Comma Press The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction

Some of the stories are really great but others are just ridiculous!

I enjoyed this book very much

It was a nice intro to some writers I was not familiar with. Some of the stories were a bit cryptic for me, though. I suppose I have the western obsession with endings and resolutions, though.

I love reading and writing Japan-related short stories and I’m a big fan of Japanese writers so when I came across this book I couldn’t wait to start reading it. There are contributions in this book from a few famous writers like Banana Yoshimoto, Mitsuyo Kakuta, Hiromi Kawakami and Hitomi Kanehara who left school at fifteen to start a writing career and won the Akutagawa Prize at just twenty-one years of age.I’ve been to Tokyo many times and I love the city and the Tokyoites who live there so it was great to explore the interesting characters in this book and many of them reminded me of some of the people I’ve met when I’ve lived in or passed through Japan’s capital.I really enjoyed all the stories. Each story was unique and easy to read. I never felt bored or disappointed with any of the stories so I do highly recommend this book. I’d read Kanehara’s award-winning book 'Snakes and Earrings' so I knew what to expect from this young writer and I thought her short story ‘Mambo’ was consistent with her style of writing. Her colourful yet shocking characters really do lead you into some bizarre situations.One of my favourite stories was ‘A House for Two’ by Mitsuyo Kakuta. The protagonist Ku-chan is convinced her life is exactly as it should be but it’s so clear to the reader she’s being manipulated by her mother and unable to make life choices without her. I also enjoyed ‘Vortex’ by Osamu Hashimoto. The Japan Times said this story was too long but I could have read so much more about Masako, her family and the life she was predestined to lead. If you’ve ever stayed with a family in Japan then Masako might remind you of the mother in the household and how she has to adapt her life to fit in with others and how she has to fulfill the role of what it means to be Japanese in a world which is now becoming more global.I also loved the story ‘An Elevator on Sunday’ by Shūichi Yoshida and the fact it was written in the third person. Mr. Watanabe, the lead character, is a man whose home and lifestyle has “taken on a decidedly domestic air”. Watanabe gradually gives up going to work and looking for jobs. Once he was a hard worker with no time for cooking or meaningful relationships but now his days blur into each other and everything has become almost pointless, and this applies to his relationship with the girl he’s seeing called Keiko who turns out not to be Japanese at all. This story reminded me of the hard-working Japanese salarymen who were famous for working so hard before the economic bubble burst. Now that the Japanese economy is not so shiny and successful, Japanese businessmen and the Japanese economy have become a bit deflated yet everyone still lives in hope for success in the future, just like Watanabe in this story.

I love the short pieces in this book. It's nice to read a collection by Japanese writers because it's easier to see common themes or writing styles. It's a great introduction to new writers and the stories provide an interesting overview of life in Japan.