This document provides an introduction and first chapter to an English research dissertation exploring the East/West dichotomy in contemporary Japanese literature in the context of Japan's globalization and postmodernism. The chapter discusses Japan's literary history and influence from China, then a shift towards Western influences after modernization. It examines how globalization allowed the spread of contemporary Japanese authors Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami's works internationally as world literature. Their novels fuse Western and Japanese literary tropes to depict young people's experiences with love, loss, and modern consumerism in globalized, postmodern Japan. The chapter analyzes how this rejects notions of traditional Japanese literature and stages an examination of cultural and economic globalization's impacts on young metropolitan
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The East/West dichotomy in Contemporary Japanese Literature: An exploration into a Globalised Postmodern Japan as a site for World Literature.
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âThe East/West dichotomy in Contemporary Japanese Literature: An exploration into
a Globalised Postmodern Japan as a site for World Literature.â
English Research Dissertation
Lauren Shute
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CONTENTS
Introduction 3
Chapter One World Literature & Globalisation in Japan 5
Introduction 5
Japanâs Modern Literary History & The East/West Dichotomy 6
The Globalised spread of Contemporary Japanese Literature 12
Chapter Two Western Translation Politics & The Postmodern 17
Introduction 17
Limitations of Western translation politics 18
Defining Postmodernism 23
Murakamiâs Postmodern Disturbed Reality 25
Yoshimotoâs Fragmented Postmodernism 27
Chapter Three Evolving Japanese Stereotypes 29
Introduction 29
A Contemporary History of Western Stereotypes of Japan 30
Yoshimotoâs Modern ShĹjo Girl 31
Haruki Murakamiâs SĹshoku-kei Danshi 36
Conclusion 39
Bibliography 41
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INTRODUCTION
Dan Rebellato argues that globalisation is specifically an economic phenomenon, that
started as capitalism but now has extended its reach across the world.1
Subsequently,
globalisation is a concept that involves conflicts between âdifferent ways of lifeâ, in a
world that is increasingly linked by commerce and communication. 2
Japanâs rapid cultural globalisation and commercialisation after the Second World
War, established a new era of consumption, economic development and new literary
traditions throughout Japan. Contemporary Japanese novelists Banana Yoshimoto and
Haruki Murakami have responded to this new era in Japanese history by creating
postmodern fictional works that archetypally narrate a young characterâs encounters
with love, loss and modern consumerism. This dissertation will explore to what extent
Kitchen by Yoshimoto and Jay Rubinâs translation of Norwegian Wood by Murakami,
have fused various Western literary influences with traditional Japanese literary tropes
to generate fictional works that judiciously respond to Japanâs changing economic and
cultural landscape in an age of globalisation.
Recognising the cultural and economic impact that globalisation has had on popular
Japanese culture and literature; I will emphasise how Kitchen and Norwegian Wood
reject notions of traditional Japanese literature, by combining Western and traditional
Japanese literary tropes to stage an in-depth look into how young people in
metropolitan Japan respond to an era of modern cultural and economic globalisation. I
1
Dan Rebellato, Theatre and Globalisation, (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) p.10
2
Theatre and Globalisation, p.5
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will approach this through an in-depth analysis of Japanese literary contexts and will
investigate the spatial complications that arise from the politics of translation and the
restrictive interpretations of world literature. I will consider to what extent Murakami
and Yoshimotoâs novels employ ideas of the Western category of postmodernism.
Documenting how this highlights Japanâs changing literary scene, in the wake of
Japanâs modern economic and cultural globalisation. Furthermore, I will observe how
stereotypes of Japanese characters have changed and evolved to reject traditional
Japanese attitudes in the wake of a new modern era. Ultimately, this dissertation will
use the above concepts to suggest that Murakami and Yoshimotoâs work, uses a
mixture of Western and traditional Japanese literary values of to examine, condemn
and grapple with Japanâs evolving capitalist system.
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CHAPTER ONE:
WORLD LITERATURE & GLOABLISATION IN JAPAN
INTRODUCTION
In his book What is World Literature?, David Damrosh argues that world literature is
not a set of âcanon textsâ but a mode of reading: âa form of detached engagement with
worlds beyond our own place and time.â3
Contemporary Japanese novelists Banana
Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakamiâs works have circulated into the wider realm of
world literature, as both authors works have been considerably translated and sold
outside of their native Japan. Yoshimotoâs Kitchen had sold over four million copies
and was readily available in English by 1990, having only been published in Japan
two years previously and Murakamiâs Norwegian Wood has been translated into
English twice with each translation differing in syntax choice.45
Kitchen and
Norwegian Woodâs considerable translations have led to an extensive global access to
their work, allowing a wide global readership to form detached relationships with
Japanese texts that are conceived outside of their own cultures and potentially their
own time. This chapter will investigate why Kitchen and Norwegian Wood both use
Japanese and Western literary tropes and why their novels have been such a huge
commercial success throughout East Asia and the Western World. I will do this by
examining Japanâs literary history and investigating how globalisation has resulted in
works of literature travelling globally.
3
David Damrosh, What is World Literature? (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003) p.281.
4
John Whittier Treat, âYoshimoto Banana Writes Home: Shojo Culture and the Nostalgic Subjectâ, The
Journal of Japanese Studies, 19 (1993), 353-387 (pp.356-7).
5
Bradley Winterton, âExploring the Map of Oneâs Inner Existence,â The Taipei Times Online (January
2001) <http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2001/01/07/68847> [Accessed 3rd April
2019].
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JAPANâS MODERN LITERARY HISTORY & THE EAST/WEST DICHTOMY
Throughout much of Japanâs comprehensive literary history, Japanese texts have
predominantly been crafted under Chinese literary influence, as a result of the strong
cultural hegemonic hold that China occupied over Japan for centuries. In her essay on
World Literature and East Asian Literature, Red Chan explains that historically,
ânarratives of Japan have been nurtured or enriched by Chinese literary normsâ as
âChinese literature acted as a blueprint for Japanese literature.â 6
Furthermore, Chan
clarifies that the traditional Japanese education primarily revolved around studies
concerning classical Chinese literature and the Confucian school of thought, both of
which significantly shaped the spiritual and moral making of Japan.7
Following the
collapse of Chinaâs cultural command over Japan, Chan believes that Japanese
literature changed considerably to favour Western influences, as she states,
âmodernisation and westernisation exposed Japan into new cultural imaginations from
the later nineteenth century on and Anglo-European influences prevailed, leading
modern literatures in East Asia to subsequently developed a more dichotomised
East/West, traditional/modern path.â8
Moreover, Chan elucidates that the outcome of
the two World Wars of the twentieth century aligned most of East Asia towards
American culture.9
Thus, culminating in the production of novels such as Kitchen and
Norwegian Wood, which imbue traditional Japanese literary tropes as well as
6
Red Chan, âWorld Literature and East Asian Literatureâ in The Routledge Companion to World
Literature, e.d by Theo Dâhaen, David Damrosch and Djelal Kadir (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012) 464-475
(pp.469-70).
7
World Literature and East Asian Literature, p.470.
8
World Literature and East Asian Literature, p.464.
9
World Literature and East Asian Literature, p.464.
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responding to modern Japanâs American influence by blending Western practices into
their work.
An example of this East/West assimilation can be seen through Norwegian Woodâs
protagonist Watanabe, who lives in a nationalistic student accommodation that
religiously begins each day with âthe solemn raising of the flagâ, to the Japanese
national anthem.10
Rather than involve himself in any of the acts of Japanese
patriotism that occurs at his university, Watanabe bides his time listening to The
Beatles and reading books by American novelists such as F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Moreover, later in the novel, a girl is seen âpainting huge characters on a sign with
something about American imperialism invading Asiaâ on Watanabeâs campus.11
Watanabe notes that this is a âusual midday university sceneâ but does not expresses
any desire to get involved with the movement. Watanabeâs indifference to the
American imperialism and Japanese nationalism that he is surrounded by, leaves him
to feel segregated and as though he is the only one there who is not âtruly part of the
scene.â12
Watanabeâs disinterest in Japanese culture and contemporary political disputes,
closely imitates Murakamiâs own experiences as a young adult in the 1960s/70s.
