Jiahan/Cindy Lyu on 20th September's reading:

I really like these readings we read this week. Most of them are centering on the role of woman, or narrated from the perspective of a female narrator, and each of the pieces we read in quite unique and wondrous.

"A Woman In the Purple Skirt" talks about a mysterious woman, who is always dressed in a purple skirt and has some certain routine that she follows everyday. People in her community all know about her and each of them make speculations on her. Nonetheless, as the story proceeds, the actual speaker, our woman in the yellow cardigan, who has always kept an eye on the woman in the purple skirt, somehow caught more of our attention as the story proceeds, which is interesting. In other words, We knows more about the narrator as we are told of her observation on the woman in the purple skirt. I think that Imamura Natsuko is doing this on purpose, though I could not really draw a conclusion to this yet. My speculation is that the "purple skirt" and the "yellow cardigan" are of contrast colors in paint, which might suggest that the woman in the purple skirt and the woman in the yellow cardigan are quite different form each other. What's more, I feel that the woman in the yellow cardigan is somehow lonelier and more alienated than the supposed woman in the purple skirt.

"There's No Such Thing As An Easy Job" talks about a surveillance worker, who watches over the activity of the writer, Yamae Yamamoto day by day. I am still guessing on the point that the story wants its reader to get to but couldn't say anything assertive yet. Nonetheless, I believed that this story touches on the role of female employees and on Japanese working environment.

"The Most Boring Red on Earth" talks about how a girl, a woman then, Rika gradually accepts her period without embarrassment and appreciates it as it is. This is really a beautiful story, which tells girls that they should have no period embarrassment and it is a normal and beautiful thing which happens to every woman on earth.