December 10, 2020

"In her teens and twenties, she tried embracing conventional notions of womanhood just to avoid what she calls 'social harassment' before abandoning it in disgust."

"'I pretended to act the way I thought a cute woman should act, with an excess of femininity, but it was a horrible experience. I felt like I’d lost my will,' she says. In a relationship with a convenience store manager 15 years her senior, she found she was expected to cook morning and evening and do his washing. 'It felt like being physically and mentally exploited. I mean, I hate food and cooking – I keep a vase on top of my cooker,' she says, laughing.... Murata says she starts with her characters and doesn’t know the ending of her novels until she writes them. That might explain why Earthlings turns from whimsy to surrealist horror."

From "Sayaka Murata: 'I acted how I thought a cute woman should act - it was horrible" (The Guardian). I've finished the book now, so I'd like to discuss the ending. I'll put the spoilers — which are extreme — after the jump. Please consider reading the book — "Earthlings" — before reading more of this post.  Or skip the next section — the indented part — and the stop reading when I give the next big spoiler alert. And don't read the tags.
Its final act puts the three main characters – Natsuki, her first love, Yuu, and her fake husband - together in the mountainous Nagano countryside where their rejection of the “factory” [society as it is] becomes complete. Convinced they are aliens at war with the factory’s emissaries, they resort to murder and cannibalism. Munching on an “Earthling”, Natsuki finally recovers the sense of taste she lost as a result of the abuse [sexual abuse by a teacher]. 
“I felt as though I was eating for the first time in twenty-three years.” 
Murata says she didn’t set out to write a shocking book but her subconscious invaded the pages. “The people who know me through Convenience Store Woman are disappointed. But I was a cult writer before that success. People are saying the old Murata has returned.”

"Convenience Store Woman" was, apparently, the story of Murata's own life. From the Guardian article: 

Until recently, Sayaka Murata... worked in a convenience store.... “I was so used to the rhythm of working that I found it hard to hang around all day writing,” she explains....  

Japan’s 55,000 nearly identical convenience stores are considered stop-gap employers for job-hoppers, students, housewives and immigrants, “all losers”, says one of the characters in [Convenience Store Woman] contemptuously. But [the main character in the novel], who is 36, a virgin and uninterested in the bourgeois lives of her married peers, excels at the pliant, robotic service demanded by the industry’s manuals. So unsettled is she by invasive questions about her lack of a husband and children that she takes in a lazy, abusive lodger just to deflect them....

Murata is also single and returns home in the evenings to her laptop and a menagerie of what she calls “imaginary friends”. She, too, struggled to meet her family’s expectations, growing up in a conservative home outside Tokyo (her father was a district court judge) “lonely and terribly shy”.... 

In "Earthlings," the "fake husband" is someone the character found through a website called "surinuke.com." Google translate tells me that "surinuke" means "sliding through." From the text of the novel:

As its name suggested, this was a site where people seeking to evade society’s gaze for some reason, such as marriage, suicide, or debts, could appeal for information or find collaborators. I went to the MARRIAGE page and checked the category for NO SEX • NO CHILDREN • REGISTERED MARRIAGE to search for a partner. 

Thirty-year-old male, Tokyo resident, urgently seeks marriage partner to escape family surveillance. Businesslike arrangement with all housework shared, separate finances, and separate bedrooms preferred. Absolutely no sexual activity, and preferably no physical contact beyond a handshake. Someone who refrains from showing bare skin in shared spaces preferred. 

Quite a few men checked the box for NO SEX, but this one had caught my eye for having stipulated especially detailed rules. I’d be marrying a complete stranger on the verbal promise of no sex, so the less anxiety a potential partner provoked in me the better. I immediately sent him a message, and after meeting two or three times in a cafĂ©, we came to a mutual agreement and tied the knot. 

Would you call that a "fake husband"? You've done the legal formalities, but the law may make this arrangement subject to annulment. Anyway, the legal question is the least interesting part of this. What's most interesting is the preference for locking in freedom from sex and the need to do this in a partnership because of the social and family pressure.

I see an article from 4 years ago: "In sexless Japan, almost half of single young men and women are virgins: survey" (Japan Times). And, from last year, "Japan, the Sexless Society?" (Japan Powered)("Sexless relationships become a problem when it isn’t a mutual agreement between the people in the relationship.... People are choosing not to have sex for their own reasons").

STOP HERE TO AVOID A BIG SPOILER.

Here's a sample of the horror humor as the 3 main characters are cannibalizing their 2 murder victims. It's a meal of "Earthling," that is, human beings. The characters themselves have decided they are aliens. One of the 3 characters volunteers his own body as the next source of food for the group. 

