Momoko Nakamura
Freelance writer / composition writer
Lives and works in Osaka
Graduated from Kansai University, Faculty of Sociology, Department of Mass CommunicationOG, director and actor of the student theater troupe "Gakuenza".Studied under comedy writer Shigeru Danjo
Graduated from "Osaka Scenario School," performance script department.
After working as an AD for a radio program and at a production company in Osaka, worked as a freelance writer
Attended strip theaters, traveling playhouses, and bars,
Working on two manuscripts for a book project.
He writes two kinds of articles on the web magazine "tabistory": stories about bars and stories about someone's home, and updates "Momohana Butai" (almost) a note a day and an essay a day.
Bookstore & Gallery at Yushima, Tokyo.
In May, he started a two-box "Bookstore & Gallery Momohana Butai" at "Bookstore & Gallery Departure Point" in Yushima, Tokyo.
I wanted to create a "place of connection" beyond social networking sites,
We have recommended books and free papers.
For a detailed profile including past work, please contact
https://momohanabutai1122.seesaa.net/article/202011article_1.html
4.15.2024
DAYS / Momoko Nakamura Column
Fly Me to the Moon
Egg and Rube Goldberg machine
In early spring, February and March, I felt like I was drunk all the time.
I took the last train in the opposite direction,
I talked a lot with street musicians,
I walked two kilometers along an unknown road to see flowers.
I laughed at my theater friends, saying "Sho (laugh)" and "Gross (laugh)" a lot,
I also drank highballs instead of coffee at a café that I use as a hideout.
To tell someone how you feel,
I began to think about words and how to use them more than ever before.
For example, I use the word "beautiful" with much consideration. I mean it.
When I say it, I use it as a compliment more than anything else. That's my intention.
But what does beautiful mean? What does beautiful mean?
Not just beautiful. It can also mean "kind," "strong," "unwavering," "good-looking," and so on.
Oh no, if I start thinking like this, it becomes too difficult to open my mouth.
How difficult it is to communicate our feelings to others.
We usually use words without thinking.
It's too amazing. It's natural, but it's not.
I often find myself at a loss for words when it is important or when I am happy.
No, I do. I talk a lot of nonsense.
But the more I put it into words, the more I can't help but feel like it's a lie.
I can't stop reflecting on my own regrets and self-loathing.
Recently, I've become a "thank goodness bot" & "thank you bot" more and more at important times.
If you are a bot, you should be quiet as a bot.
However, I'm still a bot, but I'm still a bot,
I can't put it into words, so my hands and body move forward, and I can't fix my suspicious behavior.
I am frustrated and itchy, so I become blunt, dressed up, and mute.
However, I also realized that "words are not the only way to communicate.
Words are not necessarily important because they are words.
Being overly concerned with words is not necessarily the right thing to do.
Silence is sometimes better than a hundred words,
There are so many things that can be conveyed not by words, but by actions, attitude, face, back, and way of life.
This is something that is too obvious. I was also shown it.
I used to drink a lot.
When I had a bad time, when I had a hard time?
Not at such times. When I was happy, when I was happy.
Drinking makes me think clearly.
What was he writing that was not healthy or humane?
It was my favorite journalist and essayist.
When I drink, or even if I don't drink, I also become clear-headed. I feel like it.
I find myself saying the words I am accustomed to saying in front of people while laughing.
I say things like, "That's shitty (laugh)," "Gross (laugh)," "You're trash (laugh)," and "You're trash (laugh)."
What a mouthful. But these are not necessarily (only) bad words or slurs.
Sometimes they may be mirrors. They may be things that we should face but are running away from, or things that we think we are different from,
or that we try to avoid or exclude them because we think they are "different from us".
It may be directly related to what we should face but are running away from. Good or bad, it is about the human being, the person, and himself/herself,
In other words, it is about human beings themselves.
It is a "shitty" or "trashy" thing to do, but it is also a "thing to try to understand each other even though we can't understand each other".
I think of the tremendous difficulty, but also of the importance and love.
Everyone has to live in the present. Everyone is living in the present.
