たばこの気持ち

The other day I bought two 100 yen single copies at a used bookstore in Isesaki Mall, one being Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables," which also appears in "Paris Burns."

I saw Hugo's tomb at the Pantheon when I was 20 years old, but I had not read his writings, so I am looking forward to it!

The other book is "Zainichi" (March 23, 2004, 1st printing, May 20, 2004, 4th printing, published by Kodansha, 1500 yen) by Kang Sang-jun, which I finished reading last night and today. I would like to contribute a "cigarette scene," which is my life's work. Memories of his uncle and he. That's the only place where cigarettes came up.

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[pages 50-52].

Especially when the dog he loved so much died, it was painful to see him puffing on his cigarette in silence after returning from the bank.

The only thing "Uncle" enjoyed that made him drunk even with the slightest amount of alcohol was cigarettes.

A box of peace was always shoved into "Uncle's" back pocket. 

I liked him smoking cigarettes. I especially liked the sight of him sitting slowly in a corner of the spacious university grounds, idly gazing at Mount Tachida in front of him, puffing away at his cigarette.

At that time, it was a daily routine for "Uncle" and me to go to the student cafeteria of Kumamoto University to pick up leftover food for pigs. 

We would fill two oil cans with leftover food and place them on the back of our bicycles. 

On the way, "Uncle" would stop his bicycle at a corner of the university grounds, sit down in the shade of a tree, and light a piece on fire. 

He exhaled a puff of purple smoke, and it disappeared into the sky like a puff of purple smoke dancing in the air. ~~ I, Masao Iwamoto, am a man of the world.

I knew Masao Iwamoto, but not Sangju Lee. ~ I had known Masao Iwamoto, but not Sang Joo Lee.

When "Uncle" passed away, there was almost nothing around him. 

The only things he left behind were a rubber boot covered in leftover food and pig manure, and a few remaining cans of peace.