Illustrator and May in Paris (6) = Paris Talk

A Stimulating Place in Many Ways

— Do you have any favorite foods in France?

“I like duck. I didn’t used to eat much dessert, but it’s delicious.”

— Do you usually cook at home?

“I mostly eat out, and at home I only make really simple things. I go to cafes, pho restaurants, or for Thai food.”

— Around here?

“Yes, around here. There are many such restaurants.”

— Any recommended places?

“There’s a delicious Cambodian restaurant along the Canal Saint-Martin.”

— Cambodge, right? I’m planning to go this weekend too.

“It’s better to go early. There’s always a line. Also, pho is great, it’s gentle on the body. I often go to eat in Belleville. This area is also very convenient; within a 30-second walk, there’s a Chinese grocery store, a bakery, an art supply store, and a supermarket, and I can’t move from there. I want to move, but I’m having trouble getting myself to do it.”



— If you were to move, is there anywhere you’d prefer?

“Hmm. Somewhere a little quieter. I chose this place without knowing anything. As it turned out, it’s surprisingly convenient. But there are fights in the middle of the night on the street in front of my building. The upstairs neighbors have called the police before.”

— This area is a stimulating place in many ways. I also dislike moving, but when I find a delicious bakery nearby, I don’t feel like traveling far to buy bread, even if someone recommends it. When I do go out and buy it, I wonder if it’s really that delicious. Even places that are said to be the most delicious in Paris...

“The one near Monge? Everyone says it’s the most delicious in Paris.”

“Yes, that’s the one. Le Boulanger de Monge. But I didn’t think it was that delicious. I thought Kaiser and Degranges were delicious. And I feel like the bakeries in my neighborhood are putting up a good fight.”

“But I’m more of a rice person, so I don’t eat that much bread.”

— What kind of rice do you buy?

“Hinode rice.”
(Hinode rice is a standard Japanese-style rice often found in Chinese grocery stores in France.)

— How do you cook it?

“In a pot.”

— I brought a rice cooker from Japan.

“That’s nice.”

— But they sell rice cookers here too, don’t they?

“You can buy them, but I don’t know when I’ll go back. I feel tied down by it. I shouldn’t accumulate more things.”



— How long do you plan to stay in Paris?

“I initially planned to stay for a year, but I came back. It really depends on my visa and work situation.”

— With your skills, Kanako, it’s not out of the question that you might go to another country after Paris instead of returning to Japan.

“That’s true, but the thought of applying for a visa again, learning a new language, and getting used to a new city… it seems like too much trouble. I feel like I’ve already invested so much in Paris, I want to get something back from it. But I tend to like wherever I live, so I think I could probably grow to like anywhere in the world. If you ask me if I like France, I’m not sure. I might have come to like it by circumstance.”

— So you didn’t have a particular longing for France?

“Not really. I thought it would be a nice place, but I heard a lot of bad things, like people being mean, so I was a bit scared. But if I could live in a scary place, I thought I could live anywhere. When I came here, I sprained my ankle at Narita Airport. Then, when I arrived at Charles de Gaulle, the lid of my suitcase flew open. It was packed too full. I was struggling because I couldn’t even close it again, when a stranger came and helped me close it. That was my first impression of a French person, my very first impression. I thought maybe it was a surprisingly nice place.”

— And after that?

“It turned out to be a surprisingly kind country. I haven’t had many bad experiences. If anything, there have been more good things. I think people are more likely to bump into you and not apologize in Japan. Also, in Japan, my kind of work is often treated as semi-unemployed. Even friends and relatives didn’t really understand it. My neighbors seemed to think I was unemployed too. It’s true I might be wandering around the neighborhood during the day, but in France, there are many people who work in a similar way, so maybe I feel more comfortable here.”

— Students also tend to be like that if they stay for a long time, so I also feel comfortable in France in that sense. If you start wondering about the men hanging out at the counter in this cafe on a weekday afternoon, you could go on forever.




The time was approaching 2 PM. The cafe was as lively as ever, and the streets were still bustling with people. I really wondered what all these people did for a living. More people were coming in at the back of the cafe, and the aforementioned men were gathered at the counter. People started to sit down near us. The closest person to sit down was a hunched-over old woman.

“When there’s an old woman sitting next to me like that, I think, ‘Paris is wonderful.’ It makes me want to paint her.”

— Then I’ll take a discreet photo for you.

“Oh, please send it to me later!”

※ Kanako Kokonoe’s Website
http://www.geocities.com/kanakoinhawaii/

Illustrator and May in Paris (8, Final) = Viewing Her Work