The life of a flower is not only short, it is no future. Now is now, but it is only now.
Now and reality, although there are pleasant things in this world,
but it is also full of unreasonable things, hardships, and anger.
More often than not, there is no such thing as a peaceful and lovely story.
We all live with suffering and loneliness, even though we laugh.
We accumulate our days, and the accumulation of our days can change us.
Because we are people, our minds and bodies change and are changed by our surroundings and by ourselves.
There are many things that must change, and many things that change naturally.
Among them, there are things and places that "change but do not change," not because they are good or bad, but because they may be the very "you (the person) yourself.
I sometimes smile slightly.
Don't get drunk on memories.
No, it's okay to be drunk. But it's probably not worth it to stay there forever.
It's pretty gross to connect the dots, make up a nice story that suits you, and stay intoxicated. Sometimes it is necessary. It can support your feelings to move on. It feels good.
But a hangover is gross and dirty. It's not pretty at all.
Rube Goldberg machine bumps, rolls, interacts, and flows onward "just like that.
Balls collide, threads tangle but are untangled,
People meet, part, come back, but are still connected,
Everyone goes through those days and those times, and so the days continue onward.
What lies ahead may be old age and death, both for oneself and others.
But death is actually right in front of us now, and it is not necessarily far away. So, but it is now.
To be beautiful, to live, to stay beautiful, to continue living. What is beautiful?
The older I get, the more difficult it becomes, to the point where it is nearly impossible to achieve both.
But I think everyone is beautiful. Including the not-so-beautiful ones.
For some reason, it also reminded me of the "wall and egg" analogy.
If there is a big, hard wall here, and an egg that breaks when it hits it, I will always stand on the side of the egg,
If there is a big hard wall here and an egg that breaks when it hits it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.
This was the commemorative speech given by Haruki Murakami when he received the Jerusalem Prize 15 years ago.
No matter how right the wall is and how wrong the egg is, I will still stand by the egg.
It was a moving speech. But I also think it's a bit "unbecoming.
I mean, to be frank, I don't understand it.
Walls, walls, with their hardness, may be hurting someone's body and soul.
There may be a wall pretending to be an egg, or an egg pretending to be a wall.
I say this after saying it a lot. I want to be "that kind of person," too.
However, I want to be "that kind of person," but I want to do so while repeating "Everyday Always," asking myself questions, feeling nauseous, and saying, "Wow!
While vomiting, while drinking, while talking badly.
I may be wrong, or I may be wrong, but I want to think about it.
For example, I want to deny assumptions and impositions, and I want to deny the denial of the denial.
I want to affirm the egg, the ball, the string, the thing that breaks, rolls, or gets tangled, and the person in front of me.
I want to communicate or not communicate in that way. Not just for myself.
I want to say, "That's shitty. It's gross. But let's do it together. I'll think of a way to do it, though it may be impossible.
During this period of time, which felt like I was drunk all the time, I had the opportunity to meet people I haven't seen in a long time.
Since I met him about 20 years ago, I've had the opportunity to meet him as a writer, or rather, as a person,
I think it's an exaggeration to say that ...... has influenced my values in life.
I have been a writer since the very beginning.
They still laugh at me when I write and live.
He was as clumsy and dexterous as ever as he grew older. I thought it was cool.
In the past and in the present, all I have ever said to him is "I love you" and "I love you," but I still couldn't find the words.
But I still couldn't find the words and could only say, "I love you (laughs). Gross.
So I bought a new T-shirt of my favorite pro wrestler.
It is a different version of the T-shirt that he wears as the icon of this column.
I want to show everyone the logo printed on the back.
STAY ALIVE TODAY!
2.10.2024
DAYS / Momoko Nakamura Column
Fly Me to the Moon
I'm home, Welcome home, Have a nice trip.
What is a trip? I think, "What is a trip?
It is "to be away from one's place of residence, to be in residence or on the move".
If you assume that, it is difficult to continue traveling.
Any place, even if it is a cramped seat on an airplane,
If you spend a lot of time there, it will eventually become your place.
