I’ve always been too intimidated to read Murakami because of the reviews (both laudatory and otherwise) and controversies I’ve read over the years. His work seem a bit too depressing (at least for these depressing times), and the critique that his portrayal of female characters is misogynistic has put me off even further. (On the latter, I’ve also read that the misogyny isn’t Murakami’s but the male protagonist’s, but it can be difficult to separate the two when the pattern seems to be fairly consistent from story to story.) Maybe I’ll try Norwegian Wood since you note that it was popular with Japanese women of a certain era. Is it a difficult read in the original Japanese?
I can't speak to his later output but there is absolutely nothing intimidating about his earlier works. I'd recommend A Wild Sheep Chase over Norwegian Wood.
My interest in Japan has evolved over the years into an interest in the interest in Japan, and your last few lines present a really interesting thesis. You've certainly covered this topic through "fantasy delivery devices", but the extent and recent intensification intrigues me! Do you have any literature on the topic that you'd recommend? I read "The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East" not so long ago, but something that covers contemporary cultural shifts would be amazing. Anyway, great read as always! Cheers.
hahaha yes yes yes of course of course. :P (In actuality I really do recommend Pure Invention to so many people. That chapter on 4chan really blew my mind and still feels so relevant.)
It's tough, because there's a lot of pinpoint writing on specific trends (cosplay, isekai, etc.) but they're mainly about the trends and not the bigger global shifts that underlie them. "Ametora" is a good one if you're curious about Japan's impact on fashion. If you want an even deeper dive on 4chan, I'd recommend "It Came from Something Awful."
That is such a good point! The reality may be that it is too broad a topic to cover effectively in summary and it takes a good bit of intertextual work to create a full picture. David Marx’s work definitely scratches that itch. I was really engrossed in the way Ametora made Japanese fashion history consequential not coincidental to 21st century American consumerism and atomized fashion trends. That reminds me of a collection of essays I found, “Remade in Japan” (1992), in particular one that analyzes the way the middle classes rely upon taste to “reflect subtle distinctions” through consuming “things that are not things”, i.e. ideals. Anyway, finding this stuff is always a real “AHA!!” moment. “It came from something awful” is such a good title for that. haha.
I’ve always been too intimidated to read Murakami because of the reviews (both laudatory and otherwise) and controversies I’ve read over the years. His work seem a bit too depressing (at least for these depressing times), and the critique that his portrayal of female characters is misogynistic has put me off even further. (On the latter, I’ve also read that the misogyny isn’t Murakami’s but the male protagonist’s, but it can be difficult to separate the two when the pattern seems to be fairly consistent from story to story.) Maybe I’ll try Norwegian Wood since you note that it was popular with Japanese women of a certain era. Is it a difficult read in the original Japanese?
I can't speak to his later output but there is absolutely nothing intimidating about his earlier works. I'd recommend A Wild Sheep Chase over Norwegian Wood.
There are some weird, non-human(?) sentences in this. Or maybe where halves of sentences got accidentally deleted.
Definitely human. Always human. Thanks for the note -- I'll make another pass!
My interest in Japan has evolved over the years into an interest in the interest in Japan, and your last few lines present a really interesting thesis. You've certainly covered this topic through "fantasy delivery devices", but the extent and recent intensification intrigues me! Do you have any literature on the topic that you'd recommend? I read "The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East" not so long ago, but something that covers contemporary cultural shifts would be amazing. Anyway, great read as always! Cheers.
You mean besides “Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World!”? ;)
Off the top of my head, Nobyuki Hayashitani has been writing about what he calls “Japonisme 3”: https://medium.com/@nobi/japonisme-3-e5df7a09350f
hahaha yes yes yes of course of course. :P (In actuality I really do recommend Pure Invention to so many people. That chapter on 4chan really blew my mind and still feels so relevant.)
Thank you.
It's tough, because there's a lot of pinpoint writing on specific trends (cosplay, isekai, etc.) but they're mainly about the trends and not the bigger global shifts that underlie them. "Ametora" is a good one if you're curious about Japan's impact on fashion. If you want an even deeper dive on 4chan, I'd recommend "It Came from Something Awful."
That is such a good point! The reality may be that it is too broad a topic to cover effectively in summary and it takes a good bit of intertextual work to create a full picture. David Marx’s work definitely scratches that itch. I was really engrossed in the way Ametora made Japanese fashion history consequential not coincidental to 21st century American consumerism and atomized fashion trends. That reminds me of a collection of essays I found, “Remade in Japan” (1992), in particular one that analyzes the way the middle classes rely upon taste to “reflect subtle distinctions” through consuming “things that are not things”, i.e. ideals. Anyway, finding this stuff is always a real “AHA!!” moment. “It came from something awful” is such a good title for that. haha.