The narrator of "All I asking for is my body" is Kiyoshi Oyama a fourth grader. If I can still remember Kiyoshi would be about nine years old. Kiyoshi is not the only name he goes by in the book, he also goes by Kiyo-chan and Kyo. As to where Kiyoshi lives and where the book takes places is Pepelau, Hawaii. Which does not seem to be a actual place as I just put into Google and came up with classmate's blogs and wedding dresses.
As for what Kiyoshi's parents do as a living his father is a fisherman and his mother stays at home making kimonos. As stated in the book Kiyoshi's father is a fisherman and everyday brings home the best fish caught for dinner. Which is something you can get sick of according to Kiyoshi if you have three times a day, but to me that sounds pretty good. While Kiyoshi's mother sews kimonos by hand they never looked like Makoto-san's mother kimonos as Kiyoshi points out. While the other main point made by Kiyoshi's parents is the father makes the money and in Makoto-san's family the mother makes the money. I'm going to guess this comes into play later in the book.
Hi Haruki,
ReplyDeleteOne think I love about Japanese culture is the different formalities they go through for all their names. It seems there are many different ways to call the narrator, depending on who is talking to him.
Back in the stories time frame, it was politically correct for the man to go out and make the money for the household, which is what Kiyoshi's dad did, but for Makot, his mother made the money, which is not respectful according to Japanese tradition. This definitely cause Makot to not have many friends.
Thank you.
Hi Haruki -
ReplyDeleteYes, it will be interesting to find out more information about Makot and his family. The first section of the book left a lot of questions unanswered. We know Makot's parents have money, but we don't know how they earn it. I look forward to finding out.
Thank you!
Sarah Baker
Kiyoshi's family seems like a family that we or I can at least relate to better. Seem like down to earth working class people. His family does seem very traditional. Kyo's family does not respect Makot's so I'm interested to see how their relationship pans out.
ReplyDeleteHi Haruki-
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sara's post, I think that it will be very interesting to read the rest of the book because there is a lot of unanswered questions, and even though Kyo's family is "poor" and Makot is the one with all of the money, who will come out on top at the end of the story, will Makot end up hanging out at Kyo's instead, because money can only last and go so far?? thanks for the response it was fun to read.
Emily