I am trying to get in as much studying as I can regarding Japanese history and culture. This entails reading a lot. Since I have been in the suburbs of Los Angeles with my parents. Some people, like Paola, think that I should take advantage of my time here in Los Angeles. Having been here for almost a month, I have come to the conclusion that there isn’t much to take advantage of. Perhaps I am just biased because I grew up here. In any case, I have been inundated with boredom, which lends itself very well to reading. So, I have been reading a lot. Since being here, I have read at least six different books.
I remember that when I toured Europe in 2005, I wanted to read so much history about the different places that I went. Of course, by the time I got there, it was too late. Since having lived there, I read a lot, and now I want to go back to see the different sites with a different understanding. I didn’t want to make the same mistake with Japan; that is, I want to go to Japan already knowing something about the historical and cultural sites that I hope to see so that I can appreciate them that much more.
The first one is a history book covering the period between about 1600 to the present, called
‘The Making of Modern Japan’ by Marius B. Jansen.
The rest are all fiction (in the order that I read them):
‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima.
‘Snow Country’ by Yasunari Kawabata;
‘Coin Locker Babies’ by Ryu Murakami;
‘A Personal Matter’ by Kenzaburo Oe;
‘Kokoro’ by Natsume Soseki; and
‘Acts of Worship’ by Yukio Mishima;
‘Acts of Worship is a short story collection, and ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ is a manga comic book. The rest of the fiction are novels.
First I will talk about the nonfiction history. It is easy to understand what this will be able to tell me about the land that I am soon to call home. There is no question to me that this will be a different land with different people with a different history than I am used to. I have also studied Byzantine history very carefully, and having done so, it is easy to see how similar the Byzantines were with the rest of the nations in Europe. Of course, there were differences also, but they were far outnumbered by similarities. The opposite seems true with Japan: the differences far outnumber the similarities with Western nations. I suppose that this should have been obvious, but I try to go in and read without any preconceived notions and without my mind made up. I have learned a lot up to the Meiji Era (about 1900), but I still have the second half of the book to read (which is basically the whole 20th century).
As with the nonfiction, I went into the fiction with an open mind, and not knowing what to expect. Someone even asked me, “What do you expect to find out about the people by reading novels?” I didn’t know how to answer. I figure, though, that in trying to understand different aspects of Japanese art and culture, I can somehow understand the people and the nation. I don’t think that this can be done by only reading one book, or even seven. But the more that I am reading, the more that I am able to find many similarities In literature that spans about 100 years.
Manga comic books are a serious part of Japanese culture and literature. That is not to say that the stories are always serious, but there are certainly those that are. Some can be about the silly conflicts a character faces when he turns into a panda whenever he gets wet, and some are as serious as coping with the aftermath of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ is a little bit of both for me. It is historical, in that it focuses on the Tokugawa period in Japan; it is fun because it’s about a samurai who kicks ass. It’s the best of both comic worlds.
The first novel that I read was ‘Snow Country.’ Whenever I study a subject in depth (whether it be history or literature), the first book that I read always has to suffer by not being understood by me because I am not yet sure about what I am reading, and am just getting warmed up to the subject. This is the fate that ‘Snow Country’ had to suffer, and as a result, I did not appreciate it as much as I, perhaps, should have.
‘Coin Locker Babies’ was a bit more fun to read, and reminded me more of a Japanese anime cartoon with the action and violence that developed. The story begins with a mother putting her new born son in a plastic bag in a box, and then stuffing the package in a coin locker, thus the title.
‘A Personal Matter’ was a more serious story about a young man facing the real world and all the responsibilities that entails. It really hit home to me because I am just as selfish as the character, and just as hesitant to not face the real world.
‘Kokoro’ was a story about a man facing death (and thus, life), and all that entails. It is mostly from the viewpoint of a young man who admires the older man, and wants to learn from his years of wisdom.
‘Acts of Worship’ had seven stories that were about facing life, and how different characters make their place in the world.
The last three books were amazing in ways that puts their writers among the top echelon of the world’s writers. All of those last three books hit me like a ton of bricks with their amazing climaxes, and had me thinking long after I finished them. All of the books above center around characters who think they are better than the rest of humanity (some are downright misanthropic). The characters in the books face this character flaw in different ways, and thus each book is unique, although they explore similar themes.
To be sure, I had already read several other books by Japanese writers, including medieval and early modern poetry by Ikkyu and Basho, among others, and contemporary novels by Haruki Murakami.
Furthermore, I still have a few other books to read either while I am still here in Los Angeles, or while I am in Japan. These include ‘The Tale of the Genji’ by Murasaki Shikibu (from written in the 1100s); ‘The Woman in the Dunes’ by Kobo Abe; ‘Makioka Sisters’ by Junishiro Tanizaki. This goes without naming the numerous travel books that I will need to read to tour Japan.
Although the history of Japan had many surprises, and several things that were difficult to understand given my western background, the writers all wrote stories that were as accessible to a western audience as an eastern audience. I suppose that whatever political developments a nation might experience, all people are trying to answer the same fundamental questions about life.
