Murakami Haruki is often described as
a postmodern writer, postmodernism being a movement which had a profound effect
on Japanese culture in the 1980s. One of the principal ideas behind
postmodernism is the notion of a culture or society becoming de-centred. The
relevance of this in the Japanese context can be seen in a number of ways:
1. In the changing role of women in Japanese
society and the breaking down of the patriarchal society. The Japanese woman is
no longer considered to be subservient, finding fulfilment solely through
marriage and motherhood.
2. Whereas the Japanese novelists of the
modernist period attempted to break away
from Western viewpoints in a bid to create a national narrative,
Japanese postmodernists have chosen instead to open themselves up to popular
culture and embraced an international style in which a sense of the uniqueness
of being Japanese is not so important.
Murakami Haruki is considered to be a
typically postmodern Japanese novelist. His light and breezy style stands in stark contrast to the
dense and 'literary' junsuibungaku style of Oe Kenzaburo, steeped in modernism. Murakami can't, however, be
dismissed as being lightweight, however, and it is his embracing of
surrealism that shows most the influence of Franz Kafka on his writing. Like Oe he abandons 'realism' and turns to the
surreal in order to overturn the reality that threatens to consume them. In Murakami's writing, the 'real' world is polluted by moral and political corruption. His characters are given clues by mysterious figures (both human and non-human)
that will help them resolve their various dilemmas. Ultimately they need to suspend
their disbelief in order to find the help that they need. And the conflict that needs to be resolved is often located deep within themselves.
In Kafka’s writing the enemy was
without; totalitarianism, the boredom of work, the expectation of his father that he would 'work' for a living... In Metamorphosis, Gregor
was hounded by the need to keep up the finances of the family in a job that he
hated. Murakami’s characters are perfectly content with the material world.
They listen to music, dress well and eat well. There is no sign of distress on
this level. Rather they are being consumed by the emptiness inside which
suggests a disconnection between material well-being and spiritual well-being.
Murakami’s stories often end on a
point on which the character is suspended between giving up their old life and
beginning a journey of self-discovery. A traditional quest. Resolution is not
the point, however, rather it is the acknowledgement
that although they are on a journey they are only at the beginning. The things
they have buried deep within themselves may have finally come to the surface
and, whether it is an event like an earthquake that makes them visible or being
abandoned by a partner, the result is still the same. These have to be faced and
this requires great courage.
In Murakami's 2002 novel Kafka on the
Shore, there are two plots told in alternating chapters. The metaphysical plane is where Murakami's characters are revealed to themselves.
And it is the framing device of the storytelling that allows the writer to make
visible what was invisible. And because what is revealed is often abstract by
nature, the frame itself takes on a greater importance. Thus Murakami's story telling becomes the focus for the
reader. The unique
characters and the unique nature of their relationships and of the journeys
they undertake are the real revelations in Murakami's writing. Significantly, when Kafka chooses life in the forest with his mother he asks if she is his mother and she says, 'You already know the answer to that'. He realises that, 'Putting it into words will destroy any meaning' (476).
There is much in this novel that represents a challenge
to established perceptions. Nakata is able to talk to cats but he is not
‘smart’. He has lost his memory, can’t read and write and is a disappointment
to his high achieving family (50-53). Nakata is described by the cats, however,
as a ‘sensible human’ (85). Later, another character Hoshino, is able to talk
to cats (482). This non-human perspective is central to the sense of dislocation,
or de-centering experience of the novel. And to add to the list of characters
who differ from the norm, there is also Colonel Sanders who describes himself
as a ‘concept’. Whilst Nakata is perceived as not being smart, he does, however,
have other powers which include the ability to make it rain fish and leeches
(180). Nakata is lost in corporate Japan (Shinjuku) as he tries to make his way
towards a mystery goal following the murder of the sculptor (201). Meeting Nakata,
Hoshino thinks he might become great, ‘Most people can’t do the kind of things
he does’ (406). Nakata also understood he was ‘different from other people’
(229). To put these powers into perspective, Hagita a truck driver says to
Nakata, ‘Boundaries between things are disappearing all the time’ (206). Nakata
lost his job after thirty-seven years and couldn’t get another one, ‘That kind
of gloomy, dark, traditional furniture didn’t sell as well as it used to’ (229).
Ultimately, Nakata changed Hoshino’s life, awakening him to music (439).
The alternating narrative tells the story of
the runaway teenager, Kafka Tamura, who is abandoned by his mother and cursed by
his father. He has a half shadow (54). Like Nakata’s story, his is a story about
the breakdown of family and alienation from family members and self. Stray cats
are said to ‘have a very tough time of it (87). This is also a description of
Kafka’s struggle to be the toughest fifteen year old in the world. Kafka ends
up in an isolated hut on a mountain side near the town of Kochi. Here he makes
the observation that plants on the mountainside are different to those in the
city (144), ‘They have a physical power, their breath grazing any humans who
might chance by, their gaze zeroing in on the intruder as though they’ve
spotted their prey. As though they have some dark, prehistoric magic powers.
Just as deep-sea creatures rule the ocean depths, in the forest trees reign
supreme. If it wanted to, the forest could reject me – or swallow me up whole.
A healthy amount of fear and respect might be a good idea’ (144). The importance
of this last statement becomes clear later in the novel. The move to the
mountain is a form of social withdrawal that mirrors Nakata’s estrangement (124).
Kafka didn’t fit in at school (124). There are incestuous tones to the curse
that Kafka feels. He has sex with his mother in a dream (302) and later in real life
(is ‘massaged’ and has dreams about his sister. She ‘massages’ him and says it
would be nice to be his sister (98). She says he feels like a ‘younger brother’
(300). Kafka says he feels lost (360). He asks ‘Why didn’t she love me? Don’t I
deserve to have my mother love me? (429). As the novel moves towards its climax
however he starts to see beyond himself and explores her motives (430-431).
Despite his difficulties, Kafka chooses life (474). He is ultimately able to
express to forgiveness, ‘Mother, you
say, I forgive you. And with those words, audibly, the frozen part of your
heart dissolves’ (477).
Ultimately resolution is found in the search for the entrance stone (278).
Hoshino finds the stone (308), and says focussing on
your strengths is like being able to talk to the stone (385). The stone, however,
isn’t very talkative (390). Hoshino observes,
‘Some men talk with stones, and some sleep with other men’ (406). Hoshino tries talking to the stone but, ‘For the moment the
stone was just a stone’ (459).
I first saw Shinohara Tomoe on Japanese TV. She was one of a number of participants on the program Rabu Rabu Ai Shitteiru and she went around asking for, if not demanding, presents from the guests. Zany and outrageous in costumes that she designed herself, she was hard to refuse becxause she was not only insistent but also 'crazy'. This was her charm, this was her appeal. She was the epitome of the unstoppable and non-sensical Gya Gya Gyaru... And in a way she was the antithesis of the carefully groomed and demure pop idols that Japan produces generation after generation, of both sexes. Who can forget the rediculous Hikari Genji on their roller skates and TOKIO and SMAP with their impossible good looks? On the other side there have been the all gil idol groups Pink Ladies in the 70s, Puffy, Morning Musume and more recently AKB48. What is fascinating with these carefully produced idols is when they transgress. This is when the true nature of the organisations that they represent is exposed. Kusanagi from SMAP is a male idol in point. He was found naked wandering his local park after a big night out. There was some embarassment but little in the way of punishment apart from unwanted publicity. More seriously, a member of of the all girl idol group AKB48, Minami Minegishi's transgression was to date a boyfriend against company policy. The retribution was particularly swift and resolute. 