Jiwoon Baik characterises Murakami as a âSixties Kidâ, someone who graduated from
college in the 1970s and remembers this decade as a transition period from the poor
post-war days to the affluent days where young adults had money and listened to
American Pop songs. 13
Watanabe is correspondingly a reflection of a âsixties kidâ,
10
Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood, trans. by Jay Rubin (New York: Vintage Publishing, 2000) p.15.
11
Norwegian Wood, p.96.
12
Norwegian Wood, p.96.
13
Jiwoon Baik, âMurakami Haruki and the historical memory of East Asiaâ, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies,
11 (2010), 64-72 (p.67).
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which is shown through his independent financial capability. In spite of the fact that
Watanabe is a student with only a part-time job to rely on for income, he is still able
live alone in Tokyo, spend money on hotel rooms and frequent bars. Megumi Yama
concludes that Murakamiâs desire to rebel against his parentsâ traditional upbringing,
led to his rejection of traditional Japanese culture that is so scrupulously derivative in
Watanabe. Yama states that Murakami, having grown up in Kobe, âwas easily able to
access Western culture in the form of literature, movies and musicâ, all of which
âdeeply influenced him.â14
Moreover, Murakami has indicated in interviews that
growing up he âwanted to escape Japanese cultureâ as he found it âboring and too
sticky.â15
Murakamiâs numerous references to American popular culture in Norwegian Wood,
consequently, subvert the emblematic Japanese literary stereotype. As American
consumer culture established itself in the 1970s in Japan, Watanabe and Murakami
would have both found themselves surrounded by new American popular culture as
young adults. Japanâs expeditious globalisation ensured that people could easily
access American popular culture, the popularity of which began to overshadow
traditional Japanese cultural practices. In response to this influx of Americanised
culture, characters like Watanabe depict how young Japanese adults began fostering
relationships with American novels and music, in exchange for the rebuke of their
own native culture. Edwin O. Reischauer, a prominent American scholar of Japanese
culture, emphasised the importance of Western modernisation, arguing that any
differences between the West and Japan should be âreduced through the adoption of
14
Megumi Yama, âHaruki Murakami: Modern-Myth Maker beyond Cultureâ Jung Journal, 10 (2016) 87-
95 (p.88).
15
Haruki Murakami quoted in Haruki Murakami: Modern-Myth Maker beyond Culture, p.88.
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Western ways on the part of Japan.â16
Reischauerâs cavalier and orientalist ideology
that Japan should adopt Western ways of modernisation, Others Japan and postulates
it as an inferior nation as he believes Western culture to be superior to that of the East.
Reischauerâs attitudeâs combined with Watanabeâs easy access to Western culture,
rationalises why young Japanese adults became so engaged with Western books and
music. As ignorant popular opinions, such as those from Reischauer, conceivably led
the Japanese to feel as though their culture was inferior. Thus, encouraging young
Japanese adults to seek what they had been led to believe was a more âsuperiorâ
culture than their own, in the form of American popular novels and music.
Corresponding to Norwegian Wood, Kitchen also establishes an East/West dichotomy,
as Yoshimoto oscillates between using traditional Japanese and contemporary
Western expressions in her writing. In Kitchen, Mikage, the novels protagonist, is
contending with grief after her grandmotherâs death. Mikage recounts that during the
pinnacle of her grief, she was âsteeped in a sadness so greatâ that she could âbarely
cryâ and âwrapped in a blanketâ she slept like âLinus.â17
The âLinusâ that Yoshimoto
refers to, is a character from the American comic strip Peanuts. Even though Peanuts
is an American publication originally written in English, in the 1980s in Japan it was
palpably relatively popular and familiar enough for Yoshimoto to make the refence
under the assumption that readers would comprehend her comparison. Whilst plentiful
references to Western characters and celebrities are made in Kitchen, Yoshimoto
equitably mentions various Japanese expressions and cultural icons such as the
Japanese artist Momoko Sakuchi. Moreover, Mikage refers to the older people that
accompany her on her work trip as âsenseiâ, a traditional Japanese term that honours
16
Edwin O. Reischauer, in Chikako Niheiâs âThinking outside the Chinese Box: David Mitchell and
Murakami Harukiâs subversion of stereotypes about Japanâ, New Voices, 3 (2009) 86-103 (P.87).
17
Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen, trans. by Meghan Backus (London: Faber & Faber, 1993) pp.3-4.
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and designates respect to someone older than you.18
Yoshimotoâs unification of
Western and Japanese expressions, illustrates that Mikage lives in an time where
although Western popular culture was abundant, conventional Japanese terminology
was still very much customary.
Regardless of Yoshimotoâs commitment to entwine both Japanese and American
popular culture into Kitchen, her novel has been harshly scrutinised for its
incorporation of American culture. Michael Gibney explains that critics have argued
that Kitchen is âtoo far removed from traditional Japanese literary valuesâ and that
Yoshimoto âfocuses on the international and cosmopolitan to the detriment of
providing something uniquely Japanese.â19
Nicole Gaouette even goes as far to
remark that Yoshimotoâs characters are too âfull of foreign influencesâ making them
âsomehow un-Japanese.â20
Conclusively, critics of Yoshimotoâs work claim that the
influx of American culture in Japan has diluted the occupancy of traditional Japanese
cultural tropes in literature. Speaking about her own experiences of growing up in
Japan in the 1980s, Yoshimoto remarks that her generation was âraised on manga and
TVâ and cites this as the reasoning that she and others of her generation âunderstand
only those things that go fast.â21
Hence, the Japan that Mikage lives and operates in
during the late 1980âs, essentially emulates the exact rapidly globalised Japan that
Yoshimoto grew up in.
18
Kitchen, p.87.
19
Michael Gibney, Traditional Tropes and Familial Incest in Banana Yoshimotoâs Kitchen, from The
Selected works of Michael Gibney (Stockton, CA: University of the Pacific, 2005) p.2.
20
Nicole Gaouette quoted in Traditional Tropes and Familial Incest in Banana Yoshimotoâs Kitchen,
p.2.
21
Banana Yoshimoto quoted in Yoshimoto Banana Writes Home: Shojo Culture and the Nostalgic
Subject, p.359.
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Accordingly, it could thus be contended that the characters that Yoshimoto portrays
are not âun-Japaneseâ. As due to the globalisation of Japan, Mikage is in fact an
authentic analogy of the countryâs increasingly Westernised state. As a young adult,
Mikage has inevitably become enamoured and influenced by Western culture, as she
finds herself encompassed and surrounded by it. Mikageâs character cannot therefore
be criticised as un-Japanese, as American culture has permeated Japanese culture,
reconstructing it. Thus, forming a new understanding of what defines Japanese culture
as it has now become more influenced by its Western counterparts than traditionally
its East. Ultimately, as Chan clarifies, âworks by Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki
Murakami are testimony to the cross-cultural, East-West inbreeding of artistic
fascinations, caused by the rise in globalisation and spread of world literature.â22
Norwegian Wood and Kitchen both portray the evolving lifestyles and interests of
Japanâs young adults, in the wake of its considerable globalisation following the
Second World War. Yoshimoto and Murakami achieve this by mimicking their own
young experiences and pledging testimony to the new East-West dichotomy that has
transformed Japanese Literature, as a result of the infiltration of American popular
culture.
