The Easy Life in Kamusari (2009) by Shion Miura #JapaneseLitChallenge17

🌳 Yuki Hirano has just finished high school and doesn't know what to do next. So, his parents enrolled him to Mount Kamusari to be trained as a forester. As Yuki was, in a way, forced to take the job, he arrives at the small village grumbling. More so because Yoki Iida, in whose house he would live, snatched and threw his phone away, so that he feels desperate, lonely, and out of place.

🌳 Forestry works are no leisure. Yuki struggles in his first training, but soon gets the hang of it. And it is then that he realizes the beauty of this village at the foot of Mount Kamusari, and appreciates the meaningful job he has in preserving nature. The easy life in Kamusari is far different from his former life in Yokohama city, and he embraces this new life. Yuki even let's himself attracted to a girl older than himself, Nao - a local teacher and sister-in-law of Yuki's boss, Seiichi.

🌳 This book provides a really comfort reading. Shion Miura's writing transported me to the everyday simple life on Kamusari, brought me to meet the people, and learned much about forestry, the little village tradition. I love how the Nakamura team member accepted Yuki in no time, and especially Yoki's household: grandma Shige (Yoki's mother), Miho (Yoki's wife), and even Noko the dog. They grew to love him eventually. But the best part of this book is the detailed description of the forestry work - it's really remarkable, and even kind of epic sometimes. All in all, it's beautiful, refreshing, funny, and warm coming-of-age story.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2