In The Cage of Zeus, I appreciated the longing that characters display for a past time, place, memory, etc. Even though we only read a single chapter, there are multiple instances of this. For example, in the opening sequence, Shirosaki has a dream about the little girl picking a mango. He observes her and then proceeds to help her pick them, before feeling a powerful, heavy sadness. Upon waking up, this sadness lingers, and I really like this sentiment. It's not uncommon for us to have dreams in which an emotion is invoked, and upon waking up, that emotion lingers before dissipating. Clearly here, Shirosaki is longing for a previous time in his life. As for a different example, the novel mentions that, "Even the humans not born on earth find solace in its blue..." Phrasing it like this, it is as if every human has an innate longing to return to home, in this instance, earth. No matter who it is, everyone has felt a longing for home in one regard or another. However, on a different scale, I cannot imagine having that same longing but for earth. The people long for an earlier time in which survival was not at the forefront of one's thoughts, and being away from earth, the novel expresses that "humans were like bacteria clinging to the tiniest puddle of moisture." Space is fascinating and all, but at the same time, it is dark, cold, depressing, lifeless, endless, etc. Space travel sounds amazing in theory, but practically, I think people would quickly realize that earth is where we are suited to be. And in this story, the characters realize that once it is too late. We also see how humanitarian issues we experience on earth have carried over into space. For example, you have war between The Vessel of Life and the people inhabiting Jupiter-1. Here, people are similarly pulled from home in order to fight a war (like any war in the world). In this instance, they are pulled from their home of Mars to travel across the solar system to fight. We also see instances of prejudice and racism, such as Harding mentioning regarding Tei, "You're a broad-minded one. I don't have it in me to be so tolerant." Rounds feel inferior to the monaurals, and similarly, they are treated this way by Harding and others. So although earth is no more and humans have abandoned it, the very systematic issues live on with us but on a galactic scale.
As for The Place of Shells, I think this quote nicely sums up what I got out of it, "I understand full well how precarious reality was, and yet it seemed I still maintained an unconditional belief in the stability of its foundations." As humans, we all believe in this tranquil stability until reality rips that fabric apart. As this story expresses, one instance of this was of course the pandemic. However, another instance of this was of course the March 11th earthquake and tsunamis. At one moment, people can be living peaceful lives, but in an instance, that can be ripped away, as happened on that day. And as the novel expresses, the very things that bring us comfort and tranquility in nature can devastate us - "The sea, which had remained a stable presence throughout the majority of Nomiya's time, hadn't left behind the slightest trace of their memories." That is an amazing sentence. With all of this in mind, trauma is of course another fundamental theme of this story. Not only does Nomiya return in ghost form, but our narrator also mentions, "I tried burying my ears in the pillow, but I could still hear the faint rumbling, trapped inside my head like a ringing." Furthermore, I think that tragedy of Nomiya's death is described beautifully in this sentence (where he first arrives at the station) - "Casting off the impression of a saint imprisoned in glass." As for one last thing I'll mention on this story, a super interesting contrasting point appears, in comparison with The Cage of Zeus. As I previously mentioned, we find peace in the night sky, some long to explore space, etc. However, in that story, the characters realize that earth is their true home, and that leaving it was immensely regrettable. However, in this story, our protagonist says, "Up there, facing this one, was a world of peace and tranquility" (when describing space). As we learn, that appearance of peace and tranquility is largely an illusion...
Self-Reference ENGINE by Toh Enjou is a bit hard to read, but that is also because he is really intelligent... holding a degree in physics and a mathematical PhD on language from the University of Tokyo. Still, I at least did enjoy the surrealist, meta-commentary on the Japanese language. In this story, similar to Scattered All Over the Earth, Japan has disappeared. Researchers are attempting to decipher the language and history, but they are struggling terribly. For example, there "appears" to be over 12 billion characters, characters do not appear to repeat, the use of some symbols is unclear, etc. And most important of all, the researchers appear to be stuck in a loop - we learn at the end that his text was brought back by the first research team to visit the former Japanese archipelago. However, this piece of work simply describes the researchers studying it. Therefore, in a funny yet uncanny way, the researchers are trying to decipher a piece of text of them deciphering a piece of text. In other words, the object of study and the analysis are the same thing. Following that, the piece also expresses, "To further understanding, more new material would be needed, but the materials brought back by each research team only promoted greater diversity of interpretations." Therefore, in another ironic way, studying the Japanese texts creates more texts. Therefore, any attempt to understand the text simply creates greater misunderstandings. I didn't care for this read on the first attempt, but after reading it a second time and seemingly or ostensibly coming to understand it, I think this one may be my favorite here.
As for The Missing One, this story is an allusion to the story of Okiku. Similarly, no matter how many times she counts, Kikue only has 9 plates - she is missing the 10th one. Of course, Okiku is associated with Himeji Castle, and over the years, Himeji Castle has become very famous. As the town that Kikue lives in becomes dilapidated, worn down, etc, constant renovations go into the castle. As she says, "It was as though the city channeled every last drop of its sublime energy into Himeji Castle." The town is described as having the old, no longer used monorail, uncared for botanical gardens, etc. However, the castle is renovated, and, Kikue runs a gift shop. Therefore, part of me wonders if this story is a criticism of tourism, similarly to On High. It is a lot more apparent (in my opinion) in that story, but it seems to be present here. Lastly, although this is an allusion to Okiku, our main character Kikue seems to be a lot more independent and in control of her life, in contrast to Okiku. For example, she runs her own gift shop, and most importantly, although it was missing, Yuta HIMSELF brings her the missing plate (he is a guy of course, like Okiku's master was). In the other story, the master hides it and kills her, but here, the man brings it to her, seemingly representing a more modern, empowering feminist account of the story (similar to Doujouji).
And as I just mentioned, On High is also about Himeji Castle, but its critiques of tourism seem to be more apparent. For example, "Not a single person stopped to appreciate the fact that real people had once lived real lives in this place." Tomihime is of course a ghost, and I might of missed something, but I am wondering if she herself is supposed to represent Okiku in the modern day, given that Okiku came back to haunt the people who harmed her. However, whether this story is empowering or not is debatable. The castle does "belong" to Tomihime in a sense, as described in the story. She gazes down on the castle, and she behaves how she pleases, even if her behavior is, "not befitting a princess." However, if she does represent Okiku, she of course must live on as a ghost - the master still killed her back in the day, and she is stuck in this form. Still, the castle is hers, and she is the princess of it.
Lastly, A First-Rate Material was the most straight forward of the stories we read. This is one of those stories where I feel as if Japanese context goes a long way, as resource waste is incredibly frowned upon in Japan vs. the USA. With this sentiment in mind, Sayaka Murata plays with the idea of using the "resources" of dead humans, whether that involves skin, teeth, hair, etc. An argument is made that expresses - is using a dead human's hair really so much crueler than incinerating their corpse? Whether you buy the argument or not, it at least leads to a moment of reflection. Also, it was interesting how the husband was utterly opposed to the idea until he sees the wedding veil on Nana. In that moment, he sees beauty in it, going on to say, "Maybe everyone's right, and making things out of people after they die really is a wonderful, moving thing to do." So that being said, cynicism leads me to contend with this idea. As we know, we do not wait until animals die peacefully to utilize their resources - we murder them. Whether that is meat or fur, animals are killed for those very resources. In turn, in a society that begins to commoditize human resources... things could go south. This idea makes me think of the novel Tender is the Flesh. In that novel, once animal flesh is unavailable, the wealthy/government turns to breeding and consuming humans for sustenance. And if the resources that humans possess become valuable...
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