\u003cdiv\u003eThe novella \u003cI\u003eRomaji Diary\u003c/I\u003e represents the first instance of a Japanese writer using romaji (roman script) to tell stories in a way that could not be told in kana or kanji. \u003cI\u003eSad Toys\u003c/I\u003e is a collection of 194 Tanka, the traditional 31 syllable poems that are evocative of Japan's misty past and its tentative steps into the wider world.\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003eThe publication of this edition of two of Takuboku Ishikawa's finest and most popular works together in translation has proven to be interesting from various standpoints. \u003cI\u003eRomaji Diary\u003c/I\u003e and the collection of tanka, \u003cI\u003eSad Toys\u003c/I\u003e, while different forms of literature, are not as dissimilar as they appear on the surface. Takuboku himself wrote that poetry \"must be an exact report, an honest diary, of the changes in a man\u0026#8217;s emotional life,\" and these tanka are indeed as much a diary as a standard prose one. Both works reflect clearly, honestly, and poignantly the emotions and philosophy of a complex individual living in a time of profound change in Japan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cI\u003eRomaji Diary\u003c/I\u003e is here presented in full in English for the first time.\u003c/div\u003e
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