22
World Literature and East Asian Literature, p.472
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THE GLOABLISED SPREAD OF CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE LITERATURE
Globalisation is about the increasing of global wealth, the lifting of
people and nations out of poverty⌠the spread of such liberal
values as feminism, democracy or human rights. For some,
globalisation is almost inevitably negative: it represents the loss or
destruction of cultural difference.23
- Eric Hayot
The large global access to Kitchen and Norwegian Wood has been made possible
through the universal escalation of globalisation, resulting in cultures becoming
increasingly homogenised. Edward Said speaks of a world that has âchanged so
drasticallyâ, that it now allows âfor a new geographical consciousnessâ. 24
Consequently, culminating in a world that is receptive to literature that originates
from outside its quintessential cultural boundaries. Said goes on to suggest that
through a long process of âimaginative geographyâ, parts of the world were cornered
off by Western scholars as the âOrientâ, by Western political and economic powers. 25
In contemporary Japan, these Western powers have mitigated since the end of
Americaâs occupation following The Second World War. Will Solcombe elucidates
that âalthough the importance of the American occupation of Japan can be over-
emphasised, it nevertheless indicates a point of rupture in Japanese culture and
society, a point at which Japanese literature became occupied by (and with) Western
culture.â26
Subsequently, Japanâs rapid globalisation following this occupation and
successive mitigation, has positioned Japan on a similar cultural and economic
kinship to the West. In turn, Japanâs literature has become more inclusive and familiar
23
Eric Hayot, âWorld Literature and Globalisationâ, in The Routledge Companion to World Literature,
e.d by Theo Dâhaen, David Damrosch and Djelal Kadir (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012) 223-231 (p.224)
24
Edward W. Said, The Worldliness of World Literature, in The Routledge Companion to World
Literature, e.d by Theo Dâhaen, David Damrosch and Djelal Kadir (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012) (P.119)
25
The Worldliness of World Literature, p.120
26
Will Solcombe, âHaruki Murakami and the Ethics of Translationâ, Comparative Literature and
Culture, 6 (2004), pp.4-5
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to people worldwide, as the infiltration of Western popular entertainment and
universal ideologies has led to its acculturation of globalised culture.
Globalisation establishes an environment in which different communities are able to
easily access each other. Therefore, fostering solidarity between them, as exposure to
the various identities of the human existence allows for a profound understanding of
the communities we exist alongside. Kitchen acculturates this globalised ideology by
openly advocating the significance of liberal views, through Yoshimotoâs treatment of
the transgender community. In Kitchen, Mikage forms a very close bond with Eriko, a
transgender woman who she lives with for some time. Throughout Kitchen, Mikageâs
relationship with Eriko naturalises Erikoâs subversive gender identity, as her
transgender identity is never questioned by Mikageâ it is simply accepted as the norm.
Mikage even refers to Erikoâs transition to becoming a woman as an âamazing life
storyâ, seeing it as an act of beauty rather than controversy.27
In Japan, transgender people have only been able to change their gender on legal
documents since 2002. Conversely, those seeking to do so may only change their sex
on legal documents if they undergo sterilisation and satisfy other prejudiced criteria.28
Thus, Kitchenâs liberal offering of gender fluidity as a societal standard, embraces the
positive philosophies that globalisation promotes. By exposing her vast readership to
a transgender character and radically subverting the way that gender identity is
viewed worldwide, Yoshimoto challenges âacceptableâ social norms of the late 1980s.
Despite Yoshimotoâs celebration of Erikoâs transgender identity, Yoshimoto is clear
27
Kitchen, p.14.
28
James Griffiths & Yoko Wakatsuki, âTrans people must still be sterilised before changing gender in
Japan after top court upholds ruling,â CNN online, (January 2019)
<https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/25/asia/japan-supreme-court-trans-intl/index.html> [Accessed
Tuesday 9th April 2019].
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in clarifying that there are still troubling attitudes regarding societies reception of
people who identify as transgender, as Eriko is later murdered in the novel.
Yoshimoto brings focus to social inequalities to the forefront of her literature on an
inclusive level, as her novels have broadly dispersed around the globe. Therefore,
humanities awareness to social prejudices that certain communities face, has increased
through the access of world literature made possible through globalisation.
Conversely, in Norwegian Wood, it is Watanabeâs ideology-less temperament that
makes Murakamiâs novel so accessible to global readers. During Watanabeâs student
years, various student strikes occur on his university campus, resulting in the
university calling in âthe riot police.â29
Watanabe sheds light on his opinions regarding
the strikes, stating that âhe couldnât have cared lessâ and when the strike ended he âfelt
nothing.â30
Not only does Murakami present Watanabe as a character who is very
apathetic towards university politics, he deliberately doesnât offer any explanation as
to why the students are striking. By not enlightening readers to the agenda of the
strike, the strike is not presented in an explicitly Japanese context. Thus, the strike that
Murakami briefly discusses is nothing more than an action, as Murakamiâs lack of
contextual explanation for the strike renders it ideology-less and universally
understandable.
By removing any cultural or political Japanese considerations that may have initiated
the strike, Murakami illustrates Hayotâs argument that globalisation leads to the loss
of cultural difference. The loss of which has endorsed Japanese literature to travel
globally and become a commercial success, as it is more understandable and
29
Norwegian Wood, p.58.
30
Norwegian Wood, p.58.
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applicable to a wider scope of readers. Fujii ShĹzĹ states that the spread of Norwegian
Wood made its way to each city of East Asia because of âthe change in human
relationships through high economic growth and over-urbanisation.â31
He theorises
that the rise in globalisation, âturned the East Asian public away from orthodox
literature styles that dealt with national history and realityâ and in turn ânihility and
coolness penetrated through the cracks.â32
ShĹzĹâs belief that the public, in particular
the East Asian public, have turned from away orthodox literature styles rationalises
why Murakamiâs novels have been so prosperous outside of Japan. Throughout
Norwegian Wood, Watanabe doesnât show any enthusiasm towards Japanese history
or politics, neither of which are conversed in the novel. Furthermore, he moderately
skims over the university strikes in discussion, without delving into a conversation
about the Japanese education system or the motive for the strikes. Baik believes that
when globalisation took hold over most of the world, a rupture of sensitivity occurred
in which: âthe main ideologies of literature in each country dissolved; what occupied
the vacuum were the stateless and ideology-less novels of Haruki Murakami.â33
Therefore, postulating that the ubiquity of Murakamiâs novels situates them into the
category of globalised world literature, a category that is not concerned with
individual states or ideologies.
Conclusively, Yoshimoto and Murakami both appeal to an international range of
readers, as the subject matters and thoughts that they deliberate in their novels are not
explicitly pertinent to Japanese culture. This is presented through Yoshimotoâs
commitment to the promotion of transgender rights, an internationally recognised
form of imperative activism. Moreover, it is also exhibited through Murakamiâs
31
Fujii ShĹzĹ quoted in Murakami Haruki and the historical memory of East Asia, p.65.
32
Fujii ShĹzĹ quoted in Murakami Haruki and the historical memory of East Asia, p.65.
33
Murakami Haruki and the historical memory of East Asia, p.65.
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oversight for wholly Japanese politics or topics, giving his novel a unanimous quality.
As Hoyt considered earlier, globalisation leads to an erasure of cultural difference,
which in turn consents international readers of Kitchen and Norwegian Wood to
understand the themes being conferred.
