Fumio Yamamoto: The Dilemmas of Working Women

I have been into Japanese literature. I wish I can read Japanese, but I can’t; therefore, I have to go with translations. I just finished reading Fumio Yamamoto’s stories. Brian Bergstrom has done an excellent job of translating the stories into English. These aren’t short stories, but more like novellas. I enjoyed each character-driven novella, which revolves around the struggles of women. I also learned something new about “Planarian.” Here’s an except:

“I don’t really know the technical details, I just think it would be really cool, you know, to have a body you could cut up all you want and it would grow back! Like, I had breast cancer, right? If I’d been born a planarian, I could have just cut off my breast and it would have grown back, no fuss, no surgery, no bother!”

Here’s an except from “Naked”:

He was such a nice guy, I thought, remembering my ex-husband. The only son of a landlord in Shitamachi, he had a certain absent-minded way about him but was a quality person. He was optimistic to the core, considerate, and patient. Unlike me, he didn’t hold grudges and never had a bad word to say about anyone. I’d loved these things about him at first, but after a while, they began to wear on me. Had his being so easygoing led to me becoming inconsiderate? I’d ended up assuming that the things that made me happy made him happy too.

Another except from “The Dilemmas of Working Women”:

I’d told him he was my first, but in truth, I hadn’t actually been a virgin. I’d had a boyfriend in high school, but when we did the deed it just hurt and made me feel embarrassed, and I grew tired of being pestered for it at the end of every date. I concluded then that sex simply didn’t suit me. But once I started working, I was shocked to find myself wanting to go bed with Õishi, the designer. I realized I could enjoy sex—but only when it was carefree, with someone for whom I had no romantic feelings at all. It was a surprise to discover that I possessed sexual desire after all, even if it was a bit off-kilter. I had to imagine Asaoka-kun had made a similar discovery about himself at some point.

This collection makes a great summer reading.