I don't think it takes much willpower to keep stubbornly saying, "This is not where I belong," to the environment that surrounds you.
So, more often than not, the journey ends somewhere along the way."
The Unwanted Macbeth, by Koh Hayase (Hayakawa Bunko, 2017).
I'm always looking at reality, so let me dream (laughs)."
At a theater in a hot spring resort I visited at the beginning of last December,
One of the audience members, who seemed to be having a great time at the theater in the hot spring resort I visited at the beginning of December last year, said to his companion, "It's been more than 10 years since I've seen you.
I was told by a fellow dancer that he was going to see his favorite dancer, who was going to perform for the first time in 10 years. He was at a theater in a hot spring resort where he had gone to see his favorite dancer who was going to perform for the first time in more than 10 years.
For some reason, the words of the unknown visitor, whom I may never see in my life, left a deep impression on me.
Who would have thought that a month later, on the first day of the new year, the whole area, including the area where this theater is located, would be in such a state?
Many things happened at the beginning of the year, on New Year's Day, and many things came to light after the new year.
Many things continued to happen even after the new year, and new facts emerged one after another.
I want to cover my eyes, but I can no longer meditate or pretend to meditate.
Natural disasters and man-made disasters.
They have been right in front of us, but we may have overlooked them or pretended not to see them,
The beginning of 2024 is before us, and many things that we may have overlooked or pretended not to see are now before us.
I am more at a loss for words than ever before.
I am sure there are many people, including myself, who are saying, "What can we do?
What can we do? There are probably many people who are frustrated by their lack of power and inadequacy. There are too many frustrating and frustrating things.
Even this feeling may be arrogant.
But in order to think more, to move more, and to do so, we must first know more.
First of all, we must know more and try to know more.
Every time I remember that night at the spa resort, I feel a sense of wonder.
This is not the first time I have been there. People took me there many years ago,
I am familiar with the hot springs and their centers as venues for travel plays and popular theater performances.
Many of them have already closed, but I have been to many of them.
There were many things that made me laugh, and many things that I had to laugh at.
But, what the heck, I wonder.I went to a theater in a local hot spring resort, chasing after people who I thought "really liked" the play.
Even if I went, saw the show, and left in a blur, it would be an overnight trip.
An unfamiliar place. A local railroad. A town of hot spring baths.
Footbaths. A food stall village (though I couldn't go in alone). A big, old, lonely ryokan.
Feeling nervous, fidgety, tense, and excited is surely the best part of traveling, no matter how many times or where you go.
Heat and drunkenness, with or without alcohol, fluff and fluff.
Wai-wai, gai-wai, shin .......
The crowd is made up of a variety of people, including chasers, first-time visitors, and locals,
It was a mysterious night, with a different atmosphere from that of the city (which is a strange way of putting it), where people from all walks of life gathered together.
There was a warmth and a strange sense of nostalgia, and I really felt like I was in a dream.
It wasn't a dream.It was a dream, but it wasn't a dream.
A famous line from "My Neighbor Totoro" directed by Hayao Miyazaki."A dream in the night is a true thing."This phrase is said to have been written by Edogawa Rampo on a piece of colored paper.The exact phrase is "Utsushisei wa yume, yoru no yume koto wa makoto. The original is "A Dream Within A Dream" by Poe.What you wish was a dream is not a dream. What seems like a dream is also reality.I wonder if it is traveling that blurs the line between the two.
What is a journey?
A journey is a trip, but it may also be the very thing that we live day by day.It may be life.
What is that?
At the beginning of the year, my relatives passed away one after another.Both of them were elderly people whose names were unknown to me and of whom I had no recollections,One of them had to go to a distant island to say goodbye, and the other was in Osaka, his hometown.When things like this happen, I can't help but think about days and life.Every day is a journey. It's like a journey, isn't it?Maybe I am sentimental because it is winter, when I am flying low day by day.
And so, the quote at the beginning of this article jumped out at me.
At the end of last year, I stopped by a bookstore in Shin-Osaka Station before boarding the Shinkansen bullet train, and my eyes were glued to a POP sign.
