Yoko Tawada, Scattered All over the Earth
At first after having read this story I honestly did not exactly know what to think. I liked the premise of the story, the description of the characters and the change of perspective taken for the last chapter but somewhat failed to see its message. Although I am still having that issue I do definitely see the strongest themes being presented as being that of home, belonging, identity and humanization. Home is quite self explanatory but throughout the story it is constantly repeated that one of the reasons why Hiruko is special is because of her status as a stateless person. However, later in the story it is shown both through the storybook and her integration of her own language that she has found home in this new place whilst keeping her individuality and identity through her language. The humanization aspect was simply in the face of refugees and the way they are often seen and treated with contempt, admiration, or almost like non-living objects which I believe was somewhat shown through the phone calls Hiruko took right after the show went live.
Shion Miura, The Easy Life in Kamusari
This was probably one of my favorite readings of the bunch because it reads so differently from other Japanese literature. Both the style of the writing (which is probably simply due to translation) and the extremely juvenile nature of the main character give a sentiment of it essentially being about a boy rebelling against the system he's been put in. This theme is then expanded by his literally trying to escape but also his lack of general ability in the workforce, as well as in home life. Whether its his inability to do most tasks in forestry or the fact that his own parents consider him somewhat expendable its a story, to me, about finding ones place in the world and it not always having to be conventional. As well as the fact that even within these systems there is such a variety of experiences to be had that one just needs to seek them out to find himself.
Yoko Ogawa, The Memory Police
I actually have the physical version of this book. After reading the first 6 chapters it struck me as a little bit of a mix between the books: 1984, The Buried Giant, and The Chinese Republic of Amnesia. It deals both with the idea of a "big brother" state, what identity is for someone under an oppressive regime and the ease of collective amnesia/acceptance of non-understanding. The use of the term, "has been disappeared" is interesting as it directly infers that the disappearance is both not natural but also uncontrollable from the persons point of view. This has strongly reminded me of many passages found in books about Mao, the rise of the CCP and the USSR in the way that information is treated entirely as a commodity. Whether one is allowed to know something is not up to them but up to the system that they exist under, and even having an understanding of that that goes beyond surface level can be dangerous.
Hideo Furukawa, The Little Woods in Fukushima
Although a complete change of pace from the other stories this one was surprisingly fun to read. It read a little bit more like a memoire or magazine article rather than a one-shot story to me but was still filled with character development and meaningful moments. I found the paragraph where the main character talked about how life simply continued in Tokyo even after the horrific earthquake and nuclear fallout in Fukushima interesting as it really highlights the idea that in a community the plight of the individual or minority is often of a rare importance. Something that we have talked about already but that is strongly reiterated in this story. I especially appreciate the way in which trauma, pain and loss is portrayed as being something that once accepted can be dealt with rather than the more standard repression. Its almost as if the writer is saying that for him to be content with the atrocities he has lived through he wants the entirety of Japan as a collective but also as individuals to consider the pain that occurred in Fukushima.
Overall I greatly enjoyed these readings and would have absolutely loved to have written this reflection earlier if it wasn't for the fact that I got a Migraine the night before :(
No comments:
Post a Comment