reading socrates in love by kyoichi katayama, while listening to songs like story, michishirube, hana, ocean, sakura(kobukuro), goodbye etc, can fill you with intense emotions. somehow, all these songs seem to go with the story. i havent watched the movie, but i heard that the movie got some parts about sakutaro's adult life, that seemed to be missing from the book. maybe they added it, after all, the book was the original. nevertheless, it's still a book that touched me from page one.

"And that was why, wheneveri woke up, I'd be crying. It wasn't because i was sad. When you return from a happy dream to sad reality, there's a chasm you have to step across, and you can't cross it without shedding tears. It doesn't matter how many times you do it."

there's something beautiful and subtle about katayama's language. i wish i knew japanese, so that i would be able to read it in its original form. somehow, it would be much more beautiful i guess.

about being subtle.
i guess life is a fine balance between the subtle and the obvious. it is like a dance. even as you do not want to show your intentions, you somehow still want the other party to know. it is sort of theatrical. but i guess that is how life is. a stage. a performance. our performance.

have you ever been in a situation whereby you leave an exchange, thinking you have won, yet feeling that you have lost? i think the other party must be very zai. the perfection of the art of balancing subtlety with the obvious.