A complication is that they've made a vow to each other, a vow that is the opposite of a marriage vow: "We swore to live as completely separate entities from each other, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, that we would not love, cherish, or worship, nor stand by each other, and would live life for ourselves as long as we lived." 

Living this vow, they've been analyzing whether whatever they do is "rational" — rational from a non-Earthling point of view. The rational thinking is outrageous and you'll like the book more if you think this is really funny — that is, if you love deadpan humor — deadpan in 2 ways, given that we've got some dead human frying in a pan:

He gently slid the spilled Earthling stir-fry back onto my husband’s plate and said, “You’re right, we did make the pledge. Well, how about this? How about we all taste a little bit of each other and then decide to eat each other in the order of how good we taste? If something is unpalatable, we probably wouldn’t be able to finish eating it. And there’s no need to cut off a finger or whatever in order to taste each other. We can just take a nibble.” 

“Yes, that’s fair! I think that’s very rational,” I agreed. 

My husband appeared satisfied with this suggestion. “Okay. Yes, that’s best. If I taste the best, be sure to eat me all up, okay?” First of all, my husband and I took a bite each out of Yuu, me from his shoulder and my husband from his arm, testing the flavor on our tongues. He tasted slightly salty. 

71 comments:

Joe Smith said...

She is not particularly 'cute.'

Sebastian said...

"I felt like I’d lost my will,' she says. In a relationship with a convenience store manager 15 years her senior, she found she was expected to cook morning and evening and do his washing. 'It felt like being physically and mentally exploited. I mean, I hate food and cooking"

Will the sob stories ever stop?

Joe Smith said...

...kind of like Fang Fang was not a 'hot' Chinese spy, as many are reporting.

tcrosse said...

You broke my will, but what a thrill
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

Drago said...

While working for a Japanese conglomerate I had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time over several years traveling to Japan and conversing in social settings with many young Japanese professional males.

I'd say 95% of them were adamently opposed to marriage, having children or leading any sort of home life.

The idea of having a family had zero appeal to them and most of the men simply wanted to work, play video games and set up excursions to Thailand and the like.

A civilization on the way out.

MayBee said...

I was eating and probably shouldn't have read that.

MayBee said...

I do love a Japanese convenience store, though. And I just finished a book about the Donner party. So this post is very much in keeping with my current vibe.

MayBee said...

This line from the Guardian piece cracks me up:
Murata says her view of sexuality was shaped partly by finding her older brother’s collection of erotic books as a child. The objectification of women there shocked her. “It was all about male pleasure,” she recalls.

Well I mean, of course. Her brother had chosen the books and he was male.

BUT I don't know why she had to find the books. I used to turn on the tv in the morning and the channel that had been some game show the night before would be showing bus gang rape porn at 6 am!!

Joe Smith said...

"I do love a Japanese convenience store, though."

The food is almost always excellent and the bathrooms are spotless. And the all have ATMs.

If you need a good snack, just go to a 7-11, Family Mart, or Lawson's.

They are everywhere...

Ann Althouse said...

As I said in the post, the tags are spoilers. I deleted the comment that pointed that out... but I sort of regret doing that because the comments can be spoilers. Anyone reading the comments is risking spoilers and you don't have to avoid comments that are spoilers! That wouldn't make any sense.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The book is about marrying a room mate - then finding more room mates - then eating one of them?

Joe Smith said...

"Well I mean, of course. Her brother had chosen the books and he was male."

Yeah, but Japanese porn is pretty nasty for such a mild-mannered culture.

MayBee said...

Joe Smith said...

Yes! And you can pay your bills there, too! And get skin care that's really expensive in the US.

YoungHegelian said...

@MayBee,

showing bus gang rape porn at 6 am!!

And I wuz sleepily thinking "Savannah, is that you? Wow, the Today Show sure likes to press the boundaries, doesn't it?".

Fernandinande said...

You know who tastes funny? Japanese clowns, that's who.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

So, joining "A Boy And His Dog", Stranger In A Strange Land, Courtship Rite & "Soylent Green"..

Lurker21 said...

. Please consider reading the book — "Earthlings" — before reading more of this post. Or skip the next section — the indented part — and the stop reading when I give the next big spoiler alert. And don't read the tags.

Too complicated. I will just continue commenting without reading anything.

Fang Fang was cute enough. She was young, thin, reasonably clean, and had all of her appendages, which is what most guys want (except the very small group who want women without a limb or two), and she had the "exotic" thing going for her. Think AOC, America's current heartthrob and mascot.

