Star Tribune
‘The Memory Police’ author and Booker Prize nominee Yoko Ogawa is back with ‘Mina’s Matchbox’
Yoko Ogawa’s novel “Mina’s Matchbox,” in a magnificent translation by Stephen B. Snyder, demonstrates the abiding comfort of fiction that envisions childhood as a time of discovery — without the elevated stakes of being a grown-up.
Originally published serially in Japan in 2005, the story sees 12-year-old Tomoko spend a year with her aunt’s family in the hills outside Osaka. She’s never met these relatives, but knows they live in a 17-room mansion and have connections to faraway European lands. Her excitement increases upon arrival, in March 1972, when she meets Pochiko, her cousin Mina’s pet pygmy hippopotamus.
The house has plenty of other exotic touches, such as a “light-bath room” and a refrigerator stocked with Fressy, the “radium-fortified soft drink” Tomoko is only permitted on her birthday at home. Her aunt’s family believes these novelties are beneficial for Mina’s chronic asthma, which constricts her activities, even necessitating that she ride Pochiko to school to avoid exhaust fumes.
The girls bond over shared interests and passing obsessions with world events, like the Japanese men’s volleyball team’s gold medal run at the Munich Olympics. Though she’s a year younger, Mina is more precocious, possessing a vibrant imagination “far beyond that of most sixth-grade girls.”
This creativity, perhaps spurred by her physical frailty, manifests most strikingly in fables she writes about the artwork on matchboxes, one of which is always in her pocket. Inspired by these images of, say, an elephant on a seesaw or a frog playing the ukulele, the stories are “Mina’s only true chance to escape.”
Other household members intrigue Tomoko, too. Her aunt hides, smoking and drinking while seeking typos in various written materials. Her dashing uncle, the third of his line to helm the Fressy corporation, disappears for weeks at a time. Her 83-year-old German grandma is best friends with the 83-year-old housekeeper, who lives “like a member of a family to which she was in no way related.” Even Mina’s 18-year-old brother becomes a mystery to be solved while visiting from school in Switzerland.
Snyder, who — like too many translators — goes unacknowledged on the book’s cover, has translated several of Ogawa’s works into English, including 2019′s “The Memory Police,” which was a finalist for both the International Booker Prize and the National Book Award. A prime example of why his work is deservedly lauded can be seen in his enlightening treatment of Tomoko’s discussion with Grandma Rosa about the characters that spell her name.
Snyder retains those three characters in the text, allowing English readers to see, as Rosa observes, that the name Tomoko begins with “two identical characters lined up next to one another,” which would have been self-evident to Japanese readers. Tomoko further explains to us that the characters mean “friend” or “companion.” The seemingly esoteric linguistics prompt Rosa to share that she left a twin sister in Germany, a key to the novel’s message about connection.
Mel Northway, a three-year starter for the Gophers men’s basketball team, died Monday.
Northway, who lived in Hartselle, Ala., was 81.
After moving into the Gophers’ starting lineup as a sophomore in the 1962-63 season — freshmen were ineligible for varsity play then — the 6-8 center from Minneapolis Henry High School averaged a double-double in points and rebounds in each of his three seasons as a starter for coach John Kundla.
Northway, who was an Academic All-American in 1964, averaged 13.6 points and 11.7 rebounds in 72 games for the Gophers. He is sixth on the Gophers’ career rebounding list with 841 rebounds.
Northway was drafted by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1965 NBA draft but started the basketball program as coach and athletic director at Anoka-Ramsey Junior College.
After two years at Anoka-Ramsey, he played and coached professionally in Belgium for three seasons. He was named the top player in the Belgium League in 1968 and 1969.
He returned to Minnesota and served as an assistant to Gophers coach Bill Fitch while completing a master’s degree. He then started the basketball program at Inver Hills Junior College. After two years as the Inver Hills coach and athletic director, he became the basketball coach at Blaine High School.
After Blaine, Northway spent 20 years as athletic director and assistant principal at Neenah (Wis.) High School. He was named to the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame in 2022.
Metro Transit fares will be lowered and simplified after the new year after a series of changes were approved by the Metropolitan Council on Wednesday.
The changes, which take effect Jan. 1, include:
Additionally, at some point in 2025, people who qualify for the Transit Assistance Program, an income-based program, will pay $1 fares for up to two years before re-applying is necessary.
Metro Transit said in a news release the price changes are expected to draw an additional 926,000 rides in 2025, which will offset some of the costs associated with lower fares.
Through September this year, ridership has increased 8% compared to last year.
“Making transit easier to use is key to growing ridership, and we believe simplifying fares will help do just that,” Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras said. “These changes also support our belief that cost should not be a barrier for those who want or need access to our services.”
Star Tribune
Vandals uproot 60 new trees on St. Paul riverfront tossing many in the Mississippi River
Sixty newly-planted trees along St. Paul’s riverfront were uprooted Wednesday night, and most were tossed into the water, in an act of vandalism costing tens of thousands of dollars.
“I’m incredibly sad. It’s hard to fathom,” said Karen Zumach, the director of community forestry for St. Paul-based non-profit Tree Trust, which contracted with the city to plant the trees with the help of high school students in October. “I like to think that trees are the least controversial thing we deal with these days.”
The trees were planted over two days along Shepard Road, in the area of Upper Landing Park and the Sam Morgan Regional Trail.
Photos taken by city staff Thursday showed a long row of piles of upturned dirt circling around holes in the ground where the trees once stood. All but 14 of them were tossed into the Mississippi River, rendering them unsalvageable, Zumach said.
The St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department estimated the damage comes to $40,000.
The St. Paul Police Department confirmed Thursday it received a report of the vandalism and an investigation is ongoing. The city parks department said in a statement the vandalism is believed to have occurred overnight.
The 14 trees that did not end up in the river have been reinstalled, Zumach said. The process to replace the others has yet to be determined, but the planting season has already passed.
About 25 high school students helped plant 250 trees while school was out during the annual MEA conference for state educators in October, Zumach said.
Substitute teacher accused of reenacting death of George Floyd resigns as police officer
Mel Northway, a Gophers double-double machine in the 1960s, dies at 81
Trump says he plans to announce Doug Burgum as Department of Interior head
Substitute teacher accused of reenacting death of George Floyd resigns as police officer
Mel Northway, a Gophers double-double machine in the 1960s, dies at 81