Tuesday, January 22, 2008

La primera nieve

No, this may not be the first, but the first visibly and ostensively snow-white cityscape of the season. Here in Tokyo we get such whiteness only two or three times a winter. Under the snowflakes falling from the gray, strangely luminous sky, I went to l'Institut franco-japonais to discuss some plans. The brasserie there offers a nice menu for lunch.

Then on my way back, I met consecutively a couple of friends, who both work in the area...it's so rare, such coincidences.

At Omeisha, another major French bookshop in Tokyo, I bought the following:

63. Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis (L'Association)
64. Etienne Wolff, Les mots latins du français (Belin)
65. Irène Nouailhac, Le pluriel de bric-à-brac (Point)
66. Rémi Bertrand, Un bouquin n'est pas un livre (Point)

My sudden rage for the language's insane vocabulary, I guess.

Omeisha is good because it is much more oriented toward general readers, targetted especially for the Francophone population in Tokyo. This is the most densely Francophone area around; you hear French children screaming and their mothers chattering. On the other hand, France Tosho in Shinjuku is mostly patronized by the academics.

I already have Persepolis's Portuguese translation that I bought in Lisbon in 2004. They are now showing the film. I hope I can go check it out... but first things first. Winter continues.