Much confusion about Fang Fang, Feng Feng, Fung Fung, Fang Feng, Fung Fong, Fen Phen and all the other combinations and permutations. There's an opening for a young Asian female journalist and blogger to ascribe all the confusion to Western racism, but really, stop giving yourselves stupid names and all will be well. Contact Vanna White and buy a few more syllables while you're at it.

MikeR said...

I hope they all get kuru.

MikeR said...

But don't worry about spoilers, Ann. You couldn't get me to read the book if you promised me a free meal at a Japanese restaurant next to an animal shelter.

Joe Smith said...

"Yes! And you can pay your bills there, too!"

I would take my bills (electricity, water, etc.), walk a couple of hundred yards to the 7-11, get cash out of the ATM, walk over to the clerk and pay the bill.

He would ring it up, give me a receipt and stamp the bill. The money would go off to the utility company...easy.

You can also buy concert tickets and drop off/pick up your dry cleaning : )

Great ice cream too!

SGT Ted said...

Yet another drab boring story of an artist rebelling against daddy and mommy and societies oppression, which turns out to not be any sort of oppression at all, because no one actually forces them to do anything against their will.

Joe Smith said...

"Yet another drab boring story of an artist rebelling against daddy and mommy and societies oppression..."

Women in the U.S. have zero to complain about...they are actively protected and promoted professionally in our society.

In Japan, women have a much tougher time, especially in the working world...

SGT Ted said...

The oppressed artists are always from free societies that reward their rebellion with success.

Temujin said...

Well...thanks for that. I was considering giving her a try. But with a view of the story...nicht. Not happening.

Known Unknown said...

What's odd is that without her 'oppression', she may not have a career.

Ann Althouse said...

"The book is about marrying a room mate - then finding more room mates - then eating one of them?"

It's about noticing that what your encouraged to do is not for you as an individual but for the group and deciding to opt out and how that makes a lot of sense in the abstract but you could go wrong making your own way of life just for yourself, even if you think you're using rationality.

William said...

I wonder if any male here is intrigued enough by your write up to consider reading the book. It sounds thoroughly unappealing. I suppose men have more and more lurid perversions than women, but women's perversions are far weirder and far more impractical......Off track: There is a warning posted prior to The Crown. It advises that there is nudity. I saw all episodes. There was no nudity. There were, however, frequent scenes of Diane hanging over a toilet bowl and vomiting. What a sad state of affairs that boob shots are suppressed and bulimic scenes are show in gratifying close ups for the eating disorder pervs.

Ann Althouse said...

If you don't want the horror story but want a more realistic story of a young person who won't fit in, you should read "Convenience Store Woman."

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Lurker21 said...

Fang Fang was cute enough. She was young, thin, reasonably clean, and had all of her appendages, which is what most guys want (except the very small group who want women without a limb or two), and she had the "exotic" thing going for her. Think AOC, America's current heartthrob and mascot.

Fang Fang wasn't a stunner, but, yeah, she was still sort of cute. Plus, we're talking Eric Swalwell, here. I'm sure women find him physically attractive enough, but as soon as he opens that mouth of his there's probably a stampede for the door.

Ann Althouse said...

"I saw all episodes. There was no nudity."

Because Philip's ass made no impression on you.

Ann Althouse said...

Why did people bring up Fang Fang here? All the reasons I can think of are embarrassing. So stupid. No more Fang Fang talk. Go to your room and think about it until you understand what you have done wrong. Make sure you have at least 2 solid reasons.

Ann Althouse said...

It's also stupid to talk about whether you think Murata looks cute. She was talking about *acting* cute, not looking. And — there's a 2nd reason why it's stupid — women can take steps to make themselves look cute when they're not that cute.

Ann Althouse said...

As a horror story, it's kind of like "Carrie." Young woman is abused at school and by her mother and she snaps and does horrible things.

mccullough said...

One positive effect of overall society is that the individual has some sense that they becoming deluded.

mikee said...

So the difference between these Japanese literary characters and the the family in A Texas Chainsaw Massacre is that the latter know how to make sausage and barbeque meat?

Joe Smith said...

"It's about noticing that what your encouraged to do is not for you as an individual but for the group..."

There is definitely a group-think (it's more subtle than that) culture in Japan.

It's a cultural thing...you are expected to do what is right for everyone, not just yourself.

The good part of this is that there is a strong sense of honor and doing the right thing, which results in very little crime.

But it is difficult (and discouraged) to be the crazy 'out there' person who wants to blaze their own trail. The old saying is, 'The nail that sticks up is hammered down.'