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CHAPTER TWO:
THE POLITICS OF WESTERN TRANSLATION STRATEGY &
POSTMODERNISM
INTRODUCTION
David Damrosh maintains the idea that a literary work never leaves its place of origin
but simply has âtwo foci: one in the host country and one in the original country.â34
Therefore, suggesting that the flow of information is constantly moving and
transporting ideas and concepts in two different cultures, through the power of
translation.35
In this chapter, I will be addressing how important cultural factors are
missed during translation, as some Japanese phrases and expressions cannot be
adequately translated into English. Moreover, I will be looking at the authors choice
of syntax as well as investigating why the translators chose to deploy some of the
phrases that they used. Furthermore, I will be investigating how Globalisation dictates
what can be translated into English and how it imposes specific methods of how to
translate Japanese texts into English. Additionally, I will be investigating several
definitions of postmodernism and considering why Murakami and Yoshimotoâs
novels are categorised as postmodern texts.
34
What is World Literature?, p.324.
35
What is World Literature?, p.324.
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LIMITATIONS OF WESTERN TRANSLATION POLITICS
Gayatry Chakravorty Spivak, offers the theory of âpolitics of translationâ, in which
gender, racial and cultural politics are âimplicit within a translated work.â 36
Furthermore, she claims that a translation âis a process where a text shifts from the
ideological frame of its author to the ideological frame of the translator.â37
Owing to
globalisation, profit has become the main incentive to choose which Japanese texts are
selected to be translated into English. Japanese texts that appeal to a Western audience
are inevitably more likely to be translated, as they will produce the most profit in the
Western literature market. Moreover, this profitable incentive also governs what
elements of Japanese culture are deemed Western enough to not be cut during the
translation process. Edward Fowler claims that âmost American publishing houses do
not have staff that can read Japanese in the originalâ, therefore, publishing houses rely
on academics to translate Japanese novels into English.38
The academics that are
chosen to translate Japanese texts, must then âmediate publishers relationships to
Japanese fiction.â 39
Consequently, academics must translate Japanese novels in a way
that adheres to the cultural guidelines, that are set by American publishing houses. As
Japanese literature has become a commodity, publishers thus implore violent Western
strategies of translation to cut elements of Japanese culture from the texts that are
deemed âtoo foreignâ and ultimately not âsellable.â These violent translation
36
Gayatry Chakravorty Spivak quoted in Will Solcombeâs, Haruki Murakami and the Ethics of
Translation, Published in Comparative Literature and Culture by Purdue University Press, Vol.6,
Issue.2, Article 6 (2004) p.2.
37
Gayatry Chakravorty Spivak quoted Haruki Murakami and the Ethics of Translation, p.2.
38
Edward Fowler quoted in Contemporary Japanese Fiction & âMiddlebrowâ Translation Strategies:
The Case of Banana Yoshimotoâs âKitchenâ p.34.
39
Edward Fowler quoted in Contemporary Japanese Fiction & âMiddlebrowâ Translation Strategies:
The Case of Banana Yoshimotoâs âKitchenâ p.34.
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techniques alter works like Kitchen and Norwegian Wood, into simplistic Western
versions of their original texts. Spivak elucidates that the given culture of the chosen
language that the book is to be translated into, will be amalgamated into the
translation and fundamentally manifest within the book itself. Works like Kitchen and
Norwegian Wood, will therefore be adapted to fit more of an acceptable Western
cultural makeup, erasing Japanese cultural tropes in the process.
During the process of translating Japanese texts into the English language, valuable
cultural concepts are erased, in order to make texts more legible and straightforward
for Western readers. For instance, Megan Backusâ 1993 translation of Kitchen,
occasionally modifies Japanese phrases and transforms them into entirely different
expressions. In Backusâ Kitchen, when Mikage first meets Yuichi, Mikage becomes
overwhelmed with emotion and exclaims that she thinks she hears âa spiritâ calling her
name.40
Jamie Harker discloses that in the original Japanese version of Kitchen,
Mikage has this sensation as Yuichi calls Mikage by her first name, rather than her
family name. Conversely, in Backusâ English translation of Kitchen, Yuichi doesnât
address Mikage by her first or family name. Backusâ removal of Yuichi calling
Mikage by her first name is particularly pertinent, as address forms in Japan often
represent someoneâs position in society.41
Furthermore, in Japan, it is uncommon for
two people meeting for the first time to call each other by their first name and not
their family name. Customarily, people only start referring to others by their first
name after they form a close relationship. As Yuichi and Mikage are meeting for the
first time in this scene, in the Japanese version of the text, Yuichiâs unconventional
40
Kitchen, p.6.
41
Norie Mogi, âJapanese Ways of Addressing Peopleâ, Investigationes Linguisticae, 8 (2002) 14-22
(p.1).
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addressing of Mikage by her first name is deliberate and explains why Mikage is so
stunned. Harker goes on to note that in Backusâ translation of Kitchen, âthis cultural
specificity is smoothed overâ and thus disregarded. 42
Backusâ elimination of the significance of formal addressing in Japanese culture is
intentional, as it is a Japanese cultural mannerism that does not straightforwardly
translate into English. If Backus had included this cultural trope in her translation of
Kitchen, most English-speaking readers would not have understood the significance of
this action and it would have required an explanation. This erasure of the name
calling, demonstrates the translatorâs intentions of appealing to Western cultures
outside of Japan and working towards Lawrence Venutiâs trope of the violence of
translation. Venuti argues that Western translation is violent, as it âreconstitutes the
foreign text in accordance with the values, beliefs and representations that pre-exist it
in the target language.â 43
In turn, Western translation makes foreign cultures appear
simple, recognisable and distinct by creating âideology-stamped identities.â 44
Venutiâs violence of translation theory is evident in Kitchen, as Backus has chosen to
only translate Japanese terms that are also prevalent in Western culture. By
Westernising Kitchen through its selective translation, the novel becomes more
readable to a Western audience, reconstituting the text. Consequently, according to
Venuti, Kitchen becomes âconsumableâ and thus a âcommodity on the book market.â 45
42
Jamie Harker, âContemporary Japanese Fiction & âMiddlebrowâ Translation Strategies: The Case of
Banana Yoshimotoâs âKitchenâ, The Translator, 5 (1999) 27-44 (p.38).
43
Contemporary Japanese Fiction & âMiddlebrowâ Translation Strategies: The Case of Banana
Yoshimotoâs âKitchenâ p.28.
44
Lawrence Venuti quoted in Contemporary Japanese Fiction & âMiddlebrowâ Translation Strategies:
The Case of Banana Yoshimotoâs âKitchenâ p.28.
45
Contemporary Japanese Fiction & âMiddlebrowâ Translation Strategies: The Case of Banana
Yoshimotoâs âKitchenâ p.28.
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In Norwegian Wood, Murakamiâs use of katakana words in the original Japanese
version of the novel, signifies a Western possession of Japanese culture and language.
Katakana is a Japanese syllabary system, used to primarily represent borrowed words
outside of the Chinese and Japanese languages.46
Jim Gleeson clarifies that the âuse of
katakana in Japanese parallels the use of italics in Englishâ and is âoften used to write
foreign words that contain sounds not found in Japanese.â47
Hence, Murakami uses
the katakana syllabary system in Norwegian Wood to depict foreign words, often
which are references to Western culture such as âNowhere Manâ and âJuliaâ - songs by
The Beatles.48
Lukas Skowroneck stipulates that in the original Japanese version of
Norwegian Wood, Murakamiâs use of Katakana prose is âforeign to the Japanese
reader.â49
Thus, indicating that to the Japanese reader, Norwegian Wood appears
heavily Westernised and alien, as an infrequent syllabary system is used to represent
words from an unfamiliar culture. Furthermore, in the original Japanese version of
Norwegian Wood, Murakami repeatedly Americanises Japanese words. According to
Will Solcombe, Murakami does this through phrases such as âsore wa warukunaiâ
meaning ânot badâ and âyareyareâ meaning âjust greatâ, idioms that would not be
habitually spoken in Japanese. 50
Murakamiâs use of katakana words and the Americanisation of Japanese phrases
assimilate Western culture candidly into the Japanese language. Murakamiâs
46
Jim Gleeson, Writing Japanese Katakana: An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook
(Clarendon: VT, Tuttle Publishing, 2005) p.3.
