Yoshimoto Banana’s Special Holiday in Mykonos


 

 
ふじた Thanks for meeting us today.
ゆーないと Banana! Why do you have a bandage on your nose?

ばななさん I went to the doctor when I had a benign lump under my birthmark, and my doctor suggested I just go ahead and remove them both. I thought it’d have healed by today, but I guess not. Is this going to be all right for the photos?
ふじた No problem.
ゆーないと Right then. Could we show you the techo cover, first?
ふじた You’re right! (Pulls out the techo) This is the Spring Edition Hobonichi Techo cover, Windows of Mykonos.
I’m sure you can already see it because you know Mykonos so well, but the motif is based on all the colorful windows across the island’s pure white scenery.

ばななさん That’s amazing, I can see it quite well.
ふじた Thank goodness! And the bookmarks have glass beads on the ends, like ones you might find in a Mykonos souvenir shop.
ばななさん Yeah, these beads are everywhere in Mykonos, aren’t they? Makes me wonder what they do with them all. (laughs)
ふじた (laughs) Yeah. We put together a photo gallery of Mykonos to introduce the island, and a lot of people wrote us to tell us how they’d love to visit there someday. And today we’d like to ask you all about the island.
ばななさん Ask away. But... it seems a bit strange to talk about Mykonos when I’m wearing a sweater like this. Is that okay?

ゆーないと Mykonos versus Hawaii! (laughs)
ふじた That’s all right. (laughs) So why did you first go to Mykonos?
ばななさん I first went about ten years ago, when some friends of mine living in Italy invited me to go with them to Mykonos. Italy has a holiday vacation about a month long, so they’re always traveling every year to places like Ibiza Island in Spain or Sardinia Island in Italy. But they said Mykonos was their favorite.
ふじた Wow.
ゆーないと Are they Italian?
ばななさん It’s a Japanese and Italian couple. But my image of Mykonos had been an island where gay people from all over the world come together and party at the clubs until morning, and tourists from Germany would come in droves to sightsee and leave at the end of the day. I also thought it was all too narrow for cars to fit anywhere, so everyone had to walk. Every single time I go to Venice, I get lost in the city and just want to start crying. I didn’t think I’d ever survive in a place where you had to park your car at the front somewhere and walk the rest of the way, so I assumed I wouldn't like Mykonos.
ふじた So when you were first invited to go, you weren’t very into it?
ばななさん Not really. But they insisted that it was an amazing place, and I figured, if they were that intent on getting me to go, I’d give it one shot. So that summer, I went with them and my family, and took a flight out of Milan.
ふじた Usually, traveling to Mykonos involves changing over in Athens and going through immigration first, but I guess there are lots of international direct flights in the summer.
ばななさん Definitely. We went directly from Milan to Mykonos in a tiny little plane.
ふじた What did you think at first?
ばななさん We got there at night, so at first I didn’t think much but, “Man it’s dark here.” But when I woke up, I was shocked to see this vast, blue sky stretching out overhead and the very Greece-like scenery of all white buildings. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Oh, and I’ll always remember how cold the water was.
ゆーないと In the sea?
ばななさん Yeah, it was mind-bogglingly cold. I couldn’t believe the water could be so cold in the summer, with the sun beating down as hard as it was. And there were barely any fish anywhere. I wondered why everyone was eating fish when there weren’t any swimming anywhere. I still wonder about things like that to this day. You didn’t see any fish either, did you?
ふじた No. The Aegean Sea actually doesn’t have much plankton in it, so the amount of fish is surprisingly slim. So fish is more expensive than meat, and if you go swimming, you’ll only see really small fish.
ばななさん Yeah, you’re right. I saw some little gray fish. I don’t even know what they’re doing there.
ふじた Where did you stay in Mykonos?
ばななさん My son was so young when we first went that we couldn’t walk around much, and I wanted to stay somewhere comfortable. So we stayed at the Royal Myconian.
ふじた Wow, the island’s five-star hotel.
ゆーないと Five star!
ばななさん Yes, it was super expensive.
ふじた It’s pretty far from downtown Mykonos, isn’t it? But really close to the beach.



▲The Royal Myconian Resort along the beach.


ばななさん Yeah. That’s what I preferred at first. I thought we’d stay next to the beach and spend the whole day swimming and lounging around. But then the water ended up being way too cold to swim in, and there weren’t any fish, so we ended up taking a car to go hang out in town, anyway.
ふじた Ah, to Mykonos Town, right? Where all the hotels and souvenir shops and restaurants are.



▲Mykonos Town is famous for its narrow, winding roads.


ばななさん Yeah. We parked the car at the front and walked around town, so I was convinced we were going to get lost. But that wasn’t the case. The town’s not very big, and it’s like Kobe, with the mountainside and the seaside. So if you get lost, all you have to do is head toward the sea and you’ll come out at the port, where you can reorient yourself.
ふじた What did you think of the town?
ばななさん I’ve been to quite a few places in my time, but compared to everywhere else, I was amazed at how relaxed a place it is.
ゆーないと Cool.
ばななさん I’ve been to Capri Island in Italy several times, but somehow it was even more peaceful than Capri, and it felt very laid-back. And there’s something about Grecians that makes them seem hard-working, like they don’t mind a bit of labor work. I liked that about them. Even in the restaurants, they were so efficient, like, “I’m here, so I want to move around.” I’m not sure how to put it... they were just so energetic.
ふじた That’s true. Everyone’s really hard at work during the summer tourism season.
ばななさん And that’s rare. I think most laid-back tourist locations also have workers who seem kind of lethargic. I think it’s important that they have that sense of diligence.
(To be continued)
2014-03-20-THU
 
Yoshimoto Banana’s Mykonos photos supplied by Yoshimoto Banana Office
Mykonos Scenery photos supplied by Kinji Hayakawa
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