A special way of living

🏆Douban Annual Author
🏆Douban Annual Book
🏆Douban Annual Social Documentary Book
"The road has narrowed, but it's still passable."
A new masterpiece by Japanese-Chinese writer Yoshii Shinobu
In imperfect days, preserve that freedom "beyond standard specifications."
【Content Introduction】
In a society that relentlessly pursues efficiency, there will always be those who stand at the forefront of the times, serving as pioneers and role models, writing inspiring and motivational stories. But in life, we also encounter a type of person who will make you admire them: they can make such choices for their own lives.
Writer Yoshii Shinobu delves into the streets and alleys of Japan, spending seven years interviewing ordinary people from all walks of life, exploring 12 exceptional ways of living outside the mainstream order.
Some people wake up in the morning to collect trash on the streets of Tokyo, and in the evening, they tell jokes at the theater, making everyone laugh, "There's no such thing as trash in the world, but once you throw it away, it becomes trash."
Someone left Japan's largest bookstore and opened Japan's smallest used bookstore on a small southern island, discovering that "once I left my corporate job, I was truly alone."
Someone spent 19 years building a house, starting with pouring concrete themselves, being a "creator" in a society that only encourages people to be "consumers."
These people might be your neighbors, or the owner of a small shop in a corner of the shopping street. Facing countless daily trivialities and annoyances, they don't rush to find answers, but choose to accept their ambiguous state, facing uncertainty with their existing abilities, leaving themselves space for free thought—facing life, continuing to question, continuing to inquire.
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【Editor's Recommendation】
★New work by Japanese-Chinese writer Yoshii Shinobu: In imperfect days, preserve that freedom "beyond standard specifications."
After graduating from university, Yoshii Shinobu traveled around various places, didn't buy a house or work a regular job, willingly lagging behind others by a few paces to run at her own rhythm. Twenty years later, she returned to Tokyo from Beijing. At this time, Japan was facing a highly aging population and increasing wealth disparity, and places to belong outside the mainstream were becoming fewer.
"How should one proceed after escaping the confines of competition?" With this question, she turned her attention to the ordinary people in the streets and alleys of Japan, from all walks of life. After society shifted from prosperity to decline, they didn't force themselves into standard specifications. In days that were neither too cruel nor too perfect, they diligently held onto their own bottom line and preserved a sense of dignity.
★Exploring 12 exceptional ways of living, discovering infinite possibilities for life: The road has narrowed, but it's still passable.
In a society that relentlessly pursues efficiency, there will always be those who stand at the forefront of the times, playing a pioneering and exemplary role. But in life, we also encounter a type of person who will make you admire them: they can make such choices for their own lives.
These people are not "oddities," nor are they hermits one must cross mountains and valleys to meet. They could be your neighbors, or the owner of a shop in the corner of the shopping street. They break free from the rules of "lying flat" or "involution," carving out their own world beyond standard specifications. With her consistently delicate brushstrokes, Yoshii Shinobu writes about the struggles, awkwardness, setbacks, and subsequent progress of ordinary people living with uncertainty, dedicating it to everyone who lives earnestly.
★A different guide to wandering Japan, touching the most vivid street life of Japan in its streets, alleys, and historical crevices.
Walking into a used bookstore in the bustling market of Okinawa, opening a door to Okinawan history and culture; savoring Showa-era human feelings and righteousness in a quiet tattoo workshop in Yokohama; meeting people who stand firm in Fukushima, catching a glimpse of that chaotic era... Rediscovering Japan through genuine connections with people, time and again.
★Designed by renowned book designer Lu Zhichang, wishing everyone can find their own chair to sit in.
156 photographic images, full-color printing throughout the book, rich in illustrations and text. Printed on pure paper, lock-stitched and perfect-bound, making it smooth to flip through and comfortable to the touch.

2025-02-01

文汇出版社

New Classic Culture

304

9787549639762