≪Please read at least the first page of the book.
You said that, right? Didn't I say that much? I decided to read the book, accepting anyone's challenge at any time.
I read one page and bought it.
It was like a big comic book.
Hard-boiled, economics, love (first love and whatnot), crime, action, travel.
The main character and the people around him were all kind of pretentious, or at least aesthetically pleasing,
What is this, a stylish Kosaku Shima? The style of writing is more like Haruki's or Chandler's?
In other words, it's kind of tacky.
But, for some reason, I couldn't get this phrase out of my head. As expected of POP. The beginning of the book.
What is a trip?
I'm home, Welcome home, Have a nice trip.
Many of you may know that the chime of the Tokaido Shinkansen has been changed since July 21 last year.For some reason, it became UA's song from "AMBITIOUS JAPAN!The first time I heard it was on my way to the theater last year, and I was like, "Wow," but I'm used to it now.But there is one more "wow" when I go on a trip.Is this a replacement for the in-train vending service that ended on October 31?
I noticed this at the beginning of the year. I noticed this at the beginning of the year.
The name "SHINKANSEN COFFEE" is exactly the same as the name of the machine. What's more, this guy is a peculiar thing.It takes a minute and a half from the time you press the purchase button to the time the beans are ground, brewed, and you get your cup.I have seen several people come up to the platform just before the departure time and press the purchase button, but leave the machine without it.I have also seen a sign posted on the platform saying, "Please be careful, it will take one and a half minutes.Moreover, during the one and a half minutes, a new chime song is played at a booming volume."I'm coming to see you!"What kind of a punishment game is this?It was not uncommon for me to see the first time customers with awkward or serious faces at the vending machine next to me.The taste served after all that process is neither good nor bad.In my foggy head, bitterness and deliciousness, dreams and reality, with explosions.Laughing with strangers.
Where are you going? Spring is just around the corner. Have a nice trip.
12.10.2023
DAYS / Momoko Nakamura Column
Fly Me to the Moon
Moon and Socks
It was the day after the full moon.
November is an important month for me.
There is an important performance at my favorite theater.
It is the eighth year that a dancer whom I love and respect very much has performed there.
This performance, called "Gold, Silver, and Bronze Cups," is a commemorative show for the opening of the theater in Kyoto,
It is said to have been going on since the 1960s.
The dancers are both talented and popular,
Fans from all over the country come to enjoy the performance.
I began following the dancer after seeing her at this performance.
I began to think more about the stage, the theater, human beings and their dignity, and human life,
human beings, I began to dislike them more, but I began to like and love them more.
I was able to talk about this in the previous issue of PEOPLE, vol. 33.
There are many things that happen while having a good day or week.
Work and personal matters are a daily grind. You can't push if you don't work.
There are also a lot of things to do with parents and whatnot. It is a common occurrence for those who are no longer young.
No one can escape from all the things of the world.
My mind is always occupied with the plays I have seen or will see. But I also have a lot of things to do every day.
On the last day of the performance, when the favorite dancers and co-starring dancers finished their performances, everyone applauded, cheered, and said, "Good job! "Good job!
I was relieved to see their smiling faces as they left for their respective theaters or returned home.
I also take care of the work that has piled up and personal matters that have become a bit of a distraction,
But then, I had to go to the theater where my favorite actress was going to perform the next week, and I had to think about what to do next.
I spent my days like that, and also went to the East for business and other business matters.
On the last day of the exhibition, I rushed to see a painting I had wanted to see.
I also handed over a set of five commemorative papers commemorating the Hanshin Tigers' victory, which was requested by an acquaintance in Higashi.
While handing it over, I also had a drink with him.
On the way home, I looked up with a tipsy head and saw a large moon rising round and round.
Beaver Moon.
Over the past few years, I have begun to see the moon.
I received this information from a chic who loves jazz and haiku.
I learned that each full moon has a name, and it became interesting.
There are many theories about November's "beaver," including that it is the month of hunting,
I couldn't help but laugh as I pictured their fierce, yet smiling faces, as rodents.
