The Flying Tobita Sisters - I have really enjoyed all the work we've read by Erika Kobayashi. She has this incredibly effective and condensed storytelling that immerses you in the world and characters so deeply. The final actions of her character, however innocuous, are still filled with so much purpose and emotion and meaning. I've been thinking a lot recently about societal ideology and how it infiltrates every facet of our lives without our knowing. I think particularly with technological advancement and general modern innovation we continue to lose parts of our past selves and the history of those who come before us. I really resonated with this story- it was so intriguing to witness a world in which walking and running is not only obsolete but a spectacle that ostracizes anyone who engages with it. I think that's why I was so moved by the ending. The main character has seen first-hand what this divide in thinking can do: her mother now separated from her family- and yet she still feels inspired and motivated to try it herself. Pushing against the status quo and attempting something new and foreign, even as simple as touching her feet to the ground and trying to walk, is radical.
A First-Rate Material - I loved this story as well. It has a similar setup as "The Flying Tobita Sisters" in that it is a future of a version of our world with one particularly strange detail that is treated as innocuous in the story. This in particular raised a lot of questions for me about morality, as well as the rules of this universe. Was this out of material necessity? Is this like an organ donor question on your driver's license, or does everyone get turned into furniture or jewelry or clothing no matter what? I would be so interested in the history of this, like who was the first to try this and if they became a famous artist. It's clearly high-end, so maybe it spawned in the fashion world in some way? Although my initial thought was that Nana and her boyfriend shouldn't even be together with such incompatible moral views, but I realized that sometimes this is the case with couples in real life. It was interesting to see the fiancé's reaction to the veil made out of his father. The idea of material consumption is itself is very divisive. Although the idea is shocking and dark, I feel like at a certain point some people in the top 1% might find it appealing...
A Peddler of Tears - I love the magical realism Ogawa uses in her work. I think her themes about self and self-worth are quite important, and I can see the parallels between this short story and The Memory Police. Her messages also emphasize bodily autonomy and the worth a woman has with the physical merits she might have to offer and how that determines her place in the world. Although the main character in this story seemingly sells her tears and ultimately destroys herself to produce the most favorable version of her body for someone else's benefit, it begs the question why she does so. I think her reasoning that she loves the joint-playing musician is only a face-value justification also asks the same question and furthermore why she feels she must use her body to perform for him.
Goodbye, Christopher Robin - This one took me some time to understand, although I’m unsure if I do fully understand it. I thought the disjointed but connected stories within the whole work was really interesting, I loved seeing the references within each even if characters or settings seemingly changed. I thought the whole premise was like the "What if this whole world/experience is a simulation?” phenomenon people have asked since more recent technological advancement. I’m interested in what other people thought about the universe disappearing into nothingness and why it matters to some characters but not others. I found this quote particularly interesting: "You & I will be swallowed up by nothingness long before the universe ever will."
Takaoka's Travels - This took me about halfway before I felt invested, it’s very dense and covers a lot of material and context in a short period. And it still has a lot more to expand on and explore. I'm not well versed in a lot of the topics that are talked about, but I loved the magical realism. The end of the chapter was so saddening - the folly of man broke a beautiful magic and returned the world back to a state of normalcy... He was so blinded by the past that he didn't have the strength to allow what was to come play out. He destroyed what magic there may have been, and in turn might have killed her before she could turn into a bird. I would be interested to know what happens and how the magical realism interacts with other historical elements.
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