ももこの話 (Momoko's Story) by Momoko Sakura *Japanese Text Only (Shueisha)

Momoko Sakura was first introduced here with her travel essay またたび ‘Mata Tabi’, (Asia by the Book, October 2004). She was first and foremost a manga artist, the creator of Chibi Maruko-chan which has become one of Japan’s longest running television anime series. 

ももこの話 (Momoko’s Story) is the third collection of essays in her “Those Days” series which mainly focuses on her memories and episodes from her childhood. These essays were originally published by Shueisha in 1998. The essays were compiled and released in book form in 2006. 

At the beginning of the year in 1998, Sakura gets a call from her editor asking when she wants to hole up in a hotel to focus on writing her next batch of essays. Instead of staying at the Park Hyatt, Sakura requests the Hotel New Otani which surprises her editor. 

Her reason for staying at the New Otani instead of the Park Hyatt was simple. Although she likes both hotels, she really enjoys the room service at the New Otani and was looking forward to eating Chinese fried rice. She would also be able to enjoy the Otani’s annin-dofu (almond tofu) for dessert. 

Sakura has her editor make reservations for mid-February. She says it was fortunate that one of her co-workers came to pick her up as she always brings a number of items with her even if it’s for a short stay. As Sakura is a tea and coffee drinker, she needs her tools to make good tea —tea strainer, a special mug and tea and she needs her tools to make a good cup of coffee - coffee beans, coffee liquor, and filters. 

She also brings her favorite sparkling wine, chocolate, konjac jelly (also known as devil’s tongue, voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam), cigarettes, health foods, CDs and CD player, work tools, and clothes. While she is holed up in the hotel, the offices of Shueisha are moving to a bigger and more convenient location. By the time Sakura finishes writing half of the book's essays, the office move has been completed. 

Sakura wrote half of the book's essays in the five days she spent at the Hotel Otani. She felt relieved that she would have enough time to complete the essays for another book in a reasonable amount of time. So she goes back to gardening, visiting flower shops and repotting pots in the garden, .

After she finishes her work in the garden, she takes care of her tropical fish. After the fish, she turns to her pet turtle. Once that is done, then it’s off to the department store to buy spring clothing. On weekends, she plays with her son at the park. He is at the age when he’s beginng to think that Momoko Sakura was his own mother, but his mother denies it. He won’t figure out the truth for another couple of years. February turns to March, March turns to April. 

Sakura shows her face at the office around the middle of April. Her editor asks how the rest of her essays were coming. Sakura is truthful and says she hadn’t written anything in a while. Her editor said the deadline for the book is the twenty-fourth of this month. Sakura is at the office on the fourteenth. 

Oh no! Sakura has only ten days to complete the book. She is a little nervous about finishing the project but being a professional, she finishes in the nick of time. Some of the things she talks about from her childhood are being a kid without a huge appetite, trying to teach her father the words to popular songs at the time while taking a bath together, her own forgetfulness, trying to stay warm under the kotatsu in the winter, her kakizome homework which is a special piece of calligraphy for the new year, buying sweet potatoes from the sweet potato truck even though her parents ran a fruit and vegetable shop. 

Sakura’s memories of her childhood are nostalgic for anyone who loves the Showa era of Japan or had lived in Japan during that time. Sakura was born in 1965, so she was only two years younger than I was when my family moved to Tokyo from Greece. I grew up watching the same television shows and listened to the same music she did. These essays brought back memories of my own childhood.~Ernie Hoyt