Tom Fukunaga dreams of becoming a Shakespearean actor, but his family and friend doubt this is realistic. Tom persists in his dream for many years without success, reciting Shakespeare to his friend. When his friend urges him to give up and get a job, Tom stops visiting. Years later, the friend sees Tom driving, still pursuing his dream. Though he never achieves fame as an actor, Tom refuses to abandon his ambition.

1. Japanese Hamlet
Toshio Mori’s
I n g r i d L e m o s
L u c a s L o r r a n
R a q u e l B e n a i o n
W i l l i a n A r a u j o

2. ☉Author
☉Characters
☉Plot
☉Climax
☉Title and Tone
☉Theme
☉Elements and Symbols
☉Literary Devices
Summary

3. Author
☉Born in March 3rd of 1910, died in 1980;
☉American author (Oakland – California);
☉Best known for being one of the earliest
Japanese-American writers to publish a book of
fiction;
☉His stories often echoed and reflected the life of
Japanese-Americans in pre and postwar
America;

4. Author
☉Though the majority of his work was considered
lighthearted or comical, some of them emphasize
the emotional strain that those people felt before,
after and during the war;
☉Most of his works pre-war described the slightly
comical problems that them dealt with on a daily
basis, trying to balance their Japanese culture
with the American one.

5. ☉Tom Fukunaga
A thirty-one year old schoolboy who
believes in his dream of becoming a
Shakesperean actor. He doesn’t have his
family approval or honor them. He lives on
5 dollars a week, plus room and board,
presumably covered by his family on
Piedmont House. He feels no guilt about
this. He is far from stages but never stops
being a dreamer.
Characters

6. ☉Narrator
Nothing much about him but how he tells
the story. At first seems to believe in Tom
but eventually starts to think about his
future and worrying about him, until the
point where Tom’s presence was dreadful.
☉ Tom’s Uncle
The Uncle appears once to remind Tom of
his family’s views on him still being a
schoolboy after all these years.
Characters

7. Plot
Plot
Japanese Hamlet tells the story of Tom
Fukunaga as seen from the perspective of his friend, the
narrator. Tom's dream is to become a famous
Shakespearean actor, staging the character Hamlet, but
his dream seems utopic to his family and his friend,
since he has been trying for many years without any
return.
When confronted by his friend, who,
worried, advises him to give up on his dreams and get a
job, Tom stops seeing him. Some years after the
incident, Tom is seen by his friend driving a car up
broadways, with his dreams still being persisted.

8. Climax
Climax
“The longer I came to know Tom the
more I wished to see him well off in business or
with a job. I got so I could not stand his coming to
the house and asking me to sit while he recited. I
began to dread his presence in the house as if his
figure reminded me of my part in the mock play
that his life was, and the prominence that my
house and attention played.
One night I became desperate. “That
book is destroying you, Tom. Why don’t you give
this up for a while?”

9. Climax
Climax
He looked at me curiously without a
word. He recited several pages and left early that
evening.
Tom did not come to the house again. I
guess it got so that Tom could not stand me any
more than his uncle and parents. When he quit
coming I felt bad. I knew he would never abandon
his ambition. I was equally sure that Tom would
never rank with the great Shakespearean actors,
but I could not forget his simple persistence.”

10. Title:
☉ Tom wanted to be a shakesperean
actor.
☉ His favorite play was Hamlet.
Title and Tone
Tone
☉ Hopelessness
I. “When he was thirty-one he was still a
schoolboy” – p.11-12
II. “I was afraid that Tom’s energy and time
were wasted and I helped along to waste it”
– p.49-50
III. “I found out later that his uncle did not come
to see him any more.” – p.77-78

11. ☉ “A faith in the power of Art to transcend race, ethnicity, and
history.”
☉ “In a world of racial difference, to be Hamlet, Tom cannot be
Japanese; to be Japanese, Tom cannot be Hamlet.” - David
Palumbo-Liu
☉ Persistance in your dreams x The others’ perspective
Theme

12. Symbols
The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare
It represents the object of the dreams
and goals of Tom Fukunaga. More
than that, the book is a symbol of
globalization of the world in a place
where the traditions are still very
decisive on the path of someone.
The Piedmont Home
It is a sororoty house that is located in
the Piedmont Unified School District.
It accomodates students from all the
Piedmont schools, and eventually
accomodates Tom as well. It
represents the way he choose to live
to achieve his dream.
Hamlet
It represents Tom’s favorite play from
Shakespeare: a quintessential
dreamer and procrastinator.
Represents also how he sees himself
in the Works of his favorite writer.

13. Literary Devices
• Using the Point of View from the narrator to tell Tom’s story;
• Juxtaposition of Tom’s views on being an actor and his family’s views
on this. Eventually Tom’s conflict with the narrator and his decision to
continue after all.
• The Mood of the short story is perfomed with a decreasing level of
patience and faith from the narrator towards Tom’s way of life;
• The Description about feelings on the story is
filled with sentences that makes the reader
understand both Tom’s view and the narrator’s
view.

14. References
https://english.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/v4i3/huh.htm
https://whisperinggums.com/2014/08/24/toshio-mori-japanese-hamlet-
review/
https://www.enotes.com/topics/japanese-hamlet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshio_Mori
http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2014/08/japanese-hamlet.html