This week’s readings all have themes of memory and environmental influences, two of which are particularly about forestry while the other two are about how language and memory shapes over time, and its link to the culture.
What was interesting to read for me this week was the first story, “The Little Woods in Fukushima”, because it is the first reading this year that touches on an author’s real life story, if I remember correctly (ironic considering the theme of the week). I thought the intercutting of his interviews with his brother and the details of the 2011 disaster with his personal childhood anecdotes were especially poignant, as it shapes the readers’ understanding of the details as a whole as the author’s reflection on his life. You get the sense of almost regret or shame the author feels for leaving his hometown and people to become an author, while also understanding that he feels lucky to have escaped the crisis that afflicted the mushroom farm.
“An Easy Life in Kamusari” also deals with forestry, but it’s from the perspective of someone coming into the small town for the first time to work on shaking snow off of the branches and help the trees grow for timber. Despite the main character continuously talking down about the country life and forestry as a job, the ending seems to view it more positively than the other story, as he even recognizes that no one in his hometown took the time to reach out to him.
Both “Scattered All Over the Earth” and “The Memory Police” touch on memory and a kind of dystopia future where important parts of culture and life can just disappear in an instant. The first story had a sense of hope to it, that Hiruko could maybe use the help of Knut to remind the world of Japan’s existence, while “The Memory Police” seems to show that there’s no way of stopping. It’s a remembrance to not take everything for granted, because their beauty can be stripped away so easily.
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