moriji-san whose passion for photography since he was 18 has led to a nice album of photos of the island’s past in 70 years — all of whom welcome Chavouet into their community as a kindred soul.
Against a backdrop of fireworks, summer festivals, fishing expeditions, and the constant hum of the cicadas, Chavouet depicts these characters so vividly and sympathetically, and describes their rustic way of life in such simple and appealing terms that you might find yourself as sad when the book is finished as Chavouet was one he had to leave the island at the end of an enchanting summer.
The best part of this soft cover edition by Tuttle Publishing is that it comes with a huge, hand-drawn map, folded into a pocket on the back cover. The map is intensely detailed, showing every house and garden and boat on the island and labeled with references to people, landmarks and events from the main text.
Besides, there are many fun ways to read notes in the book with children, from front to back, back to front, sideways or even upside down. Open the book to any page in the middle of the book and you will find the most amazing, tiny details.
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