cahier lukhnos, a blog

A diary that I found at my grandparents’ house in Qingshui (Kiyomitsu before 1945, a town in Taichung), written by grandfather in a strange form of Chinese, which I hereby translate into English:

July 20, 1948. The afternoon of Tokyo was scorching, and the streets of Hongo Area [belonging to Bunkyô District] were deserted. S-kun [hereafter S] and watashi [hereafter I] had finished the final on thermodynamics. After having lunch at the shokudô [university canteen], I returned to the dormitory located in 3-chome [third block of the Area]. At about one p.m., Mrs. Yamamoto came and called me. It turned out that S came to visit me. S didn’t go home after lunch, but instead spent some time in the Western bookstores in 6-chome, and then went to the vinyl store. I saw a brown paper bag in his one hand, and a copy of André Gide’s Fruits of the Earth [Les nourritures terrestres] in another. S asked me if he’s got the pleasure to invite me, and I thought, it was unbearably hot anyway, and there was nothing I could do staying at the dorm, and above all the last final was over, it was a boring time, and an invitation out was surly a good idea.

S lived with his family. Watashi-tachi [hereafter We] took a bus, and after about thirty minutes we arrived in Sumida District. The house of S was rebuilt after the war. The father of S was in oversea trade business before the war. As he had connections with the Americans during those early years, General MacArthur’s staff arranged a negotiator job in Tokyo City Hall for him after the war. The mother of S was vice president of a women’s association, which continued to hold women activities after the war.

The afternoon that day, there was no one in the house. S and I sit on the floor. S took out an LP vinyl from the paper bag, and it was a Debussy’s Prelude recorded in 1943 by Deutsche Grammophon. I had forgot the name of the performer. The turntable in the house was of fine making. I had came here several times, mostly it was S’s father who worked the turntable. As there were no other people that day, S skillfully put the LP onto the turntable, and made it play.

I sat there for some ten minutes. A number just finished when I suddenly heard a familar melody. I remembered that it was a melody that I heard at a concert in Yasuda Auditorium, arranged by the university. It was a winter night, and I was freshman then.

I asked S what that melody was. S uttered phrase in French. I complained to S, as he surly knew that I had no command of French. Upon that S said, when translated into German, the title would be das Mädchen mit dem bloden Haar. Literally, the Girl of Flaxen Hair. S loved to talk like that. Even though we were Chemistry Department students and therefore required to take German, I never felt at home about the language. It was surly not nice to be teased like that by S.

Then, without realizing the passage of time, I found the turntable stopped. S stood up, restored the mechanical arm. It was true that I might have only sat for about twenty or thirty minutes, but the July weather was oppressingly humid. And, even I didn’t move sitting, sweat was all over my body. Outside, the sound of cicada never ceased. S asked if I would like some water, and certainly I nodded. I was on the verge of drought.

lukhnos :: Apr.26.2004 :: :: 1 Comment »