Spring, when I became a freshman of Doshisha university, I imagined how students in the university are like today. I like other’s room, especially the bookshelf because it represents the person’s life, hobby, and even personality! That’s why I wanted to see bookshelves of students.

In this time, I asked Aoziso-san(a member of Doshisha post) to show me the pictures of her bookshelves.I have visited her room twice before and I found the bookshelf very comfortable and interesting. So, let’s explore it!

【先輩の本棚を深掘りする】

At a glance, it appears that there are a variety of books like comics and magazines. Among them, I see a lot of books about cooking and 45 out of total 120 books were recipe books as I can see. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and sweets.... There is a broad range of recipe books. I guess she likes the whole kind of cooking. Also, there are 34 comic books. Surprisingly, all of them were related to cooking too!
However, there are not only recipe books but also novels and practical books such as “The Magic of Memos”.
I can catch a glimpse of her earnestness from these kinds of books. To know about her more, I asked her some questions. ↓

【Interview】

あおじそさん（元同サークル部員）にインタビュー！

H:はぎもん hagimon(the writer)

A:あおじそさん Aoziso-san

【人生に影響を与えた本はありますか】

H: Are there any books that influenced your life?

A: Yes. They are... 『大人になるってどんな事?』(What is like to be an adult?) and 『言い訳』(The excuse). This book says, “Becoming an adult is to live an adult life and hold myself as a child at the same time.” I guess I was struck by this sentence. Children would be cared and protected by parents or adults when you they feel sad and tough. This is how children solve such problems.
I really liked these words in this book.

H: That really makes sense! I came to feel like reading it.

A: Read this if you feel like it! I was touched emotionally.
As getting older, it is needed to solve the problems by myself. Not ignoring but accepting the childishness in myself is
important when feeling sad.

H: Yes, I’d love to. Then, how about 『言い訳』? How were you influenced by this book?

【お笑い好きなあおじそさん、そしてナイツが熱い】

A: Actually, I was into manzai and went to the theater to watch it. I thought M-1 was just like koshien for comedians and I purely thought they are were really cool. I was touched because they were are doing with passion! There has never been such a book (which) explains M-1. After I read this, I got excited to watch all of the successive M-1 stages including the upcoming one. For example, only four minutes are is given to each group in the M-1 stage, so the four-minutes-manzai is evaluated.

H: It is just like the match of baseball games!

A: Yes, Knights(ナイツ) has never won the championship in M-1 stages and they say that the four- minutes-Manzai doesn’t suit them. They usually perform for about twenty minutes. They say that this is how they do. There are stories like, “it is better not to do that hard in the M-1 stages because this leads to lose their appeals if they tried to win the championship of M-1” in this book.

H: There are a variety of manzai styles depending on comedians!

A: M-1 is originally made for the comedians of Yoshimoto Kogyo and the Kansai dialect is powerful. Also, it is said that it’s natural for comedians in Yoshimoto Kogyo to win the championship in M-1 stages because the rate of comedians in Yoshimoto Kogyo is high. Anyway, this book was really interesting!

H: I didn’t know that comedians in Kanto region were struggling with these problems! I came to be interested in this book.

A: I’m so glad to hear that.

H: Can I ask you one more question? This is off the topic, but what is the difference between reading recipes on digital and paper books? I know that you love cooking and there are many recipe books in your bookshelf.

【紙のレシピ本の良さ】

A: Well, I don’t like using a smartphone while cooking. Also, looking at the recipe books, I simply feel happy. Other reasons are that I can write in on the paper books and some books that I brought from my parent’s house have a lot of memories.

H: That’s why! Thank you Aoziso-san for cooperating with my research!! A: I had a great time. Thank you!

あおじそさんインタビューのご協力ありがとうございました！

Let Me See Your Bookshelf! 【同志社生の本棚】シリーズはまだまだ続きます。お楽しみに！

Writer Hagimon

2021.05