Watcher from the Shore

This deeply contemplative novel by Ayako Sono was published by Kodansha in 1990, originally appearing in Japan in 1980, and won the Woman's Literature Prize, translated by Edward Putzar from the Japanese title Kami no yogoreta te, which translates as something quite different from the given title, but Watcher from the Shore is a fitting title. The novel's narrator Sadaharu, opened a gynaecological clinic some years before, he chooses a spot as close as he could find next to the sea, although he has a good reputation he is not clear from paying off his debts and loans he took out in order to start his surgery. Sadaharu's relationship with his wife is somewhere between deterioration and distant, although they have a daughter. His wife spends a lot of her time away from the family home, how and why their relationship has arrived at this impasse is none to clear. Sadaharu likens his job as a gynaecologist as to that of an automobile repair shop, we follow him as he treats his patients, 'sexual matters were simply medical phenomenon' he surmises treating a woman with candida. He gets a call from Yoko Kakei, her American husband died in an airplane crash in Sagami Bay, since then she has travelled, she invites Sadaharu over that evening, when he arrives he finds she already has a visitor, Father Munechika, a local priest, after a few drinks Sadaharu talks over some of the cases he has attended to, the two men find they have more than they assumed in common, both deal with the aspect of human nature most people keep hidden, the conversation turns to calculating the number of abortions performed in Japan over the past years. As the two men talk, the differring approaches to the ethics of each men's calling is subtly examined, and interestingly in this novel their conversation is not confrontational, but the two men seem to illuminate what the other doesn't know or understand about the topic of their discussion. In the middle of the novel after visiting an orphanage for abandoned children, Sadaharu points out that maybe in some cases it's more humane not to let a child come into the world to suffer deformities acquired before birth, Father Munechika responds by saying that it's not up to man who decides who lives or dies, God decides, anything resembling life is better than not having life at all he concludes. Sadaharu's frustration at one patient's mother in-law surfaces, 'For people like this such things as respect for life were merely convenient words, to be used only when a convenient reason existed. Probably there were those in society whom people want to see live, but by the same measure there were those whom people would rather see die. In either case,judgement was related to profit and loss. His mind thus occupied, Sadaharu coldly walked away'.

Through Sadaharu's patients, the novel examines the ethics and attitudes of abortion, illegitimacy and adoption within society, Sadaharu's convictions are dramatically questioned when an abortion he performed didn't succeed, his patient contacts him again, her feelings toward her pregnancy have changed, and she decides to keep her baby, Sadaharu's convictions as a physician are subject to question through out many of his patients cases.Through one of his patients he learns that his wife met up with the father of one of his patients in a trip to Los Angeles, these suspicions about his wife add further uncertainty about his feelings for his wife. Sadaharu's evening visits to Yoko continue, one night she lends him a copy of The Epic of Gilgamesh, a book he'd never read before, he's much taken with the scene of the flooding, 'He didn't mean that it was good that humanity had perished, but the vision of humanity dying so quickly before the overwhelming force of nature was a vision to shake the soul'. The novel I think is now no longer in print, the back jacket image above features art from a painting by Tatsuo Takayama.

The Face

Seichi Matsumoto had an unique ability of pushing his characters to extraordinary lengths, their actions appear to come to us from some intangible place, The Face/Kao is a short story from 1959 collected in The Voice - Stories published by Kodansha in 1989 and translated by Adam Kabat.Its made up from the fragmentary diary of Ryokichi Ino an actor for the dramatic group The White Willow Players, the group are facing financial difficulties and the boss has been negotiating a deal with T.Company to use some of their actors in a forth coming film Spring Snow, Ino is chosen and the film goes ahead as planned, the film receives favourable reviews, Ino getting special mention by the critics,the director, Ishii, contacts him again about a bigger role,starring in the company's next film The Red Forest.In his diary, Ino begins to contemplate the success that this will bring him with a slight anxiety,'I already fantasize about the fall that will follow on the heels of my success' and he begins to mention the probability of 'him' seeing my face. Ino's diary/story tells us he has,(through the use of a private detective agency), been checking on the life and background of Teizaburo Ishioka,born in 1922, employed in the Kita Kyushu Steelworks, over the years his circumstances change, he gets a new job,gets married and they have a son. Ino's story goes back again by 9 months, and he's travelling by train with a hostess, (Miyako Yamada), they bump into Ishioka who knows Miyako from the bar that she works at, the two exchange a few words, then Ishioka says goodbye turns away leaving the couple, noticing though Miyako's silent and slightly suspicious companion, smoking and staring out of the window. Ino's diary skips back to the present tense as he looks for the news that the strangulated body of a woman has been found, it's the body of Miyako Yamada. As Matsumoto begins to put the pieces together we learn that the day Ishioka saw Miyako and Ino together was the day Ino had murdered her, and that Ishioka is the only witness that could possibly link the two together, Miyako had become pregnant by Ino and wanted him to marry her and settle down, Ino had come to Tokyo to make it as an actor, the last thing he wanted was to settle down with Miyako, a hostess.

Now on the brink of success, Ino's concerns that if Ishioka recognises his face on from the film he'll be caught out, he decides on luring Ishioka to a remote spot and killing him. He decides to write a letter to Ishioka posing as a relative of Miyako asking for his assistance in tracking down Miyako's murderer.The narrative switches to a statement like narrative from Ishioka, saying that he had received a letter from Miyako's relative, after the initial police investigation he had been questioned by the police about Miyako, he told them that he had seen her on the train with a man he didn't know, the police feel that this man is the murderer, but Ishioka no matter how hard he tries to recall the man he can't remember his face. He shows the letter to the police who become suspicious of the sender,when they realize that the sender knew his address, something which hadn't been released in the media.Ino in the letter asked Ishioka to meet him in Kyoto, hinting that he may have found the killer, but his intention was to lure him to Mount Hiei and murder him.The police advise Ishioka to go to Kyoto to meet the sender, but to be accompanied by two police officers.Ino goes over and over his plan. In Ishioka's description of the day of the meeting he tells that he and the officers arrive early in Kyoto, they decide to check the sites and then go for some imobo before the meeting at two o'clock, they enter a restaurant and Ishioka's statement ends with 'There was a man there eating by himself...' Returning to Ino's description of the meeting he tells of his arrival at Kyoto, he too is early and decides on imobo for lunch too, sitting at the restaurant he almost lets out a cry when Ishioka walks in but manages to keep himself in check, after a while he comes to the realization that Ishioka doesn't recognise him, filled with the euphoria that he will get away with his crime, he brazenly asks Ishioka for a match to light his cigarette, which he smokes and then leaves the restaurant. The story returns to Ishioka saying how the suspect never turned up for the meeting, but the police believed it was not a hoax, due to the contents of the letter. The Red Desert is released, to good reviews and Ishioka hearing the good reviews decides to see it for himself, the character in the film is running away, he takes the train, staring out of the window, he lights a cigarette, the realization hits Ishioka, who runs out of the theatre to the nearest police station.




Seicho Matsumoto can be seen briefly in this trailer for the film adaption of his novel Zero Focus from 1961,the film was remade recently,Zero Focus