قصة الكتاب :
Poplar (Poplar Bunko), 2010. 256 pp. ¥570. ISBN 978-4-591-
12138-2.
Originally published by Poplar in 2005.
Itō Takami
Born in 1971. In 1995, while still a Waseda University student, he
won the 32nd Bungei Award for Joshu seki ni te, guruguru dansu o
odotte [Dance Round and Round in the Passenger’s Seat]. Also won
the Shōgakukan Children’s Publication Culture Award for Mika!
in 2000 and the 21st Tsubota Jōji Literature Award for Gibuson
[Gibson] and the 135th Akutagawa Prize for Hachi gatsu no rojō ni
suteru [Abandoned on the Street in August] in 2006.

Playing in a band is an essential part of growing up for young people in Japan
today. Kids aim to get a band together with some like-minded friends, work on
covers of the rock bands they admire, and someday play live on stage. But this is
a far cry from the Western idea of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll—these are junior
high school students playing what is really just a cute, comical game of being in
a band. This book depicts this school-based band culture, a very Japanese phenomenon,
with a humorous and lyrical style.
The protagonist is Gaku, an eighth-grader infatuated with the popular American
band Guns N’ Roses. Gaku plays guitar and sings. His close friend, a boy
called Maro, plays bass, while his childhood friend, a girl named Lilii, is on the
drums. Gaku hears rumors of a fantastic young guitarist and goes off to visit
Kakeru, who owns a Gibson Flying V. Kakeru lives in a rundown house with his
alcoholic grandfather; there is some conflict within the band when he joins. They
cannot even manage to play a Guns N’ Roses song. Nevertheless, the four aim to
play live at the school culture festival and single-mindedly throw themselves into
their practice. Then a fleeting love begins to bud between the protagonist and
Lilii.
This is an invigorating boy-and-girl story set in the autumn of 1988, when
Emperor Shōwa fell ill. (NK)