Sam Kraus - 10/8

Scattered All Over the Earth surprised me as I believe it is my first Japanese literary piece that I have read that takes place outside of Japan. Of course, there are instances such as Norwegian Wood opening up in Germany, but as far as I am concerned, this is the first time in which the majority of the story takes places overseas, along with one of the protagonists not being a Japanese person (Knut). As for Yoko Tawada, she has to be one of the most unlikely and fascinating people I have done research on. I mean, she was born in Japan, went to Waseda University, Hamburg University, and the University of Zurich, she studies German and Russian literature, was a writer for Stanford and MIT, clearly has an obsession with linguistics, etc. There are even more things about her, but regardless, she has quite the unique story. Anyways, her experiences in Europe of course translate into this novel, in which Knut is a linguistics graduate student in Denmark. Of the four stories we read, this was not my favorite per se, but I did appreciate the discussions on immigration, nationalism, identity, history, etc. For example, many people treat Hiruko quite negatively - they urge her to assimilate into the culture and to drop her old heritage. Furthermore, there is an instance where a classmate becomes sexually interested in Hiruko due to her "uniqueness" and being from a different world. However, Knut is genuinely interested in her heritage - he wants to know about Panska, he wants to know all about Hiruko, her old country, etc. He has a true interest in her culture and a true interest in her as a human being, and this contrasts starkly with the way other people treat her as an immigrant. I could see a lot of this as being a critique of anti-immigrant sentiments that are VERY strong in Western Europe. I would like to finish the novel sometime to learn more about how Japan disappeared. It is interesting, as few people in her vicinity seem to know or remember much about its history.

As for the Memory Police, I did really enjoy that one. Two things really stuck out to me - first, the way that "was disappeared" is phrased. Things did not "disappear" or "go away" but rather, they were or was disappeared. Using passive voice and phrasing it like this, it makes it clear that things did not just go away on their own - someone actively "disappeared" them. Secondly, of course I did not read the whole novel, but I found it intriguing how there is no explanation for the Memory Police. We get glimpses into how they behave, what they wear, what they drive, etc, but in the section we read, there is nothing about how they came to be, who controls them, etc. Furthermore, one of the more fascinating things in the story is the sequence of disappearance. For example, first the "item" disappears, and only after that, the memories disappear too. As the novel reads, "It's all but impossible to recall the things we've lost on the island once they are gone." Interestingly enough though, the mom is able to remember things, but it is not too clear why. She has also successfully hidden many objects in her home. Lastly, I also noticed that all of her books are about losing things - vanished lover, ballerina losing a leg, a young diseased boy, etc. All stories include the protagonist losing something essential to their being. In the world with the Memory Police, everybody has things taken from them overtime, and they struggle with identity, similarly to Hiruko in the last piece. With everything going on in America right now, this story feels less fictional - unfortunately. 

I enjoyed The Easy Life in Kamusari as I have not really read another Japanese novel quite like it. Similarly to Risa Wataya, Shion Miura is pretty funny. I enjoyed parts such as, "Look out, Yoki warned as he opened the front door. The next moment, a bowl came flying out and grazed my chest." In reality, Yoki and Miho's entire relationship is pretty funny. From my perception, this novel revolves around Hirano not fitting in neatly to the capitalist system. He is not excited about working, education, etc. He does not have any strong passions or things he wants or needs to do (things which are essential to survive within capitalism). Therefore, with his lack of ambition in mind, his parents of course send him away to work in forestry in Kamusari village. Interestingly, as time progresses, we learn that Hirano is actually quite insecure about himself. For example, when he falls down the slope and ruins the tree, he is utterly humiliated. Initially, he wanted to escape because he did not want to be there at all, but now, he wants to escape due to this humiliation. This is further revealed when Yoki finally praises him - "Getting praised for the first time made me feel elated." As for the twist of the entire story and the surrealist aspect, I found it to be a little too sudden. With a Murakami book for example, say Killing Commendatore, the surrealist aspects are revealed little by little, starting with the hole. Here, however, the ghost seemingly comes from nowhere, and then like 3 pages later, he is riding on a motorcycle with her wanting to escape again (1 page prior, he mentioned that he did not want to escape). And then after this sudden reveal of the ghost, Yoki and Hirano go back to find Miho, not mentioning the ghost again (furthermore, Hirano really did not seem to perplexed by this whole scenario)... It felt a little too sudden maybe, but I did still enjoy this story.

And lastly, I did enjoy The Little Woods in Fukushima. His 360km trek in the wilderness reminded me of aspects of The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and the autobiographical aspect reminded me of Murakami's Abandoning a Cat. I have not had the chance to read too many of these autobiographical/biographical recounts of history (such as Murakami's Underground), but I would certainly love to in the future. I loved hearing about Hideo Furukawa's family's niche lifestyle as shiitake mushroom farmers. However, this lifestyle was of course devastated by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. I can tell that Furukawa feels deep love and pride for his prefecture, as he did not want this piece of history to be lost. He expresses, "It is human nature to forget, whenever possible." He writes this piece to preserve the history, and he also expresses, "Even so, I am convinced that if all we do is adopt the stance that reconstruction should just be about getting things back to the good old Fukushima, there are things that will never be restored and there are people that will never be made whole again." It seems like he believes that to get through this tragedy, the people of Japan must accept that it happened, and they must accept it as a part of history. Trying to reconstruct the physical buildings may be possible, but it is not possible to reconstruct the memories and trauma. Instead of repressing what happened, he seems to believe that to make people whole again, acceptance is in order, along with of course hearing the stories of the people in Fukushima who were devastated. Lastly, he overall seems like a pretty great guy. In his writing, he portrays the people around him very lovingly, and his love for his home is evident.