Speculative Japan 2

Noticing that the contents list of the first volume of Speculative Japan included a slight overlap of stories - two I think, from The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories , I thought I'd better get a copy of Speculative Japan 2. Published by Kurodahan Press the collection comes with a Preface by Edward Lipsett who mentions that in this second collection the scope was broadened a little wider to include fiction that could be read as speculative, and the stories selected here offer a great range, Takagi Nobuko, who won the Tanizaki Prize with, Translucent Tree, is represented with the story Melk's Golden Acres, translated by Dink Tanaka, whose translation of the story won the 2009 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize, the narrative follows a woman's visit to Melk Abbey, taking in the Abbey's history and collection of ancient manuscripts, she pauses in the monastic atmosphere of the Abbey, the woman encounters a man who at first meeting exhibits some peculiar sentiments, looking up at the fresco/secco he points out the hidden image of a woman , the narrator slowly unravels the con-sequences of their relationship, this story seems to be distant to resembling science fiction but has an explorative theological theme to it. Open Up by Hori Akira, translated by Roy Berman, is a brief, but very readable homage to Hoshi Shinichi, narrated by two  perspectives, but possibly from one person, it follows a lone astronaut exiting from hyperspace, who's caught on the toilet when unexpectedly he hears a knock on the door.. The opening story is by Awa Naoko, A Gift From the Sea translated by Sheryl A. Hogg is an intriguing fable like tale, situated in a rural seaside village,  The Fox's Window and Other Stories, translated by Toshiya Kamei was recently published by University of New Orleans Press, Blue Shells, a short story by Awa Naoko along with an interview with translator Toshiya Kamei can be read at Moulin Review.

A story that seemed to fully represent the speculative is Freud by Enjoe Toh, translated by Kevin Steinbach , after the Grandmother of the narrator passes away the family are left with what should happen to the old woman's house, concluding that no one in the family wants to move into the house, and none can afford the upkeep they agree on pulling it down. The family gather to begin the demolition and under the floor they discover a 'crowd' of Freuds, yes, Sigmund Frueds, or 'old Mr. Scary Face', as the narrator puts it. Following the family as they ponder on the meaning of this mystifying discovery, the story is full of humorous metaphorical and philosophical explorations. The Big Drawer by Onda Riku, translated by Nora Stevens Heath, is a story that could straddle many genres. A brother, (Mitsunori) and sister, (Kimiko), of an extraordinary, possibly extra-terrestrial  family settle into their new life and school in Tokyo, the family have an ability to memorize vast chunks of Japanese Literature, Mitsunori has already memorized up to the 19th century, although they are told to keep this ability a secret from the other children by their parents. Walking to school Mitsunori usually passes an elderly neighbour, one morning the neighbour keels over and dies, at this moment Mitsunori has a psychic vision of the key events in the man's life, which enables him to expose a secret that will heal a rift between the man and his son. Mountaintop Symphony by Nakai Norio, translated by Terry Gallagher, follows an orchestra as they prepare to perform their movement in an epic symphony that is so long that no one alive has heard the beginning of or will ever hear it's completion, the story is a fantastically realized metaphorical one as the slight neurosis of each of the characters is subtly revealed and explored. The title story, The Man Who Watched the Sea, by Kobayashi Yasumi is translated by Anthea Murphy, is a tale of an unfulfilled romance between a couple who are in differing dimensions, one in Shoreville and the other in Mountville.

Other authors included are; Ogawa Issui, with Old Vohl's Planet, translated by Jim Hubbert who has also translated Ogawa's  The Next Continent and The Lord of the Sands of Time for Haikasoru. Kajio Shinji, whose story Reiko's Universe Box features in the first volume of Speculative Japan is represented with, Emanon: A Reminiscence, an award winning story translated by Edward Lipsett. Kitakuni Koji: Midst the Mist, translated by Rossa O'Muireartaigh, Tani Koshu with Q-Cruiser Basilisk translated by Simon Varnam and also Yamao Yuko, whose story Perspective is translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori.  

           

The Paradise Bird Tattoo

 

Counterpoint Press has built up a great catalogue of translated Japanese fiction including; Manzuru and Shot By Both Sides, the latest is The Paradise Bird Tattoo, or attempted double suicide, by Kurumatani Choukitsu,  translated by Kenneth J. Bryson, and is intriguingly described as an I-novel. The novel was adapted to an award winning film in 2003, directed by Genjiro Arato. Taking place largely towards the end of the 1970's the novel covers a period of the narrator's life whilst working in Amagasaki skewering meat for a yakitori place. In the opening of the novel we learn that the narrator - Ikushima (Yoichi), used to work in an advertising agency, but had to get away from the job as he was working himself into non-existence, his exhaustion manifesting itself into physical illness, pushing him to the brink of karoshi, 'Amid the day to day routine of selling ads I had an uneasy feeling, as if my individuality were somehow being washed away.' His recollection of Amagasaki begins after encountering a rather clingy woman who follows him to a local library. When Ikushima first arrives at Amagasaki he's met in the street by a man with bloodshot eyes who thrusts a 10,000 Yen note into his hand. He works in his tenement apartment, the meat being delivered in the morning, he's expected to skewer 1000 pieces of meat a day at 3 Yen a piece. His employer is Seiko Nesasn, a woman in her fifties who  surmises of him after their brief interview as, 'one of those who got dealt a good hand, but go bust anyway', but remains puzzled as to why Ikushima wants to waste away in a dead end job, her suspicions of Ikushima are shared by the other tenant's of the building, who are slightly intimidated by his presence. Ikushima is ill at ease in Seiko Nesan's presence, as he feels she is attracted to him, and in a despair ladened confession she tells him that after the war she was a pan-pan girl. As Ikushima works away he begins to hear groans and moans through the thin walls of the building, his imagination offers up ideas as to their source; prostitution, gangster torture sessions?.

Slowly Ikushima's knowledge of the comings and goings of the building begins to grow, Ayako, who he met briefly with Seiko Nesan, he discovers lives in the apartment below, Horimayu-san who met him in the street is a tattooist working in rooms adjacent to him, and he notes the movements of the local gangs connected to Horimayu-san who boast of being Kusubori, (burn-outs). Ikushima forms a friendship with Shimpei, who he thinks at first is Ayako's brother, but their relationship is slightly enigmatic, he becomes increasingly attracted to Ayako who's brush off's end when she visits his room one night out of the blue, but then disappears again. Ikushima is an interestingly crafted character, he has dreams early in the novel of himself running around with his back on fire, which is an alarmingly symbolic depiction of his drifting-like existence after turning away from his ad agency job, he loathed falling into the 'middle class life style'. He labours under self deprecation and has an aversion to eating raw eggs, and also a beleaguered defiance against those who try to persuade him off his path. Slowly he gets embroiled into the world of Seiko Nesan and Horimayu-san's shady dealings, all the while trying to keep  his infatuation with Ayako in check. Seiko Nesan lays him off unexpectedly and he finds a note from  Ayako asking him to meet her in Osaka,  eventually Ikushima learns that Ayako's brother is in deep trouble with the gangs, it threatens to put them both on a route to the waterfalls of Akame neither of them seemingly can escape from.  

Kurumatani Choukitsu was born in Hyogo in 1945, Akame shijuya-taki shinju misui/Attempted Suicide at the Forty Eight Waterfalls of Akame, published in 1998 won the Naoki Prize. Kurumatani has also won many other literary awards including the Mishima Prize in 1993 for Shiotsubo no saji/Spoon of Salt, a novel centered around suicide, and also the Kawabata Prize in 2001, with the novel Musahimaru.