47
Writing Japanese Katakana: An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook, p.3.
48
Norwegian Wood, p.131.
49
Lukas Skowroneck, âHaruki Murakami in the West: Comparing the English, Dutch, German and
Swedish translations of Norwegian Woodâ (unpublished doctoral thesis, Utrecht University, 2017)
p.43.
50
Haruki Murakami and the Ethics of Translation, p.5.
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incorporation of Western language therefore makes the novel less complicated to be
translated into English, as there are fewer Japanese expressions and phrases to
contend with. If the original version of Norwegian Wood contained more Japanese-
specific expressions, they would have most likely been erased during translation,
mirroring the culture cuts that Kitchen encountered. Moreover, Norwegian Wood may
not have been chosen to be translated into English in fear of it appearing âtoo foreignâ
to Western readers, if it contained too many âexoticâ expressions. Chikako Nihei adds
that Murakamiâs stories are âexoticised to a degree by his English-speaking audienceâ
and are âappreciated for their presentation of Japanese culture in an easily digestible
format.â51
This easily-digestible format that Nihei proposes, assures Western readers
that people in Japan are responsive to the same pastimes as them, validating
Norwegian Wood as a âsuitableâ novel. Moreover, Harker elucidates that Japanese
novels which frequently include Western expressions âencourages an identification
with the narratorâ as âthemes about how to live seem universal.â52
In conclusion, globalisation has led to the promotion of violent Western translation
politics, as books like Kitchen and Norwegian Wood have chosen to be translated into
English in order to become commodities for the western reader. As specific Japanese
novels are being translated with the intention of making profit, their cultural integrity
is destroyed in a bid to make the works Western friendly. Kitchenâs successful
commodification on the Western book market, has been made achievable through the
publisherâs selective translation strategy. Backusâ translation of Kitchen provides
Western readers with some notions of the âOrientalâ but nonetheless, meticulously
51
Thinking outside the Chinese Box: David Mitchell and Murakami Harukiâs subversion of stereotypes
about Japan, p.94.
52
Contemporary Japanese Fiction & âMiddlebrowâ Translation Strategies: The Case of Banana
Yoshimotoâs âKitchenâ p.40.
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ensures that diverging cultural expressions are erased. Whilst integral cultural
references are erased in Kitchen, they donât appear in Murakamiâs Norwegian Wood
in the first place. Therefore, Kitchenâs removal of anything âtoo Japaneseâ and
Norwegian Woodâs lack of anything too Japanese, guarantees that an
American/Western readership will be interested in the novels, rendering them
profitable.
DEFINING POSTMODERNISM
Hans Bertens argues that âthe concept of postmodernism has steadfastly eluded
consensus right from the beginningâ, as there are multiple different ways to categorise
and interpret the movement.53
Bertenâs goes on to explain that in most academic
circles, there are two major lines of argument relating to postmodern literature. The
first line of argument, sees the development of postmodernism as a âliterary reflection
of the complex social and cultural perspectives that began to dominate Western
cultures post-war.â54
The second line of argument, argues that postmodernism is a
literary development that was a âreaction to the literary realism of the 1950s and
against the modernism of the inter-war period.â55
Moreover, some critics see
postmodernism as a point of a sharp decline in political awareness and social
responsibilityâ whilst other see it as the âexact opposite.â56
53
Hans Bertens, âWorld Literature and Postmodernismâ in The Routledge Companion to World
Literature, e.d by Theo Dâhaen, David Damrosch and Djelal Kadir (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012) 204-212
(p.204).
54
World Literature and Postmodernism, p.204
55
World Literature and Postmodernism, p.204.
56
World Literature and Postmodernism, p.205.
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In order to define and analyse postmodernism works, it is vital to consider the aspects
of modernism, the literary movement preceding postmodernism. According to
Bertens, Modernism can be characterised by the following literary traits: âworks that
are deep-seated with uncertainty and characterised by boundaries between gender,
social class and sexuality.â57
On the other hand, postmodernism has been defined as a
movement that marks the new age of a liberal era. It does this by emulating a literary
movement that has âfreed itself from the shackles of a misogynistic, racist and
repressive modernity.â58
Furthermore, postmodernism largely âignores formal
experimentalismâ is full of âself-reflectionâ, âdisturbs the illusion of realityâ and
frequently has multiple endings. 59
Postmodern literature may be so hard to outline as critics like Fredric Jameson,
believe that mostly all contemporary literature is postmodern, as postmodernism is the
âcultural logic of late capitalism.â 60
As postmodernism is the logical literary
movement in a late capitalist world, it is also the logical movement in the globalised
world, as the two concepts go hand in hand. Postmodernismâs suitability to depict
fiction during a time of globalisation, is evident through its commitment to ignore
formal experimentalism and move away from repressive modernity. As I have argued
thus far in this dissertation, Western culture since The Second World War began to
infiltrate Japan, resulting in an East/West cultural dichotomy. As postmodern
literature began to dominate Western cultures post-war, it is inevitable that
contemporary Japanese literature would be written in a postmodern style. Regarding
the works of Kitchen and Norwegian Wood, I will be arguing that they both employ
57
World Literature and Postmodernism, pp.205-6.
58
World Literature and Postmodernism, p.205.
59
World Literature and Postmodernism, p.207.
60
Fredric Jameson quoted in World Literature and Postmodernism, p.206.
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elements from both lines of arguments concerning postmodernism. I will also be
discussing why postmodernism is a suitable literary style for both novels, as
postmodernism helps to texture globalisation into the works.
MURAKAMIâS DISTURBED POSTMODERN REALITY
In Norwegian Wood, Murakami fuses postmodern elements into the text by disturbing
the illusion of reality for several characters. After receiving a letter about Naokoâs
declining mental health, Watanabe alienates himself from society by staying in his
bedroom alone for several days. During this period Watanabe observes that his body
âfelt enveloped in some kind of membrane, cutting off any direct contact between me
and the outside world.â61
Subsequently, after Naokoâs death, Watanabe travels by
himself but cannot recall where he has been or remember âany sense of orderâ in
which he travelled. 62
Despite Watanabe not knowing how long he has been travelling
for or where he has been, he is aware that he is living in a disturbed version of reality,
as towards the end of his travels he remarks that he had to âgo back to the real
world.â63
Fuminobu Murakami believes that it is Murakamiâs characters disturbed
illusion of reality, that places Norwegian Wood within the postmodern world.
Fuminobu states that Norwegian Woodâs protagonists, âdistance themselves from
extreme rationalization, emotionality, totalization and individualization, favouring
instead detachment.â64
61
Norwegian Wood, p.295
62
Norwegian Wood, p.324
63
Norwegian Wood, p.329
64
Fuminobu Murakami, âMurakami Harukiâs Postmodern Worldâ, Japan Forum, 14 (2002) 127-141
(p.129).
