Granta 127: Japan

I went to the book launch party in Tokyo in March and was able to buy an advanced copy of Granta 127: Japan (2014) edited by Yuka Igarashi, which will be released in April of 2014. I started out reading essays by the authors I already knew best, then went back to the start and read the the rest of the entries in order. So I started with David Mitchell's short story, "Variations on a Them by Mister Donut." I have to admit I was disappointed by his contribution, it was the story of an incident in a coffee shop told from several different points of view most of which were terribly cliched and not very convincing (a demented old man escaped from an old folks home, a downsized salaryman, a parasite single, a 3.11 refugee, a foreigner, etc.). Mitchell hasn't lived in Japan for years, and it shows. Next I read David Peace's heavily researched short story, "After the War, Before the War," about Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa's visit to Shanghai in 1921. I felt he did a good job of recreating the event in fiction. I liked how he also provided a list of sources much like he did for the first two volumes of his Tokyo trilogy mystery series. Next, I read Pico Iyer's essay, "The Beauty of the Package," which was interesting since he wrote about his family and wife-whom he first wrote about in his uneven book, The Lady and the Monk. I can not say that I fully agree fully his praise of the uniformly packaged weddings and events in Japanese society. I can, perhaps, get behind the excessive details given to packaging goods more so.

The rest of the entries were new to me, and there were some very pleasant surprises among them. However, Sayaka Murata's short story "A Clean Marriage" was not one of them. A couple decided to marry and live sexless as a couple, but are allowed to satisfy their sexual needs outside the marriage. Then they decided to try and have a baby through artificial insemination. The content of the story was distasteful to me and indicative of several things I do not like about contemporary Japanese society-the lack of connectivity between people that, perhaps, has a cultural base in enryo-a sort of formality or restraint, that is present in even in close personal relationships. I was fascinated by Ruth Ozeki's essay, Linked" on the story behind her renka poem for her grandfather who lived a very interesting life: he was adopted by a family with no sons, then was disowned, then became an indentured servant in Hawaii, then became a successful photographer before being interned during WWII and losing his business before he decided to move back to Japan to live out his days. Kyoko Nakajima's "Things Remembered and Things Forgotten" was one of the real standouts and gems from this series. It is the story of a man's postwar remembrances that reveal certain uncouth truths like the establishment of brothels for American GIs by the Japanese government in order to keep women from being raped as a safeguard to keep the race pure. During the Q&A at the book release party I remember her saying that a lot of the problems of people today regarding Japan's past stem from their ignorance about what really happened during and after the war. The story has a heart wrenching twist at the end that I didn't see coming. Tao Lin's essay, "Final Fantasy III," is an irreverent look at Japan from a Taiwanese-American. He sort of sidesteps the assignment, by writing about his parents and their impressions of Japan. But his impressions do beg the question of why Taiwan has no qualms about the former the colonization? I cannot say that Yuji Hamada's photographs of aluminum mountains made much of an impression on me. However, I was intrigued by Hiromi Kawakami's essay about being diagnosed with a cancerous growth, "Blue Moon." Lucky to say this essay has a happy ending, but it does offer some interesting discourse on dealing with such a scenario. I also enjoyed Kimiko Han's Tale of Genji-inspired poem, "The Japanese Firefly Squid." There was yet another intriguing short story about home remedies and perceptions of reality, this one from Hiroko Oyamada, "Spider Lilies." Yumiko Utsu's photographs, "Out of Ark," also made very little of an impression on me as well. Andre Felipe Solano's "Pig Skin" was also an entertaining short hard-boiled story. I wasn't that interested in Toh EnJoe's story "Printable" that was philosophic prattle about time and authors of texts. Nor was I interested in Daisuke Yokota's black and white photos without clear images, "From Site." However, Adam Jonson's essay, "Scavengers," on the life of former Korean and Japanese wrestling star Rikidozan was fascinating. Yukiko Motoya's story, "The Dogs," about alienation and dogs didn't capture my interest much. There were some interesting bits in Rebcca Solnit's essay "Arrival Gates," but the use of the Fushimi Inari gates as a metaphor didn't work for me. The last story by Tomoyuki Hoshino, "Pink," was a SF story that overreached with too many elements such as cults, excessive weather, a new world order, and future war.edited by Yuka Igarashi, which will be released in April of 2014. I started out reading essays by the authors I already knew best, then went back to the start and read the the rest of the entries in order. So I started with David Mitchell's short story, "Variations on a Them by Mister Donut." I have to admit I was disappointed by his contribution, it was the story of an incident in a coffee shop told from several different points of view most of which were terribly cliched and not very convincing (a demented old man escaped from an old folks home, a downsized salaryman, a parasite single, a 3.11 refugee, a foreigner, etc.). Mitchell hasn't lived in Japan for years. Next I read David Peace's heavily researched short story, "After the War, Before the War," about Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa's visit to Shanghai in 1921. I felt he did a good job of recreating the event in fiction. I liked how he also provided a list of sources much like he did for the first two volumes of his Tokyo trilogy mystery series. Next, I read Pico Iyer's essay, "The Beauty of the Package," which was interesting since he wrote about his family and wife-whom he first wrote about in his uneven book, The Lady and the Monk. I can not say that I fully agree fully his praise of the uniformly packaged weddings and events in Japanese society. I can, perhaps, get behind the excessive details given to packaging goods more so.