I don't like it because it's not spiritual or religious.
But looking up at the moon with a slightly drunken mind, it was strangely large,
I felt a sense of awesomeness, and I was moved to tears even as I laughed.
It was the next day that I received an invitation to participate in "DAYS.
I contributed to the previous issue of "PEOPLE," which I mentioned earlier, through a strange and happy connection.
I wrote a piece about one of my favorite pictures, the stage and theater, and people and people, in other words, a self-introductory sentence,
I was very happy to see the picture, the atmosphere and the lingering design that reminded me of the theater, and I thought about how interesting, irreplaceable, and gratifying fate and human beings are.
The irregular column "DAYS" in this web magazine is a record of the thoughts and feelings of wonderful people living in various countries and regions. What's wrong with that? An anarchic writer from Osaka is participating in this column?
I'm happy though. I'm so, so happy.
It was just two days after I saw the picture.
The painting was much smaller than I had imagined.
On the last day of the exhibition, the museum was swarming with people, and I couldn't wait to peek at it from behind their heads.
Because it was so tiny, I was horrified. The shadows. It's like a cartoon." A compliment.
I thought about it on the way home. "I wonder what she was thinking when she drew this picture."
Maybe she wasn't thinking, "I'm going to draw a great picture.
For her, light and shadow were something she saw naturally, and she asked, "What? Why don't people paint? Maybe it was "Why doesn't everyone paint?
I thought about the people who gathered to see her painting, the strange, mundane, too-human scene that synchronized with the scene in the painting, and the laughter and criticism of myself for being there.
There is no time machine. I would never see her.
Even if I could meet her, I would not know what was in her heart. But then I thought.
It's like when you look at the moon.
Everyone sees it. It is there when you look up.
It can be seen and hidden, but it is always there naturally,
It changes its shape from day to day.
It is not always bright and cheerful like the sun.
It can be vague or assertive, hidden by clouds or appearing again.
It can be round or diminishing. It can be bright or dark. It can be mysterious or gentle.
That is why it has captured the imagination of people since ancient times.
Everyone has seen it with their days and thoughts on it.
It is natural, but mysterious, and strange, but natural, "what is there.
Light and shade are two sides of the same coin, both are the same, both are the same.
In this way, a day begins, ends, and continues.
I like beautiful things.
I admire and am attracted to the "ultimate," the "perfect," and things that are (or seem to be) close to it.
However, I am equally attracted to things that are "irrepressible" and "mundane.
I am attracted to things that are "tricky," "stupid," "what the hell," and "oh, my God, what is it?
It is a thing or a figure that is imperfect but tries to be perfect, that tries to do something even if it is impossible to understand each other, even if it is impossible to do it.
It is not perfect, but because it is not perfect, it is also a thing of beauty to try to achieve perfection.
For example, the struggling, the struggling, the worries, the suffering, the roundness, the lack, the shadow, and the foolishness, I am sure that they are also beauty and human beings.
Last time it was "flower" and this time it is "moon". In Osaka dialect, it's "ikki-teki"!
But when I thought about what to write about, this is what came to mind,
It was just, beautiful, the moon.
Do you know the word "kagetsu"?
It is also used in the name of Namba Grand Kagetsu, a theater of Yoshimoto Kogyo in Osaka.
An old writer and founder of Yoshimoto Shinki Gekijo, who studied under him as a young man, told me the origin of the word.
Life is a game of flowers and blooms or moon and shadows, a game of one or the other.
I, who have a lot of blood in my veins, still think of this from time to time. But I also want to rearrange it a little.
"Shall I bloom with the flowers or see the moon together?
It's not an arrangement. It's not stylish. But I feel like "Let's".
In various places, in each of the places where we are now. We feel the same, we feel different.
Isn't such a loosely connected "Let's" kind of nice?
The last full moon of the year in December is the "cold moon" on the 27th.
Please warm up and "Let's"!
Don't let your body get cold. Socks are important. Wear warm socks, or double socks.
This is also beauty. It's not beauty, but it is beauty.
