I worked late today. This morning, I enjoyed the daily English Zoom meeting as usual (today's theme was how feeding pets can affect our physical and mental health). After that, I went to the main house of my group home. There, I enjoyed reading Haruki Murakami's collection of miscellaneous essays [『村上春樹雑文集』].
Who has been my mentor? Reading that Haruki's book, I thought about this. Haruki says he didn't have any mentor in writing something or building his career as a writer. Of course, as a "veteran" fan of him, I should be careful about how he tends to exaggerate his stories. However, that kind of "maverick", and "lone wolf" image suits him very well, so I tend to believe that he has been alone in the Japanese literature scene without any friends except Ryu Murakami, a brilliant (and underrated) rival.
Certainly, Haruki has still been a mentor of mine (in a way, a sort of "father" of mine who has taught me several things). His crisp style, his sense of humor, and his very "solid" or even a little bit "stiff" lifestyle (as an autistic Japanese guy, I suspect that he can also have an autistic character). I won't say he must be a saint or a living God who is completely correct anytime. No way! But, even though he could have written some flops or made mistakes, I still enjoy his work as a partner running with me.
Yesterday, I spilled out a traumatic memory. How the female students hated me terribly... Speaking of so-called mentors, I have to admit that about feminism I couldn't have any mentors or teachers who could guide me properly. Of course, there must have been several actual feminists who kept telling their honest, even devotional opinions. However, I couldn't find any connection between me and them. Nowadays, I started learning several opinions from them (also, I started trying to express my old-fashioned opinions. I hope there will be several interactive communications).
After that, I started my work. During the break time, I thought about whose books have been my "North Star" or "Polaris" which has always guided me even though I lost my way. Probably, even after 10 years, I would keep reading Haruki's "Norwegian Wood" or Paul Auster's "Moon Palace", enjoying Cornelius and Blur's songs.