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The detachment that Fuminobu discusses, prevents the main characters in Norwegian
Wood from finding healthy love. He goes on to explain that âwhile modernists are
oriented towards progress, evolution and loveâ, âpostmodernists discard these in
favour of a calm utopia.â Thus, due to his postmodern qualities, Watanabe rejects
notions of evolution and instead exists within a fictional world. This would further
suggest that as Watanabe is a postmodern character and as he is detached from reality,
he is unable to feel or receive love. However, Watanabe represents a unique figure of
the postmodernist, as he is still ingrained with some qualities that are correlate with
the traditional modernist. Ueno Chizuko believes that Watanabe has âunconsciously
transformed himself into the postmodernistâ, but nonetheless through his love of
Midori is âdrawn towards the empathetic love of the modernists.â65
In turn, Watanabeâs mix of postmodern and modernist tendencies leave him without a
place in the world. Fuminobu claims that once Watanabe âacts on that empathetic
love, he loses his place in modern society because of his postmodern
characteristics.â66
Therefore, proposing that modernist and postmodernist characters
cannot harmoniously co-exist with each other in the same world, as they are too
divergent. Ultimately, Watanabeâs synthesis of a postmodern personality with
modernist tendencies, reflects how globalisation was promptly assimilating into Japan
during the 1960s. Like modernism, Japanese society and culture could not continue to
exist in the same way that it did before globalisation. Due to a change in economics,
beliefs and ideals, Japanese literature had to adopt a postmodern to accurately
represent a modern Japanese society. Postmodernism within Norwegian Wood thus
65
Ueno Chizuko quoted in Murakami Harukiâs Postmodern World, p.136.
66
Ueno Chizuko quoted in Murakami Harukiâs Postmodern World, p.136.
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represents the shift in Japanese culture, from an era of individuality to an era of
homogenised globalisation.
YOSHIMOTOâS POSTMODERN FRAGMENTATION
In Kitchen, Yoshimoto displays an ambiguous concept of time, in which time moves
at a rapid pace as unexplained time jumps are frequent in the novel. In the novel,
chapter two opens with the line, âEriko died late in the autumnâ, not only are we
shocked to hear of Erikoâs sudden death, we are also made aware that for some time
Mikage has been living alone and has moved out of the Tanabeâs apartment.67
However, Yoshimoto offers no explanation of when Mikage moved out, neither how
long she has been living alone at the beginning of the second chapter. Hans-Thies
Lehmann states that various elements of postmodern literature, such as plot and
themes, are âfragmented and dispersed throughout the entire work.68
Accordingly, as
Kitchenâs time-frame is often disjointed, the novel is posited as a postmodern work,
that is not only influenced by Yoshimotoâs commercial surroundings, but rejects
modernism. The disjointed time-frame in Kitchen doesnât just position it as a
postmodern work, but also disturbs the readers own notion of reality as they cannot
clearly comprehend where the novel is situated within the time-frame given.
On the denunciation of modernism, John Whittier Treat believes that the novel rejects
modernism to such a degree that it âprepares consciousness for the prospect of social
changeâ, which can be seen not only through Yoshimotoâs progressive depictions of
67
Kitchen, p.45
68
Hans-Thies Lehmann, Postdramatic Theatre, trans. by Karen JĂźrs-Munby (Abingdon, Routledge:
2006) p.88
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LGBTQ characters, but her representation of modern life in a globalised Japanese
setting. As globalisation brings large social changes with it, the postmodern qualities
of Kitchen accordingly help structure the globalised world that Mikage is living in.
Whittier Treat goes on to state that to the majority of postmodern critics, Kitchen
appears as âan unconditional capitulation to the forces of commercialisation so often
cited as the nefarious agent behind the production of popular culture, a charge familiar
in the West.â 69
Therefore, Whittier Treat argues that Kitchen is unable to resist the
forces of globalisation that have crept into Japanese culture. Kitchenâs postmodern
ambiguous time-frame and rejection of the conservative social boundaries of
modernism show how Japanese culture and society is adapting to the new age of
globalisation. By adopting a postmodern framework and rejecting outdated modernist
styles, Kitchen depicts contemporary Japan as a nation of increasing
commercialisation and liberal social change.
69
Yoshimoto Banana Writes Home: Shojo Culture and the Nostalgic Subject, pp.359-60.
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CHAPTER THREE:
EVOLVING JAPANESE STEREOTYPES
INTRODUCTION
Yoshimotoâs Kitchen and Murakamiâs Norwegian Wood, both imbue stereotypes
often found in contemporary Japanese literature. In the case of Kitchen, Yoshimoto
depicts Mikage in the outline of the shĹjo girl, a stereotypical young Japanese woman
usually found in manga. On the other hand, in Norwegian Wood, Murakami presents
Watanabe as a reflection of the SĹshoku-kei Danshi or âherbivore man.â
This chapter will investigate how Orientalist ideals have shaped the Westâs view of
contemporary Japanese society. I will be using Edward Saidâs theory of Orientalism,
to document how Western cultures have frequently dehumanised Japanese cultures to
posit them as inferior. Moreover, this chapter will consider why Yoshimoto and
Murakami chose to use the stereotypes of the shĹjo and the sĹshoku-kei danshi in
particular, to explore what this implies about the contemporary societies that they
were writing in. I will also be analysing how popular Japanese stereotypes changed
after The Second World War and consider the factors that led to these alterations.
A CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF WESTERN STEREOTYPES OF JAPAN
Edward Said pioneered the theory of Orientalism in 1978, to observe the Westâs
condescending and inferior views of the East. In his theory of Orientalism, Mahmood
Mamdani believes that Saidâs analysis suggests that the West views the societies of
the East as âstatic and underdevelopedâ, in comparison to Western society which is
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âdeveloped, rational, flexible and superiorâ. 70
Moreover, Said advocates that when
cultures use the categories of âOriental and Westernâ, the two groups become
âpolarised.â71
This brands the âOriental more Orientalâ and the âWestern more
Westernâ, thus âlimiting the human encounters between different cultures, traditions
and societies.â72
As part of the historical âOrientâ, Japan has always been uniquely typecast by the
West, in comparison to The Middle East, India, China and the rest of the nations that
define the Western concept of the âOrientâ. Japan has been exclusively typecast
because their own empire was never formally colonised by Western forces and it
established its own imperialism throughout much of East Asia.73
In light of this,
Chikako Nihei contends that the West often interprets Japan in one of two ways, âthey
either emphasise Japanâs feminine quality and its elegance or stress the inherently
violent nature of its society.â74
The latter of which of is highly ironic, considering the
Westâs own extensive history of violent colonisation. Moreover, as globalisation
accelerated in Japan after The Second World War, Japanâs economy soared. Japanâs
surging economy and promotion of advanced technological goods, led the West to
view Japan as a competitor in the market, as opposed to an inferior nation to be
colonised by Western ideals.75
70
Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terrorism
(New York, NY: Pantheon, 2004) p.32.
71
Edward Said, Orientalism (London: Routledge, 1978) p.53.
72
Orientalism, p.54.
73
Mark R. Peattie, âChapter 5 â The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895-1945â in The Cambridge History of
Japan Vol. 6, ed. By Peter Duus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988) p.217
74
Thinking outside the Chinese Box: David Mitchell and Murakami Harukiâs subversion of stereotypes
about Japan, p.87.
75
KĹichi Iwabuchi, âComplete Exoticism: Japan and its otherâ, The Australian Journal of Media &
Culture, 8 (1994) 49-82 (p.61).
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Nihei states that the contemporary stereotypes that the West associates with Japan,
link Japan with âhigh-tech imageryâ that âcentres on its technological and economical
success.â76
David Morley and Kevin Robins define this phenomenon as âtechno-
Orientalismâ, and state that âthe technological and futurological imagination has come
to be centred here; the abstract and universalizing force of modernization has passed
from Europe to America to Japanâ.77 Although contemporary Japanâs economy
closely reflects that of Europe and America, Nihei regards that techno-Orientalism
ârelegates Japan once again into a subaltern positionâ. 78 As it dehumanises Japanese
civilisation by associating Japanese culture with images of ârobots and videogamesâ
which âmake Japanese people appear as lacking in emotion.â 79 Therefore, the way
that the West considers Japan has changed to reflect Japanâs successful economy and
technological authority. However, whilst the Westâs stereotypes of Japanese culture
may have undergone reconstruction, the predominant stereotypes are nonetheless
dehumanising. Nevertheless, positioning Japan as an inferior nation, as modern
stereotypes liken Japanese society to ârobotsâ to validate the success of their economy.
