Machiko Hasegawa (1920–1992)

I actually bought this book in Japan in 2008... But then I didn't have time for Japanese studies, so I never really tried to read this. My original motivation was to read it in Japanese. I took a look at it today to see how hard it would be for me to read. I didn't figure that out, because I just started reading it in English. And it was funny :) And I like how they explain some things that might be otherwise confusing like kamishibai. Although I thought most of them were understandable without the explanations, it gave a little bit of extra cultural knowledge.

Someone compared these comics to Snoopy and Charlie Brown and I find the humor very similar. I loved how they show a regular Japanese family and how they live. And while some customs are differnet, I find the family very relatable :)

So, I loved these comics, but I don't find the book that great to study Japanese with. The problem is, that the English is too prominent. I think it's better for the Japanese people who want to study English. But since I really liked the comics, I might get the Japanese only version to study. In any case I prefer dictionary like vocabulary instead of direct translations, I feel I learn more that way. But that's just related to language learning. Without that aspect, this was so much fun to read!… (més)