My Japanese teacher told me an anecdote to try to explain the mentality:

Let's say you are walking around town with a bunch of friends and it's lunchtime. In America, someone would say, 'Hey, let's go to McDonalds.' And you all go.

In Japan, someone would say something like, 'I have heard that McDonalds makes delicious hamburgers.' One or two others would reply, 'Yes, I have heard that too.' After discussing the quality and deliciousness of the hamburgers, you all end up eating there.

I experienced this when we visited a ryokan or traditional hotel. It was a very nice ryokan and they had a Rolls Royce outside for the use of the guests. When we arrived we just walked ten minutes from the train station, but I remarked to the hotel manager that the Rolls was beautiful. When we left to go back to Tokyo, the Rolls was waiting for us with a driver to take us on the 2 minute car ride to the station. He thought that my complimenting the car meant that I wanted to ride in it.

Narr said...

I'll wait for the movie.

Which I will also ignore.

Narr
See you in a few hours

Howard said...

Eating Raoul.

Howard said...

Who's Fang Fang?

tim maguire said...

Per your warning, I did not read most of this post. But I rolled my eyes at the opening quote, until I got to her name. When I realized she is Japanese, I had a lot more sympathy for her frustration.

Tom T. said...

There's a pretty large excluded middle between cooking and cleaning for a man on the one hand and cannibalism on the other. Plenty of women find some arrangement that works for them in between those extremes.

Tina Trent said...

Even rare cannibals are titilated by eating flesh. What does it take to be nonplussed?

rhhardin said...

It's the women and their feelings personel stories genre, with a humorous twist once they've sucked the reader in.

rhhardin said...

I always did man stuff out of an interest in man stuff, and still do it for that matter. Women are so weak about their interests, or perhaps their interests are to compete with other women in whatever the fashion of the day is.

It makes them good at organizing the neighborhood.

Tina Trent said...

The easy answer is that deepy repressed societies are hypocritical, and therefore deeply disturbed deviations from normal conduct are liberatory. Or maybe that's crap. Maybe it takes less time to die from deviation in Japan because the deviant have to go right off the deep end. They don't seem to have Seattle Autonomous Zones or methadone clinics littering small rural hamlets to drag them along for two plus useless decades, sapping the resources of others. You make a choice and live with it. Shame culture is older than our nonsense for a reason.

CJinPA said...

I hope women never stop talking about how hard it is to be a woman, and I encourage our society to continue to rearrange itself to please feminists.

rcocean said...

Oh God, the same old boring "I'm not a conformist, I don't like marriage, cooking, or kids".

Bleh! This was cutting edge about 50 years ago.

rcocean said...

Next, a Gay man writes an exciting, ground-breaking book about coming to the Big City and coming out of the closet.

PM said...

Tim: "There's a pretty large excluded middle between cooking and cleaning for a man on the one hand and cannibalism on the other. Plenty of women find some arrangement that works for them in between those extremes."

1. That bears repeating.

2. Nevertheless, story sounds like Bong Joon-ho will direct.

Jack Klompus said...

Soon to be released: the story of a picked-on, misunderstood boy whose athletic father demeaned his artistic and creative talents. The soundtrack will include George Thorogood's Bad to the Bone, James Brown's I Feel Good, and twenty songs by Elliot Smith and Conor Oberst.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Soon to be released: the story of a picked-on, misunderstood boy whose athletic father demeaned his artistic and creative talents.
So he ate him...


*updated for current tastes. ;-)

johns said...

Sounds like a dreadful book. I have been reading Haruki Murakami novels lately. There's a lot of suicide and negative talk that resonates with what people here are saying about the Japanese culture today. But Murakami is also very funny and whimsical. I keep being drawn to buy another of his ebooks.

MayBee said...

You can also buy concert tickets and drop off/pick up your dry cleaning : )

Oh!
And send your skis off to the ski resort so you don't have to lug them on the train!

I once didn't pay my electric bill (because I didn't know what it was), and so I didn't have electricity. I walked down to the 7-11, paid the bill, and my electricity was on by the time I got home.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Ann Althouse said...
"It's about noticing that what your encouraged to do is not for you as an individual but for the group and deciding to opt out and how that makes a lot of sense in the abstract but you could go wrong making your own way of life just for yourself, even if you think you're using rationality."

Wait, seriously? These idiots think it's a big surprise that society encourages you to do things that benefit society?

And they think it's "profound" to discover that "rationality" untethered to morality can lead you to all sorts of really bad decisions? Which is to say, this loser never took a philosophy class that discussed Utilitarianism and its problems?

This is what is supposed to pass for "insightful literature"? For who? Eighth graders?

I'm Not Sure said...