YOSHIMOTOâS MODERN SHĹJO GIRL
Whilst Western stereotypes of Japanese culture have dominated Japanese characters
in Western Literature, Japanâs individual range of stereotypes regarding its own
76
Thinking outside the Chinese Box: David Mitchell and Murakami Harukiâs subversion of stereotypes
about Japan, p.88.
77
David Morley and Kevin Robins, âTechno-Orientalism: Futures, Foreigners and Phobiasâ, New
Formations, 16 (1992) (P.141).
78
Thinking outside the Chinese Box: David Mitchell and Murakami Harukiâs subversion of stereotypes
about Japan, P.89.
79
Thinking outside the Chinese Box: David Mitchell and Murakami Harukiâs subversion of stereotypes
about Japan, P.89.
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culture have historically lent themselves to popular Japanese Literature. Much like the
Western stereotypes of Japan, Japanese stereotypes have undergone major
transformations in the wake of contemporary Japanâs globalisation. In Kitchen,
Yoshimoto parallels Mikage to a Japanese shĹjo girl, to expose the infiltration of
Western influences into Japanese culture through globalisation. The shĹjo girl derives
from shĹjo manga, a sub-genre of manga that follows a variety of narrative styles,
from historical drama to science fiction, and often focuses on romantic relationships
or emotions. Predominantly marketed towards a teenage female audience, Lucy Fraser
and Masafumi Monden state that, âRadiating youthful, innocent, and often ethereal
femininity, the Japanese figure of the shĹjo is nebulous and complex.â80
The term
shĹjo is usually translated into English simply as âgirlâ, however Fraser and Monden
argue that the term is ânot such a straightforward designation; it is most often
employed to capture imaginings of girls and girlhood in text and image.â 81
The
schoolgirls featured in shĹjo manga often promote qualities of consumerism, nostalgia
and innocence. For instance, Mikage, like a typical shĹjo girl, exhibits nostalgic
tendencies through the novel. These nostalgic recollections are often focused around
the loss of her grandmother, as Mikage reflects: âWe would spend a little time
together before bed, sometimes drinking coffee, sometimes green tea, eating cake and
watching TV.â82
Moreover, shĹjo girls frequently engage in unconventional
relationships and subvert patriarchal orders and gender roles. 83
Whilst Mikage is
80
Lucy Fraser & Masafumi Monden, âThe Maiden Switch: New Possibilities for Understanding
Japanese ShĹjo Manga (Girlsâ Comics)â, Asian Studies Review, 41 (2017) 544-61 (p.544).
81
The Maiden Switch: New Possibilities for Understanding Japanese ShĹjo Manga (Girlsâ Comics)
p.544.
82
Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen, trans. Meghan Backus (London: Faber & Faber, 1997) p.20.
83
The Maiden Switch: New Possibilities for Understanding Japanese ShĹjo Manga (Girlsâ Comics)
p.547.
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older than most shĹjo girls, she is nonetheless a young woman caught up in a world of
commercial consumerism.
The consumeristic shĹjo influences that Yoshimoto weaves throughout Mikageâs
character in Kitchen, are undoubtedly a product of her Japanese upbringing at a time
of rapid globalisation. In Kitchen, similarly to those of Yoshimotoâs generation,
Mikage often stays home alone in the Tanabeâs apartment watching popular
programmes on television, âI still went to my part-time job, but after that I would
clean the house, watch TV, bake cakes: I lived like a housewife.â84
Moreover, the
commercial products that Mikage interacts with in Kitchen, are predominantly
American. For example, Mikage marvels at the âSilverstone frying panâ in Yuichiâs
kitchen and compares a conversation she overhears to the American sitcom
âBewitched.â 85
John Haffner, Tomas Casas I Klett and Jean-Pierre Lehmann state
that during the 1980s, whilst the American economy was slumping, Japanese
companies found themselves âbuying prime American assetsâ, owing to the abrupt
jump in the value of the Yen in juxtaposition to the United States Dollar.86
Leading to
the abundance of new shops, branded advertising, Western fast-food chains and a rise
of American goods in modern Japan.
According to John Whittier Treat, a result of Japanâs prospering commercial
landscape, the modern shĹjo girl became ârearticulated as a definitive feature of
Japanese late-model, consumer capitalism.â87
Prior to epitomising young girls that
reside in a consumer capitalist Japan, the original concept of the shĹjo girl formed
84
Kitchen, p.22.
85
Kitchen, pp.9-31.
86
John Haffner, Tomas Casas I Klett & Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Japanâs Open Future: An Agenda for
Global Citizenship (London: Anthem Press, 2009) p.204.
87
Yoshimoto Banana Writes Home: Shojo Culture and the Nostalgic Subject, p.362.
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during Japanâs Meiji period. During the Meiji period, Japan espoused a constitution
and âbegan a programme of modernisation and westernisationâ, leading to an
industrial revolution. 88
Whittier Treat suggests that this ârapid economic change
produced a social utility for adolescentsâ, obliging young girls to become âtrained in
labourâ and âput to domestic work.â89
Consequently, the original shĹjo girl,
represented a heavily feminised adolescent who was expected to work substandard
domestic jobs. This form of the Japanese shĹjo, experienced the beginning of the
Westernised consumerism that was slowly making its way into Japan during the early
20th
century. However, after the explosion of Western culture and the rapid expansion
of Japanâs economy after The Second World War, the shĹjo was forced to reinvent
itself to reflect contemporary young women living in an economically advanced
Japan.
Although Mikage shares many features with the modern shĹjo girl, it is her role as a
consumer in the novel that highlights how Japanese stereotypes have altered as a
result of globalisation. Consumption is a pivotal motif in Kitchen, shown
predominantly through the excess of food that Mikage cooks and Yuichi and Erikoâs
unnecessary buying of electrical goods. An avid cook, whenever Mikage makes food
she always makes it in vast amounts and goes through a long laborious process to
cook it;
It took me two hours to make dinnerâŚwe began to eat the extravagant
dinner I had prepared. Salad, pie, stew, croquettes, deep fried tofu,
steamed greens, bean thread with chicken (each with their various
sauces), Chicken Kiev, sweet-and-sour pork, Chinese steamed
dumplingsâ90
88
The Encyclopaedia of the Industrial Revolution in World History, ed. Kenneth E. Hendrickson III et al
(Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014) p.483.
89
Yoshimoto Banana Writes Home: Shojo Culture and the Nostalgic Subject, p.362.
90
Kitchen, p.62.
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Mikageâs excessive food consumption equates her to the reinvented figure of the
Japanese shĹjo, who exhibits many Westernised tendencies mostly revolving around
consumption. Moreover, many of the food products that Mikage buys and consumes
are international, reflecting Japanâs extensive trade links. Saskia Sassen believes that
globalisation can often be defined as a âspatially dispersed complex duality in which
economic activity is globally integrated.â 91
Sassen suggests that globally, nations are
becoming increasingly homogenised through the linking of economic activity. This
homogenisation has inexorably led to various cultures accessing the same
technological goods, entertainment and food. Therefore, owing to the global
integration of economic activity, Mikage is able to access foods from around the
world and outside of her native Japan: with Chicken Kievâs from the Russian Empire
and dumplings from China. This increase in international food trade had been made
possible in Japan in the 1980s due to its growing economy and international links as
denoted by Sassen. Moreover, not only does Mikage have access to prepare and cook
this extravagant amount of food for her and Yuichi, the duo also appears to eat it all:
âwe ate it allâŚuntil we couldnât face another bite.â92
Yuichi and Mikageâs
consumption of such an excessive dinner not only shows their likeness to the modern
shĹjo, but also their gluttonous tendencies demonstrating their wealth and access to
choose between a wide variety of foods outside of the traditional Japanese cuisine.
