2020: The Year I Furiously Started Reading Japanese Women In Translation
Hello BAMers! When brainstorming a list of books for my own virtual bookshelf I looked at what I read the past year then realized the most common denominator of my favorite reads are Japanese women authors. How specific (you may think), but truly there is no better time to read this list of magnificent authors. My bookshelf consists of talented, poignant women authors who I believe challenge, inspire, and are raising the bar of storytelling like never before… they all just so happen to live on an island 6,738 miles away.
Written by Jacqueline Izzo
It all started with reading The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa which has been on and off our BAM bestseller list for months now and was shortlisted for The International Booker Prize 2020. You can read my blurb about The Memory Police in our August Staff Pick blog post, but in short it tells the story of a Japanese island on which things eventually vanish, and the memory of those things is policed by the authoritative Memory Police. After enjoying Ogawa’s book so much I naturally read more of her work.
Which leads me to recommend Ogawa’s slim The Housekeeper and The Professor which compared to Memory Police truly shows her impressive range as a writer. While Memory Police is dark and disturbing, The Housekeeper and The Professor is heartwarming and charming. The story centers around a mathematician, "the Professor," who suffered brain damage in a traffic accident and since then can produce only 80 minutes worth of amnesic memories. A housekeeper is assigned to take care of “the Professor”, and what begins as just a job for “the Housekeeper” grows into an everlasting, unlikely friendship. Their love for each other strengthens as they communicate to each other using mathematics, like a secret language. This story is not a romance but it shows you can find love in places, and in people you have never thought before. . . and maybe even math. At least, that was a surprise to me!
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami is my December Staff Pick for good reason. By luck, I was given a copy because it was damaged and couldn’t be sold at the store. It was one of those reads that immediately absorbed me; in the end I self-declared it a feminist masterpiece. Originally it was published as a novella, then adapted to a novel because of the immense recognition it received in Japan. What I love about it, and from what I gather from other readers too, is that it so painstakingly emcompasses womanhood.
Breasts and Eggs takes three related women who are each transfixed or even obsessed with a different part of their own womanhood: fertility, body image, and puberty. What Kawakami does so well is have an unbiased opinion throughout her storytelling. She doesn’t judge a woman for wanting breast implants or uncoventionally seeking out artificial pregnancy. If we could integrate Kawakami’s thinking on women into our daily lives, the world would be a better place.
If you have recently browsed Books Are Magic’s translation section you may have read my shelf-talker for The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada: An unsettling, surrealist little horror story. In not so much more than 100 pages Oyamada creates an extreme allegory on the expectations of women in Japanese society. Pick this one up if you’re ready to venture out of your normal reading preferences because it is truly a book like no other.
You know it must be a goodie when two booksellers recommend it! BAM’s own Serena also recommended The Hole in our October Spooky Reads blog post. Like Kawakami, Oyamada also is a master storyteller in regards to tackling topics about womanhood. How does matrimony affect a woman’s identity? Does becoming a wife inevitably change the way people treat you or how you treat yourself?
Up next, is an oldie but a goodie. When I say old, I mean 1,000 years old! The Tale of Genji is thought to be the oldest story novel ever written. That is a cool fact in of itself, but what truly is admirable is that it is thought to be written by a woman. Murasaki Shikibu was an eleventh century court lady during the Heian period (794-1185). You should take some time to appreciate this book because it took an army to translate! First of all, it had to be translated from Heian-period court Japanese to modern Japanese (even more difficult than translating Old English to modern English)!
That said, The Tale of Genji truly makes you feel like 1,000 years could be yesterday or even today. Murasaki focuses on the very same topics as her future comrades: Yōko Ogawa, Mieko Kawakami, and Hiroko Oyamada, even though there is a millennium between them. Murasaki illustrates how women were disadvantaged and disempowered by the laws and customs they were forced to live in, probably like herself. It’s about powerful men, and witty women who admirably take control of their own lives despite the odds. Like Breasts and Eggs it is a story of fertility and body image, like The Hole it is a story of a woman’s role as a wife, and like The Housekeeper and The Professor it shows what a woman’s love is capable of.
I feel like I could stop writing here but how can I forget our younger BAMers!?
For your Middle grade reader: Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadan
First published in 1985 then adapted into a film by Hiyao Miyazaki in 1989, Kiki’s Delivery Service is now newly translated and illustrated! It's Kiki's thirteenth birthday (a special day for being half-witch)! Following witch-tradition she must choose a new town to call home for one year. Kiki flies to the seaside village of Koriko and expects that her powers will easily bring happiness to the townspeople. With chatty Jiji the black cat on her side they are a dynamic pair. I love and recommend this whimsical story for middle-grade readers and adults who have magical hearts!
For your Young Adult reader: The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi
This series was so popular in Japan it has been adapted to a Manga version and is also a series on Japanese television! Lucky for you, English-speakers now get to see what all the hype is about! In a nutshell, it is an epic fantasy about an orphaned girl who has special powers to communicate with magical beasts. When Elin discovers she is able to communicate with the Royal Beasts she must decide who are her friends & who are her enemies. If you’re into mythology and/or animal rights (for both fantastical and real life animals) you will love this book. BTW, if you end up obsessing over The Beast Player, the second and final translated book in the series is slated for a 2021 release!
I hope by now I’ve convinced you to read more books by Japanese-women authors! Now the next step for me is to actually learn Japanese. Wish me luck! Any tutors around, you know where to find me.
