What began as regular visits to Japan starting about five years ago for Saman Athaudahetti, resulted in a collection of insightful articles compiled as a book containing some interesting facts he discovered.
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| Saman Athaudahetti |
Titled ‘Wandering with Pleasure Along Hanamichi’, the book will be launched on May 22 at the Lankaji Temple auditorium at Sawara-Katori, Japan. This is the first time that a book written by a Sri Lankan and published here will be launched in Japan.
The idea of compiling his travel writings which he wrote to the “Lankadeepa” newspaper came after the Editor Siri Ranasinghe suggested he write more detailed articles on his travels and publishes them as a book.
Athaudahetti is no stranger to literary circles having written several books as well as scripts for both television and radio dramas but his latest venture was a new experience for him. “Sri Lankans feel a close affinity to Japan. On my visits there I found that there are many traditions, religious and cultural practices that are similar to those here,” he said.
Among his finds were the conduct of an annual religious ceremony akin to the Randoli Perahera in Sri Lanka and the existence of Gods and Goddess similar to those worshipped in this part of the world.
“I travelled to many places and sought assistance from my friends there to help me comprehend many facts about Japan. It was then that I began to realize that our two countries had a lot in common,” he said.
A synopsis of each chapter of his book is given at the beginning of the chapter in Japanese for the benefit of Japanese readers.
The guest speaker at the book launch will be Professor Dammika Ganganath Dissanayaka of the Sri Jayewardenepura University. He is also a visiting lecturer at the Rikyo University in Japan. The book is published by Fast Publishing (Pvt) Ltd, with cover design by Prem Dissanayake.
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