{"id":4444,"date":"2025-10-04T05:46:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T05:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=4444"},"modified":"2025-10-04T05:46:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T05:46:54","slug":"the-healing-hippo-of-hinode-park-read-it-or-skip-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=4444","title":{"rendered":"The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park: Read it or Skip it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi Readers! When I read a debut book and I love it, I usually immediately read whatever the authors write next. It\u2019s only human nature, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s also a 50-50 chance that the second book can either be even more amazing or go in the opposite direction. This past week, I read two books which were the second books of authors whose first books I had loved and enjoyed. But, I was not that happy with them. At least I took a chance, right? Read more to find out why The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park wasn\u2019t for me but if it could possibly for you.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The enchanting new novel by the multimillion-copy bestselling author of What You Are Looking For Is in the Library<\/em>, about five strangers who each seek comfort from a healing hippo ride.<\/strong>

Nestled at the bottom of a five-story apartment block in the community of Advance Hill is the children’s playground in Hinode Park, where you will find a very special age-old hippo ride named Kabahiko. According to urban legend, if you touch the exact part of the hippo where you have an ailment or wound, you will see swift signs of recovery. They call it “Healing Hippo.”

In The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park<\/em>, the apartment residents each find their way to Kabahiko, confessing their troubles and drawing upon the hippo’s rumored abilities. From a struggling student who pets the hippo’s head to reverse his poor academic performance to the lonely new mother who hopes that touching the hippo’s mouth will allow her to better express herself, this heartwarming, eclectic cast of characters will all come to Kabahiko for healing in their lives\u2014though they may not always find it in the ways they expect.

With Aoyama’s classic charm and emotional power, The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park<\/em> is a deeply moving celebration of kindness, community and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~THOUGHTS~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park consists of five short stories<\/strong><\/mark> centred around characters living at a condominium called Advance Hill close to which is the somewhat-secluded Hinode Park where the Healing Hippo or as the say Healing Kabahiko is stationed. The premise is that if you touch the part of the Hippo where you are feeling pain, the hippo heals you. <\/mark><\/strong>When it comes to healing fiction or feel-good books, it\u2019s always tricky. Some of them are life-changing because they have these mini life lessons that speak to you in volumes. But, then in some others, there is nothing relatable so it becomes a little juvenile or silly to read. With Michiko Aoyama\u2019s first book \u2018What You Are Looking For is in the Library\u2019, it was the former scenario, but with the second book, it was the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I liked only one of the five stories, almost in its entirety. With others, there were a few sentences here and there which were insightful. In \u2018Kanato\u2019s Head\u2019<\/mark><\/strong>, we understand the value in honesty and giving your best effort for your own sake. In \u2018Sawa\u2019s Mouth\u2019<\/mark><\/strong>, we understand the value in speaking up and letting go of our fears so that we become our most authentic selves. In \u2018Chiharu\u2019s Ears\u2019<\/mark><\/strong>, we understand the value in courage and to face uncomfortable situations rather than running away from them. In \u2018Yuya\u2019s Leg\u2019<\/mark><\/strong>, we understand the value in empathy and kindness and how instead of letting our imagination run amok, we need to be mindful and present. In \u2018Kazuhiko\u2019s Eyes\u2019<\/mark><\/strong>, we understand the value in aging gracefully and communication rather than believing in baseless assumptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess that with translations, I never really know if it was the original text or the translation because of which I did not like the book. In this book, the number of times \u2018Advance Hill\u2019 is mentioned, you would think the book is a promo advertisement for the condos. There was no need to have all the characters as residents of Advance Hill. In fact, there was no need for us to know where they all lived. The common factor could have been the park alone. As for the actual \u2018healing hippo\u2019, I did not enjoy the concept. It should have been a combination of magical realism and healing fiction to make it more interesting. Also, a few stories felt a bit meaningless with a big disconnect from the story title, the Hippo and the actual lesson. It could be that the stories were not relatable, which is why I did not enjoy this book as much. I have rated The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Takami Nieda at 2\/5 stars!<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next time,<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Readers! When I read a debut book and I love it, I usually immediately read whatever the authors write next. It\u2019s only human nature, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s also a 50-50 chance that the second book can either be even more amazing or go in the opposite direction. This past week, I read two books […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,23,3],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-4444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-books","category-book-reviews","category-mindscape-reviews","tag-japanese-books"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/PXL_20251004_040400138.MP-2-1.jpg?fit=2500%2C2500&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4646,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=4646","url_meta":{"origin":4444,"position":0},"title":"Top 8 Posts of 2025 \u2013 Year in Review (Part 3)","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"December 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! Welcome to Part 3 of Year in Review series: Top 10 Posts of 2025. This post is possible only because of ALL OF YOU. Because of a slow reading year, it was a slow writing year too. I shared 37 posts this year. The total viewership reached more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SI_20251221_173635.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SI_20251221_173635.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SI_20251221_173635.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SI_20251221_173635.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SI_20251221_173635.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4862,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=4862","url_meta":{"origin":4444,"position":1},"title":"Hot Chocolate on Thursday: Read it or Skip it?","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"March 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! I have always read Michiko Aoyama\u2019s books. These books are the classic examples of not judging a book by their covers. But, now that I have three in my collection whose covers I really love, I think I will have to continue to buy and read them! But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Picsart_26-03-11_17-57-04-571-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Picsart_26-03-11_17-57-04-571-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Picsart_26-03-11_17-57-04-571-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Picsart_26-03-11_17-57-04-571-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Picsart_26-03-11_17-57-04-571-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4414,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=4414","url_meta":{"origin":4444,"position":2},"title":"September 2025 Recap!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"September 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers!Have to wake up as September ends. But, if this month was any indication of a dream, I\u2019d rather keep sleeping for five more minutes!! What an amazing month this was, sans the first 10 days which were insane. But also, maybe because I spent those first 10 days\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cover-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cover-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cover-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cover-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cover-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":71,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=71","url_meta":{"origin":4444,"position":3},"title":"Top 5 Favourite Authors!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"May 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! How are you all? Stay home & stay safe, guys! For me, it is really difficult not to pick a new book 10 minutes after I finish the last one. But, I am giving myself a READING DETOX for a couple of days (I hope I am successful\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-oTCdd5UIrxE\/Xrgqm-zQAMI\/AAAAAAAAix0\/uxEM4P8WHlAf6Qq2rKYYwBLnQopMZ9u0gCLcBGAsYHQ\/s640\/IMG_20200510_214714-01-01-01.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=11","url_meta":{"origin":4444,"position":4},"title":"Celebrating my Favourite Women Authors! Happy Women\u2019s History Month!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"March 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! It has been way too long, and honestly this time I have no excuses. After my month-long reading slump, I got back into it with Kristin Hannah\u2019s \u2018The Four Winds\u2019. Just the fact of being out of the slump has made me lazy & I have given up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "books"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WHM01.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WHM01.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WHM01.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WHM01.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1996,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=1996","url_meta":{"origin":4444,"position":5},"title":"Books Read in March 2022!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"March 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! I have not been super actively reading or writing or browsing bookstagram lately. All I am doing these few weeks is working & sleeping. Finally today I woke up earlier than usual to write this post & to write a book review for Upgrade by Blake Crouch. Stay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "books"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PSX_20220330_103113__01-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PSX_20220330_103113__01-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PSX_20220330_103113__01-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PSX_20220330_103113__01-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PSX_20220330_103113__01-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4450,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions\/4450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}