"I once didn't pay my electric bill (because I didn't know what it was), and so I didn't have electricity. I walked down to the 7-11, paid the bill, and my electricity was on by the time I got home."

So- no unions, then?

n.n said...

Liberal? Progressive? She does not know the "conventional notions" of womanhood. Keep women barefoot, available, and taxable. That said, traditional notions consider that a man and woman are equal in rights and complementary in Nature. Reconcile. #HateLovesAbortion

Blair said...

The premise of Japanese porn seems to be that displaying pubic hair is immoral, but cartoon schoolgirls getting raped by an octopus is completely acceptable. It's quite unfathomable.

5M - Eckstine said...

I get squeamish about cannibals and Japanese horror.

Jupiter said...

"Or skip the next section — the indented part — and the stop reading when I give the next big spoiler alert."

I seem to have just skipped the whole thing. Is that OK? I don't feel any need to have an opinion about women in Japanese culture. I figure it's like the Mexicans not having to feel sorry for Blacks.

Joe Smith said...

"And send your skis off to the ski resort so you don't have to lug them on the train!

I once didn't pay my electric bill (because I didn't know what it was), and so I didn't have electricity. I walked down to the 7-11, paid the bill, and my electricity was on by the time I got home."


I would send my golf clubs to the course with Yamato for a very nominal fee. They always arrived and returned.

We were fortunate to live in a very nice apartment with a reception desk. The women (always) didn't speak a lot of English but enough to tell me what was a bill and what wasn't. The funniest thing was, we would get a mailed notice that looked like a bill, but it was just telling us that we were going to get a bill soon : )

The efficiency level is off the charts...

MayBee said...

The funniest thing was, we would get a mailed notice that looked like a bill, but it was just telling us that we were going to get a bill soon : )


hahahaha! I lived in a house, so I would have to find people to ask things. When I first moved there, I would bring my mail to the post office and ask someone there what it was. Yes! The announcement that the bill was coming. I love Tokyo.

Joe Smith said...

"I don't feel any need to have an opinion about women in Japanese culture."

You don't have to have an opinion, but they really are in a tough spot.

Many women there like the traditional roles of wife and mother.

But many don't, and want to work in jobs that traditionally don't hire or promote women (most non-service jobs).

Those women have a difficult time being vocal about wanting changes because the 'it's about me' culture in the U.S. is not acceptable there.

I know a very talented and smart woman who left Japan to go to graduate school and won't go back to live there because of it.

Josephbleau said...

The cannibal said “ I like eating Chinese, but an hour later I’m hungry again.”

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Joe Smith said...
"I don't feel any need to have an opinion about women in Japanese culture."
You don't have to have an opinion, but they really are in a tough spot.


Then there's the men, who are expected to work 70+ hours a week, and support a family.

Which, apparently, a LOT of Japanese males are rejecting. (See Drago @ 11:04)

From what I've read, Drago is right, and Japan is fucked

Joe Smith said...

"From what I've read, Drago is right, and Japan is fucked"

They will only be fucked when there is a critical mass of non-Japanese imported to do the service work that the natives can no longer do due to an aging population.

Normally, the Japanese are proud to do any sort of job (and do it well) no matter how menial. They take extraordinary pride in their work ethic.

But once the Japanese are no longer the majority, the culture will change for the worse...no more leaving your unlocked bike on the street or you laptop, purse, and cell phone unattended at Starbucks while you have a smoke outside...

Visit while you can, just try to blend in...

Richard C-W said...

I agree with the mention of Carrie, but the snaps occur over an extended period. The "marriage" to her cousin, killing of the rapist teacher, fake real marriage, escape to the mountain..always trying to separate from the earthlings. I'm not a fan of cannibalism but there was no McDonald's on the mountain.

mtrobertslaw said...

It's too bad Keiko (Murata's heroine) wasn't able to connect up with Jeffery Dahmer.(As an aside, has anybody ever noticed Eric Swalwell's resemblance to Dahmer?)

mikee said...

Antisocial cannibalism! Jesus Christ! What did Romans of the first few centuries AD (or CE for the more recently educadoctrinated) think of Transubstantiation?

And where can I get good pulled pork outside of NC? Ribs are one thing, lotsa great regional variation, but nobody does a good vinegar pepper sauce west of Gastonia.

Narr said...

mikee--

Pulled pork? Memphis, sir.

Narr
Vinegar pepper sauce? Bring your own

Narr said...

Oh, I looked at the Grauniad photo, and she's OK.

Narr
Cutie's in the eye of the beholder

Freeman Hunt said...

I read it. Ha! Yes, it is a funny, bizarre, whimsical look at why you can't start from zero.