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JANUARY 2010 N E W S A N N O U N C E M E N T A U T H O R ' S V O I C E R E V I E W |
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N E W S
"1Q84" Chosen for New-Style Prize At a Tokyo press conference held in December, Shoten Shimpu-kai (Bookstore New-Style Committee) announced the selection of Haruki Murakami's "1984," published by Shinchosha, as the winner of the "44th New-Style Prize." In stating the reasons for the choice, the committee explained how this first large-scale work by Murakami since the publication of "Kafka on the Shore" seven years earlier has created commotion at bookstore counters, also causing sales of earlier works by Murakami, as well as other related books and music CDs, to escalate. Anticipation that Murakami may be selected for a Nobel Prize also played a role in the committee's decision. * Some of the book titles are tentative translations. Copyright © 2010 Shinbunka all rights reserved. 2009 is a "Good Year" for the Three "Jump" Magazines The 78th Tezuka Prize and the 71st Akatsuka Prize, sponsored by Shueisha, were presented at an awards ceremony and reception held at a Tokyo hotel in December. Yasuki Yamashita, president of Shueisha, opened the reception by stating from the outset that 2009 was a "good year" for the "Jump" group, and revealing that year-end issues of the three magazines totaled three million copies. In addition, after noting the tendency toward film adaptations of works, he spoke with pride about how "the first edition of the paperback 'One Piece,' based on the hit movie, reached a new record of 2,850,000 copies." Eight recipients of prizes for the second half of the 2009 fiscal year were honored at the reception. Rather than nominees or finalists, this time there were three recipients of the Tezuka Prize, and five for the Akatsuka Prize. Shogo Ueno, winner of the Tezuka Prize, spoke for all the recipients. He related that, just when it was time for the final selection of the work to be carried in "Jump Square," he considered returning home at the age of 25 because his father was battling illness. However, his father told him from his sickbed, "I already know how my life will turn out. But I want you to follow your dream." Ueno added, "By vowing to live focused resolutely on my manga, I was able to win the prize." * Some of the book titles are tentative translations. Copyright © 2010 Shinbunkaall rights reserved. |
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AUTHOR'S VOICE Vol.14 interview with Yuji Sano Mr. Yuji Sano, a management consultant, has been exploring the brain, the history of the earth, and ancient history since 20 odd years ago. Recently, the English version of his third book, Japan and Judaism, was released in the United States. Read More |
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R E V I E W "Manazuru" by Hiromi Kawakami 
An hour and a half from Tokyo by train on the Tokaido Line, the Manazuru Peninsula is located in the southern part of Kanagawa Prefecture.
It is the site of the annual Kifune Festival, where spirits are carried to the opposite shore by boat, as fireworks shoot up into the sky.
Why did Hiromi Kawakami choose this setting? Her novel opens as follows: "Someone was following me as I walked. It was too far away to determine whether it was man or a woman. Not really caring which it might be, I continued walking." Twelve years ago, Kei's husband disappeared, leaving behind a diary with only one word: "Manazuru." Since then, Kei has been living with her mother and daughter, three women together. She constructs a transient daily routine, built around raising her daughter, going to work, and trysts with her new lover, but like a ghost that won't go away, she can't shake off her husband's absence. Then, as if caught up in a fever, Kei finds herself heading toward Manazuru more and more frequently. As the story progresses, the presence of "someone following her" first mentioned in the opening continues to recur, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. On a visit to Manazuru, the form of a woman slowly begins to take shape. Finally, she begins to speak to Kei. This woman makes the reader conscious of the "other world," while Manazuru becomes the setting where the boundary between "this world" and the "other world," the cure for the protagonist, is revealed. Kei always responds with terse, minimal phrases when talking with her mother, daughter or lover. The writer also creates an unusual sense of reality through a deliberate written style in which conjunctions and subjects are frequently omitted. Kei is the only one aware of "the woman following her," most likely a product of her own consciousness. Her conversations with the woman become progressively longer and deeper, recurring with greater frequency, and as she walks deeper into Manazuru, we realize that Kei is slowly going mad. But because the only world the reader sees is the one narrated solely through Kei's eyes, Kei gradually begins to be propelled out of reality. As she starts to move between "this world" and "that world," it becomes impossible to determine what is really happening, creating a sense of frustration with the narrative. However, the somewhat "unpleasant tone," which this gives the work makes it all the more forceful. It is Kei's daughter Momo who draws Kei back into the real world. The nonexistent woman is like the "Diary of a Mad Person," but Momo's existence serves as a firm anchor, and pulls her mother, drifting in a dream-like state, back into the real world. "It wasn't as sweet as I thought after all. In an instant, these fevered lips became unpleasant... Momo reduced the fever, as if she possessed a cooling effect." Halfway through the novel, Kei slowly begins to recall incidents between herself and her husband which have left emotional scars, making it impossible for her to forget. Her husband disappeared several years after the birth of their daughter, but before Momo started kindergarten. Clearly, the burden of a daughter had had a disagreeable effect on his life. The name "Kei" means "ten quadrillion," while her husband's name, Rei, meaning "gratitude," is a homonym for "zero" in Japanese. This suggests Kei's husband is already something which only exists in her consciousness, on the same "side" as the woman who follows her. Incidentally, "rei" can also mean "spirit." What's more, her daughter's name "Momo" shares the same character as "hundred." The skillfulness with which this novel builds layers of ambiguous phenomena and suggests numerous premonitions as seen in the world of the protagonist is truly uncanny. The feeling that unseen things or spirits are constantly present nearby creates a repugnant sensation. Hiromi Kawakami has composed this novel in this sort of "other world" with great skill. Reading this story leaves the reader feeling assaulted, like a cold chill hitting the face, as the sprays of the waves at Manaruzu billow and recede. Miyu Kamata
Manazuru by Hiromi Kawakami, published by Bungei Shunju * Some of the book titles are tentative translations. |
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