A special way of living

“The road has become narrower, but it’s still passable.”
Japanese-Chinese author Shinobu Yoshii's latest masterpiece: On less-than-perfect days, hold onto the freedom that goes "beyond the norm." [Synopsis]
In a society obsessed with efficiency, there are always those who stand at the forefront, serving as role models and inspiring stories. But we also encounter those who make you marvel at the choices they make in their own lives.
Writer Shinobu Yoshii walked the streets and alleys of Japan for seven years, interviewing ordinary people from all walks of life and exploring 12 extraordinary ways of living outside the mainstream order.
Someone gets up in the morning to collect trash on the streets of Tokyo, and tells jokes in the evening to make people laugh. "There is no such thing as garbage in the world, but once you throw it away, it becomes garbage."
Someone left the largest bookstore in Japan and opened the smallest second-hand bookstore in Japan on a small island in the south. He found that "once I leave my job as a company employee, I am really alone."
Some people spend 19 years building a building, starting with pouring the concrete themselves. They are trying to be a "creator" in a society that only encourages people to be "consumers"...
These people may be your neighbors or the owner of a small shop on the corner of a shopping street. Faced with countless trivialities and annoyances in daily life, they are not in a hurry to find answers, but choose to accept their own vague state, face uncertainty with existing abilities, and leave themselves space for free thinking - facing life, continue to ask questions, and continue to question.
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【Editor's Recommendation】
A new work by Japanese-Chinese author Shinobu Yoshii: In less-than-perfect times, clinging to that freedom "outside the norm." After graduating from university, she wandered the world, not owning a house or working, willing to lag behind and jog at her own pace. Twenty years later, Shinobu Yoshii returned to Tokyo from Beijing. At this time, Japan faces a rapidly aging population and a widening gap between the rich and the poor, with increasingly limited opportunities outside the mainstream.
"What path should we take after breaking free from the constraints of victory and defeat?" With this question, she turned her attention to ordinary people in the streets and alleys of Japan and from all walks of life. After the society went from prosperity to decline, they did not force themselves to fit into the standard specifications. In the days that were not so cruel and not so perfect, they carefully adhered to their bottom line and maintained their dignity.
Explore 12 extraordinary ways to live and discover infinite possibilities: Even if the road becomes narrower, we can still navigate it. In a society obsessed with efficiency, there are always those who stand at the forefront of their time, serving as pioneers and role models. But we also encounter those who will make you marvel at the choices they make in their own lives.
These individuals aren't "strange characters," nor are they immortals you'll have to climb mountains to meet. Instead, they could be your neighbor or the shopkeeper on the corner of a shopping street. They defy the rules of the game, either lying flat or involuted, carving out their own worlds beyond the norm. With her characteristically delicate brushstrokes, Yoshii Shinobu depicts the daily struggles, clumsiness, retreats, and forward steps of ordinary people amidst uncertainty. This work is dedicated to everyone who takes life seriously.
★A unique guide to traveling in Japan, where you can experience the most vivid life in the streets and alleys and between the cracks of history. Walk into a used bookstore in the bustling market of Okinawa and push open a door to Okinawa's history and culture; savor the human feelings and principles of the Showa era in a quiet tattoo workshop in Yokohama; meet those who have stayed put in Fukushima and get a glimpse of that panic-stricken era... Rediscover Japan through sincere connections with people again and again.
★Designed by renowned book cover designer Lu Zhichang, I hope everyone can find their own chair to sit on.
156 photographs, printed in full color, with both text and illustrations. Printed on solid paper and bound with seam-sewn glue, the book is smooth and comfortable to read.

2025-02-01

文汇出版社

New Classic Culture

304

9787549639762