There is No Lid on the Sea
There is no lid on the sky and no lid on the sea.
There is a lid on my mouth but there is a way to express without a mouth.
—-
There is a novel in Japanese called "Umi no Futa 海のふた" (There is no lid on the sky, in the English title).
The main character is a young woman who returns from the city to her seaside hometown and starts a small Kakigori and coffee shop.
I've read it many times, but this summer I found myself rereading it a little each week in between our Kakigori.
Her hometown is set in a former tourist town where a small shopping district has lost its vitality due to large-scale development,that has been common all over in Japan and even in the US…
She takes her melancholy and frustration out on such a situation and continues to make what she loves, plainly and steadily,which is Kakigori.
During those days,she has been realizing and grarually grateful that making dreams come true is such a normal part of everyday life.
She tends to suffer the hearts of people who are too kind, too clumsy, and too prone to loss. The eldery neighbors who have never heard of espresso are gradually awakening to its deliciousness, and that is a par of what will support the opening of the store tomorrow and day after tomorrow, which has never been so crowded.
The process of getting to know a woman with deep scars on her face and heart over the course of a summer is also a key in the story. Because the lady has been hurt more than anyone else ironically thanks to the scars, she is too sensitive not to notice tiny things. Finding value in the one and only thing that cannot be converted into numbers or money is what she naturally is good at, and that teaches us the preciousness of happiness that is within our reach rather than something big.
Because the everyday life that we take for granted can easily become something other than "ordinary”.
“The only thing I can do is to take good care of my little flower bed and keep it filled with flowers”.
This line resonated with me as a creator of a tiny tiny business.
It's easy to forget, and more than often, my house and schedule book become chaotic despite my intention. So this line tried to keep reminding me that how presciouse trivial things could be as days went by as reading this book little by little.
—-
Banana Yoshimoto, the author of this book, once said in one of her books, "Even when I was pretty young,I was sure that my books would be translated/published all over the world someday. My books would be like friends under the pillow of girls who feel that they are a little out of place, that they don't belong at school or anywhere else”.
After reading her thought,I found that I could easily be one of those girls she was picturing,and I also always want to be by their side for people who seems to be lost in the presence but alive in their own heart.