First though, I would like to talk about why I think this is an important topic. During the years 19_0 to the early 1980s, Japan had a period of ____. However, in the late 1980s is when it crashed. The bubble economy that had been building up burst, leaving ________.
Haruki Murakami grew up in the post war baby boom. His childhood had been heavily influenced by the influx of Western culture that was coming in, and spent ____.
Murakami would have been growing up in a time when a stimulated Japanese economy would be on the rise.Murakami’s works, while usually described as surrealistic dreamlike fantasies, are also known for being very critical of “his generation’s spiritual emptiness and Japan’s decline of human values”.
1985, the year Murakami published “Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”
Haruki Murakami's novel "Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" contains two interweaving stories. The "Hard Boiled Wonderland" sections are a science fiction noir-like story set in the future of an otherwise mostly realistic Tokyo. Meanwhile, the chapters for "End of the World" take place in a fantasy world where characters reside in a walled off Town after cutting off their shadows. Despite the differing themes in storyline, as the novel progresses the two worlds begin to have more in common than previously believed. For the purposes of this paper, the two will mostly be treated as their own stories to highlight their differing ideas.
In "Hard Boiled Wonderland", the main character is a serious, average man with a “just roll with it” kind of attitude. It has been noted that he tends to agree with the opinions of whatever group he is in rather than outwardly express his own, but he is not exactly a “yes man” character. He works as a Calcutec, a person who mentally processes large quantities of information and other data before encrypting them. It is noted that Murakami, as an author, does not seem as detached as other postmodern authors towards the pop culture he draws influences from. I think this bleeds into his writing with the narrator: for someone who is very reserved and pragmatic in his choices, the narrator is much more descriptive when concerning his creature comforts.
I am not saying it’s very unusual for the narrator to have his own personal effects, but Murakami put a lot of detail into these things so the reader could see them through the eyes of the narrator. The narrator notes that because of his good pay from The System, he can afford to live to stay in his small apartment and just fill it with knick knacks and minor material things. He specifically talks about his routine of allowing himself to drink whiskey as he reads before bed, and his favorite song Danny Boy is basically the narrator's leitmotif. Though the character is not particularly attached he gets a little pleasure out of them, and is noticeably upset for a bit when they start getting destroyed. It is peculiar that having his life threatened by two thugs is not something he would react to, but having his collection in his own apartment destroyed is what gets him to raise his voice. But with this economy I can sympathize a little.
Often talks about his preferred type in women
The narrator at one point even dedicates three entire paragraphs to the finer points of comfort in sofas. The narrator says he puts little stock in people who spend money on luxury cars, and that even money spent on designer sofas is not worth anything if it is absolutely uncomfortable. When it comes to things he likes, he’s much more particular about them. The narrator even self describes himself as a “demanding critic” concerning things he likes.
++++There’s a bit where I want to talk about the second part but there’s not a lot really+++++
Yoshimoto Banana's short story "A Strange Tale from Down by The River" tells of a woman named Akemi who has cut ties to her past hobby of attending sex parties after a serious illness. Afterwards, while she attends a funeral for her new job she meets the son of the deceased business acquaintance. The two end up seeing each other, and after some time they end up in a serious relationship. The story then follows as Akemi as she plans for her marriage with her boyfriend. In the midst of the preparations, visits with family and acquaintances show how her history can still affect her.
Akemi is quite partial to the little things as well. _______ If K had not have been so overly friendly and slimy when he tried to get her to come back to the sex parties, Akemi would have been more partial to talking. She even would have dropped her plans for marriage to be with him. But while Akemi noticed the little nuances about K that caused her to close herself off to that possibility, K did not notice those things at all to realize they were making her uncomfortable. For Akemi, it’s how these smaller elements affect her that make her more or less amaicable to the circumstances.
As another example, a woman from Akemi’s old group calls to congratulate her on her impending marriage, and it is fairly clear that Akemi is still enamored with her. Akemi is fairly sure that if the woman wanted Akemi to drop her boyfriend to go with her, that she would do it in a heartbeat. During Akemi’s reminiscing about her, she remembers a trip they took together to Hokkaido while her husband stayed with his side partner.
The two remember it fondly… after they actually ended up going. Before, it just seemed something the two decided to do on a whim. However, going with each other made the experience, for them, much more enjoyable. The couple just took their time as tourists, skiing and trying new things. But as Akemi reminisces, she thinks to herself that “[she] always sensed that it would eventually end”. Even if the woman’s husband had not called, their time together would still have had to stop at some point.
Earlier, I wrote a line about how Akemi’s history influences her. That line seems to give a little more weight than importance to those events than they probably deserve, especially by the end of the short story. Akemi seems to believe that forgetting the past and focusing on the future is what will make her happy, because she thinks that negative experiences in the past will also affect her future in a negative way.
One thing that was brought up was the idea that in “A Strange Tale From Down By the River” is that none of the characters are explicitly happy. Instead, what they say is usually along the lines of being content. Akemi and her boyfriend that being with the other makes them calm and content. The woman Akemi used to be with explicitly tells Akemi “I don’t think about [happiness in those terms.”
The stories, despite their authors growing up in very different decades are close enough in time that the ideal is the same, but how the characters pursue (it) differs.
For “A Strange Tale From Down By The River”, the moral(?) seems to be about the state of being content despite bad things happening in the past, and moving past that to become/stay content.
There are not a lot of particulars or focusing on the future. For these stories being happy for a bit is just about taking pleasure from the smaller things. For “Hard Boiled Wonderland”, it is about minor material and name brand things to make you feel good, whether it be food and drink, name brand clothes, or a favorite album. In “End of the World”, ____________. And for “A Strange Tale From Down By the River”, it is about experiences that may or may not already be fleeting.