Machi Tawara and Haruki Murakami

        When contemporary Japanese writers are referenced, Murakami is often named alongside Banana Yoshimoto. In Rubin’s prelude, he mentions that critics of Murakami often speak of the “’new voices of Japan,’ like Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto” (7). I think there is validity in this comparison, with Yoshimoto also drawing inspiration from many Western writers and her departure in style from traditional Japanese writers. However, I felt there is another Japanese writer who merits to be included in this category of contemporary Japanese writers who have modernized their genre- Machi Tawara.

        Tawara composes poetry in the form of the traditional tanka, which is written in a 5-7-5-7-7 format. Traditional tanka include themes about nature, the seasons, the human condition, and love, but Tawara subverts the genre by writing tanka about very ordinary things. She describes commonplace topics, uses contemporary language, and most notably, includes many Western terms. The obvious connection between Tawara and Murakami is this subversion of genre, writing in a format that is typical of traditional Japanese literature but Westernizing its contents.

        I first noticed this possible connection when reading “The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema,” when the narrator mentions that thinking of the song reminds him of his high school corridor, which in turn makes him think of “combination salads: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, asparagus, onion rings, and pink Thousand Island dressing” (9). This seemingly random mention of salad reminded me of Tawara’s most famous and title poem called “Salad Anniversary.” In it, she writes, “’This tastes great,’ you said and so / the sixth of July- / our salad anniversary.” In this poem, she examines the very commonplace but intimate act of forming personal anniversaries, a departure from the traditional and formal way tanka are typically written. The ordinariness of this poem, however, is reminiscent of Murakami stories, but the emotional profundity is still prominent.

        One notable similarity I noticed between the two authors works is their use of location and music. As we have previously discussed in class, Murakami both uses Western influences in a Japanese setting and includes many references to music in his works. Similarly, Tawara emphasizes the locality of Japan, such as referencing Kujukiri beach in “August Morning,” Yokohama in “Baseball Game,” and Tohoku in “Morning Necktie.” However, the language is also very modern, with references to playing frisbee and eating takeout sushi. Similar to Murakami, Tawara also draws upon Western music in her work, with a reference to the song “Hotel California” in “August Morning” which matches the rest of the tankas, which are set at the beach along the coast.

        Tawara has also been noted to have similarities to Banana Yoshimoto, with “Salad Anniversary” noted to start a phenomenon similar to bananamania (the stir caused by Banana Yoshimoto’s debut novel), called “salad phenomenon.” Thus, when combined with the similarities to Murakami’s work in changing traditional Japanese literature, one can include Machi Tawara in the list of contemporary Japanese writers alongside Murakami and Yoshimoto.

 

Sarah