91
Saskia Sassen âOverviewâ in The Global City (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991) p.3.
92
Kitchen, p.62.
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MURAKAMIâS SĹSHOKU-KEI DANSHI
In Norwegian Wood, Murakami relates the protagonist Watanabe to a new type of
Japanese man called the sĹshoku-kei danshi, literally meaning âherbivorous manâ or
âgrass-eating manâ in English. 93
The sĹshoku-kei danshi represents the contemporary
Japanese man, who generally: âresists traditional standards of masculinity, are less
ambitious in their workplace, are willing to save money and are more likely to share an
interest in fashion than to pursue sex.â 94
Chikako Nihei has argued that the Western
media have celebrated this emergence of the ânew Japanese manâ that focuses on their
ârejection of traditional gender roles.â 95
Perhaps explaining why Norwegian Wood has
been such a success on the Western book market. Moreover, Nihei goes on to elucidate
that âthe herbivores differences from the older generation have been regarded as a sign
of their ignorance of traditional Japanese valuesâ, particularly through their
âunwillingness to hold ambitious dreams.â96
In Norwegian Wood, alike the sĹshoku-kei danshi, Watanabe often clarifies that he is
not interested in pursuing any hobbies inside or outside of university. When
Watanabeâs roommate, Stormtrooper, asks him if he enjoys reading plays, as
Watanabe studies drama, he replies ânot especiallyâ.97
After Watanabe notes
Stormtroopers confusion over his apathy, he responds âI could have picked
anythingâŚI just happened to pick Drama thatâs all.â98
Toruâs indifference for his
93
Chikako Nihei, âResistance and Negotiation: âHerbivorous Menâ and Murakami Harukiâs Gender and
Political Ambiguityâ, Asian Studies Review, 37 (2013) 62-79 (P.62).
94
Resistance and Negotiation: âHerbivorous Menâ and Murakami Harukiâs Gender and Political
Ambiguity, p.63
95
Resistance and Negotiation: âHerbivorous Menâ and Murakami Harukiâs Gender and Political
Ambiguity, p.63
96
Resistance and Negotiation: âHerbivorous Menâ and Murakami Harukiâs Gender and Political
Ambiguity, p.63
97
Norwegian Wood, p.20
98
Norwegian Wood, p.20
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degree and his general life, reflects the changing nature of the stereotypical modern
Japanese man. Nihei explains that immediately after the Second World War, the
stereotype of the ideal Japanese man was known as the kigyĹ senshi, or âcorporate
warrior.â99
This stereotype was a construction of the ideal values of Japanese
masculinity and is âclosely associated with national economic growth in Japan.â100
The kigyĹ senshi, was the âurban, white-collar, middle-class salarymanâ who drove
Japanâs industrial development and was âinstrumental in positioning the nation in a
global context.â 101
Therefore, the sĹshoku-kei danshi heavily departs from the ideal
Japanese man of the late 1940s and 1950s in Japan. Whilst the kigyĹ senshi were
responsible for helping to build the Japanese economy after the Second World War,
Watanabeâs generation of the sĹshoku-kei danshi are the consumers of this booming
economy. As a consumer of this booming economy, Watanabe can reap the benefits
of Japanâs financial stability without having to ambitiously engage or contributing
towards it.
Furthermore, Watanabeâs reluctance and lack of passion to engage with society,
reflects the counter-cultural movement of the late 1960s, during which Murakami
himself would have been a student at university. The counter-cultural movement of
the 1960s, was a cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the
Western World and promoted an anti-establishment attitude, ultimately going against
the orthodox ideals that were present in most of the Western World.102
As the
sĹshoku-kei danshi, Watanabeâs lethargic attitudes turn against the traditional
99
Resistance and Negotiation: âHerbivorous Menâ and Murakami Harukiâs Gender and Political
Ambiguity, p.64
100
Resistance and Negotiation: âHerbivorous Menâ and Murakami Harukiâs Gender and Political
Ambiguity, P.64
101
Resistance and Negotiation: âHerbivorous Menâ and Murakami Harukiâs Gender and Political
Ambiguity, P.64
102
Terry H Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) p.51.
38. Le16036
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Japanese cultural ideals of masculinity and instead favour the Western counter-
cultural movement. Additionally, by going against toxic cultural ideals of masculinity,
Watanabe imbues the liberal ideals of globalisation argued by Eric Hayot. Therefore,
the liberal ideals promoted by globalisation have rehabilitated the Japanese stereotype
of the contemporary man. Whilst in the 1950s, the ideal contemporary man was
committed to financial success to boost his masculinity, the new stereotype of the
contemporary man has radically abandoned this ideal. As the sĹshoku-kei danshi that
Watanabe imbues, rejects traditional notions of masculinity by challenging societies
gender norms.
Although the sĹshoku-kei danshi imbues some of the positive ideals that globalisation
endorses by rejecting gender norms, it also reflects the abolishing of cultural
difference. As Nihei earlier suggested, the generation of the kigyĹ senshi has
criticised that of the sĹshoku-kei danshi for rejecting the traditional Japanese values
that they built. The traits that the typical Japanese man were once expected to imbue,
have now been eradicated. Conversely, what now stands in its place is the sĹshoku-kei
danshi, a contemporary Japanese man who is a reflection of the Western ideals of
globalisation. This man is passive and resistant, he does not care for earning lots of
money or propelling his status in society. Therefore, owing to globalisation the
characteristic contemporary stereotype of the Japanese has been transformed into the
homogenous Western man, who struggles to find his place in such an economically
advanced world.
Conclusively, Yoshimotoâs deployment of the shĹjo girl in Kitchen demonstrates the
rapid globalisation that hit Japan during the 1980s. Originally a cultural trope to
present a young feminised woman that lives and works in an industrial japan, the role
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of the shĹjo has transformed to that of the young female consumer in a Japan
overhaled by Western influences. Therefore, the modern shĹjo that Yoshimoto imbues
into Mikage is a metaphor for the Western influences that have permeated and altered
Japanese culture owing to globalisation. Similarly, in Norwegian Wood, the apathy
that Murakami instils within Watanabe as a reflection of the sĹshoku-kei danshi,
documents the changing nature of Japanese culture during the 1960s. Whilst the
contemporary man in Japan during the 1950s was typecast by his white-collar job and
commitment to boosting the economy of Japan, the new contemporary man reflects a
homogenised Western man caught up in a world of consumerism. Overall, stereotypes
in Japanese Literature have radically changed as a result of globalisation. The
emblematic stereotypes commonly found in Japanese literature now depict young
adults who living in a globalised Japan, place importance on liberal values and
consumerism above all else.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and Kitchen by Banana
Yoshimoto both infuse a combination of Japanese and Westernised cultural tropes that
imitate Japanâs complex relationship with globalisation. This has been primarily
shown through Japanese literatureâs contemporary East/West dichotomy, that formed
as a result of the abolishment of Chinaâs cultural hegemonic hold over Japan. This has
been shown through: Yoshimoto and Murakamiâs reinvention of the shĹjo girl and the
sĹshoku-kei danshi as a symbols of consumption, Western translation politics that
erase anything deemed âtoo Japaneseâ or âexoticâ in Japanese literature and the rise of
the postmodern literary style as symbol of capitalism.
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This change in contemporary Japanese literature is primarily a result of globalisation,
which has led to the influx of American goods and Western culture into Japan,
modifying Japanese attitudes and culture. In turn, this modification has led to a
reinvention of Japanese stereotypes and furthermore has departed from modernist
literary ideals. Ultimately, the style, form and content of Kitchen and Norwegian
Wood are representations of the impact that globalisation has had on contemporary
Japanese culture and therefore its literature.
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