Yogyakarta library is a labor of love

Yogyakarta library is a labor of love

Cynthia Webb, Contributor, Sumberan, Yogyakarta

The city of Yogyakarta will soon be presented with an
incomparable gift, but it comes as a result of a tragic tale of
lost love.

Taman Bacaan Natsuko Shioya is a library built as a memorial
to a 23-year-old Japanese woman who died tragically in Sapporo,
on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, in August 1997.

A 70-ton pile-driver toppled over on soft ground and destroyed
the neighboring house, which was the home of Natsuko's family.
Her parents were not at home, but Natsuko died of suffocation
buried under the rubble.

The famed Shah Jehan gave the world the beautiful Taj Mahal as
his memorial to his beloved wife, and Taman Bacaan Natsuko Shioya
is the memorial of Glen Goulds, the Australian man whose life was
changed forever when he met and fell in love with Natsuko in
Yogyakarta during several business visits to the Indonesian
cultural heartland.

"I had the privilege to meet Natsuko, who had great purity of
spirit and who was both humble and selfless. She had the capacity
to light up a room with her presence, and all felt it. She was an
enlightened soul, who did not know it. She is the love of my
life," Goulds said.

The couple planned to marry, and each returned to their own
country to inform their families. Only the night before the
tragic accident, Natsuko had spoken to her parents about her love
for Goulds and their marriage plans.

Strangely, about three weeks earlier, she had told her parents
that if something should happen to her, she would like her ashes
to be brought to Borobodur temple in Central Java, and to
Varanasi, India. Like many Japanese, Natsuko was a Buddhist, and
these are both important Buddhist sites.

About two days after the tragedy, Goulds telephoned from
Australia to speak to Natsuko, and was shocked to hear the
terrible news. Her parents had not known how to contact him. As
soon as he could, Goulds departed for Hokkaido and was able to
attend some of the ritual ceremonies for Natsuko although he was
too late for the funeral and cremation.

He began his friendship with her parents and resolved to
reorganize his life so that he could go to Japan to live. He felt
bereft and the difficulty of accepting the reality of his loss
was immense. He thought about the Buddhist belief in the enduring
soul and the spiritual strength of Natsuko.

Perhaps it would be possible to come to terms with his tragic
loss if he was in her hometown, the place where she died, and
perhaps he could even communicate with her spirit if, as
Buddhists believe, the spirit lives on after the death of the
body. Since Natsuko's death, Goulds has also been a practicing
Buddhist.

Goulds returned to the Gold Coast, Australia, and made
preparations to change his life. He enrolled in an intensive
graduate diploma course in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of
other languages) at the local university. This would enable him
to get a visa to live and work in Japan. He sold his business and
residence and was soon working at a language college in Hokkaido.

As he grew closer to the people whom he now calls "my Japanese
family", the idea formed of using the accident compensation money
to build a memorial for their beloved Natsuko. In both Goulds'
Australian family and the Japanese family there is a passionate
love of literature and the highest value is attached to books.
That the memorial should be a library soon seemed obvious as he
and her parents discussed the question. Natsuko's father is a
writer and photographer and possesses a large personal library,
and her mother is a teacher.

The Japanese family came to Indonesia with Goulds and agreed
that Yogyakarta seemed to be the ideal location for several
reasons. The lovers had met there. The site has also been chosen
for its similarity to Japanese landscape. There is a clear view
of Mount Merapi across the rice fields, bringing to mind its
resemblance to that other famous volcano, Mount Fuji.

It is close to Borobodur, the world's largest Buddhist
monument. Also important was the fact that there was a need for
a high quality modern public library in Yogyakarta, a city with a
reputation of being a center of learning and culture.

Construction of Taman Bacaan Natsuko Shioya began in April
2001 with the aim of bringing the opportunity to enjoy reading to
the citizens of Yogyakarta. It is located at Sumberan on the
outskirts of Yogyakarta in a beautiful village environment. It is
quiet and peaceful there, the air is clear and the atmosphere is
perfect for enrichment of the mind and spirit, through the
wonderful world of books.

The building's design has features reminiscent of Japanese
style and tradition. The project has been carried out to the
highest degree of quality in design, materials and workmanship.
Goulds describes himself as "a perfectionist".

On the roof are two terra-cotta elephants, a poignant touch,
which recognizes Natsuko's love of elephants. The garden is also
inspired by Japanese tradition, too, and even has a tea house
which may be hired for the equivalent of Rp 25,000 for half a
day. Readers may sit on cushions and enjoy tea and a good book in
this uniquely beautiful place.

Membership of the library will be open to all and after paying
a small and refundable membership fee, borrowing will be free of
charge. There will be an up-to-date collection of high quality
fiction and nonfiction, comprising approximately 10,000 books.

There will also be a collection of valuable coffee-table
books, which will not be available for borrowing. However, the
facilities of computer, scanner and printer will be available to
people wishing to use them. The book collection will be in three
different languages, 60 percent in Bahasa Indonesia, 20 percent
in English and 20 percent in Japanese, and including a children's
library.

Natsuko's parents entrusted the execution of the project
entirely to Goulds. The total cost of the project is A$250,000
(about Rp 1.2 billion), and the completed library will be
administered from a trust fund in perpetuity by a foundation.

During Goulds' childhood years his own father had instilled in
him a lasting love of literature which he in turn had
communicated to Natsuko. Goulds says that, in many ways, his own
dedication to the project of building the library in Yogyakarta
flows from his father whom he loved and respected immensely, whom
he describes as a "man small in stature who cast a giant shadow".

Tenacity and perseverance were his father's hallmarks. William
Goulds survived three years in Changi prison during the Japanese
occupation of Singapore in World War II.

Like fellow prisoner author Laurens Van Der Post, Goulds
senior, who had a leg amputated in the prison camp due to
infection, was convinced that forgiveness was the answer and he
never harbored or expressed any hatred or enmity toward the
Japanese after the war. He was of the opinion that these were
invalid emotions and must be "let go", because they had the
potential to destroy, if one allowed them into the heart. The
younger Goulds describes his father in the same words as he
describes Natsuko Shioya, a humble and selfless soul.

In their hometown of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, after
the war Goulds senior was instrumental in designing and
implementing a children's playground for the city in the 1960s.
Now Glen Goulds finds himself following his late father's example
-- doing something unasked, for the betterment of others, and in
particular for the benefit of children.

When the library is completed and functioning smoothly, Goulds
will fulfill the last of his sacred promises by journeying to
Varanasi, India, to scatter Natsuko's ashes. He has already
entrusted her ashes to the highest Buddha on Borobodur, which
faces east, into the rising sun.