＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
When I was in elementary and junior high school, I remember that “book reports” were always assigned as homework during summer vacation. I have bitter memories of struggling to write it well.
By the way, there seems to be a recent controversy over the rule of the National Book Report Contest for Youth, a leading book report contest, that only books in paper form may be entered.
1. “E-book NG” rule for book report
In the “Book Report Q&A Corner” of the official website of this year’s “65th National Youth Book Report Contest” sponsored by the National School Library Association and the Mainichi Newspapers, the question “Can I write a book report by reading an e-book?” the answer is “No, you cannot submit your book report as it must be a book report based on a paper-based book.
2. rationale for “e-books NG
(1) Books are to be read while writing
According to an article in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the rationale for this explanation was that books are read by writing.
(2) Because in some cases, e-books are updated as needed
In addition, the news site BLOGOS confirmed the rationale with the organizer and received the following response.
In judging the book report entries for this contest, we will prepare the books read by the children (target books) and check whether the content of the book report is in line with the content of the target books and whether the quotations, etc. are appropriate.
Based on the “Application Form” (which has columns for the title of the book, author, and place of publication, etc.) that you write when submitting your application, we identify and align the target books for review.
We try to identify not only the publisher, but also whether the book was published in book form or in paperback, and the year and edition of the book.
In some cases, works on the Web, such as e-books, are updated on a regular basis, making it difficult to identify what students have read.
It is difficult at this point to introduce the screening of Web-based works and e-books at all screening committees, whether municipal, prefectural, or central, so at this stage, these are not included.
We are aware that the use of e-books, etc. is expanding, and we will make a decision on whether to include e-books, etc. in the competition in the future based on the opinions of the judges from each district, while giving due consideration to the trends and state of ICT at schools promoted by the government and the state of e-book use by students.
August 22, 2019 Secretariat of the National Book Report Contest for Youth
3. inexplicable organizer’s rationale for “e-book NG
(1) Are books to be read with writing?
If a book is owned by an individual, there may be people who write down their thoughts and impressions on their favorite parts of the book. Some famous people, such as Soseki Natsume, were in the habit of writing or scribbling in books.
In “Sanshiro,” there is a story about how Sanshiro was surprised to find various writings in the library of the University of Tokyo when he opened a book that he thought “no one would have ever read such a book. It is a bit long but interesting, so I will quote it next.
Sanshiro was a first-year student, so he had no right to enter the library. So he had no choice but to squat down and examine the large boxed book catalog, page by page. However, no matter how many times he turned the pages, the names of new books kept coming up. Finally, his shoulders began to ache. He looked up, took a break, and looked around the library, which was indeed a very quiet place.
And there were a lot of people. And the head of the person at the other end appears black. Their eyes and mouths are indistinct. Trees could be seen in places through the high windows. He could also see some of the sky. The sounds of the town could be heard in the distance. As Sanshiro stood there, he thought that the life of a scholar is quiet and profound. So he went home that day.
The next day, Sanshiro stopped daydreaming and went into the library to borrow a book. However, it was not an interesting book, so he returned it immediately. The book he borrowed later was too difficult for him to read, so he returned it again. In this way, Sanshiro always borrowed eight or nine books every day. However, he occasionally read a few books.
To Sanshiro’s surprise, he discovered that no matter what book he borrowed, someone had surely read it at least once. This was evident by the pencil marks that could be seen here and there throughout the book. One day, Sanshiro borrowed a novel by the author Aphra Behn just to be sure. When he opened it, he did not expect to find it, but when he looked at it, he saw that it had been carefully marked in pencil. At that moment, he felt that this was something he could never do.
As a reminder, Aphra Behn (1640-1489) was “England’s first female professional playwright,” and her best-known work is “Ornoco.
Recently, Kimihiko Abe, a professor at the University of Tokyo, published a book titled “Tinkering with Masterpieces. In a book titled “The First Page of Reading in the Scribble Style,” Kimihiko Abe, a professor at the University of Tokyo, advocates a “reading method in which you write in the book.
However, if it is a library book, it is a breach of etiquette (and in some cases, you may be charged with “destruction of property”), and I believe that not many people normally write in books.
Even if we accept the idea that “books are meant to be read with writing,” the Kindle’s “Options” function allows you to “bookmark” pages you are interested in and “highlight text” as if you were using a highlighter, even if you are reading an e-book on your smartphone, and You can also use the “Memo Edit” function to write notes.
Once you “write” or “highlight” in a paper book, you can never undo it, but in the case of Kindle books, the original data is still intact, so you can erase or correct it at any time.
(2) Is it only e-books that are updated that much?
I am not sure, since I have only read the “Blue Sky Library,” a collection of out-of-copyright classics, and have never bought and read a new e-book, but are there that many updates?
Even if it is true that, unlike paper books, e-books are updated from time to time, does that mean that there are “so many updates with significant changes in content” that it affects the opinion?
This is what I am having trouble understanding.
4. e-books should be allowed in the future
I believe that “e-books are not allowed” is an anachronism in a society that is rapidly becoming an “ICT society” (Information and Communication Technology Society), as “programming education” will be mandatory in elementary schools by 2020.
In anticipation of mandatory programming education in 2020, ICT environments in elementary schools are being improved, and I believe that the number of children reading e-books on their smartphones is a natural trend and a natural momentum.
However, a word of advice to elementary and junior high school students, whether it is a paper book or an e-book, please be careful not to “copy and paste” using “sabots” such as “book report writing drills that are fully compatible with assigned books,” because it is absolutely “NG.
