Just finished reading the stories collection 生命式.
All stories were previously published, but this was the first time for me to read them.
Below is the list of stories and publications.
As a collection of stories, it felt like revisiting ideas and stories I already read in her books. Discussion of new forms of family (二人家族), future strange rituals of death and life (生命式）, love of objects (かぜのこいびと）, “strange” eating habits (街を食べる and more)
In that perspective, there was nothing new for me, no new discoveries of her writing and ideas.
Except maybe 孵化 (Hatching), a story of a young woman about to get married, which adopted a different character, “persona” , throughout her life.
A strong decisive woman in her junior high school,
stupid “airhead” in high school ,
“princess” in university,
“tomboy” in her part time work during the school days,
and the “mystery woman” at work.
Realizing she is in a pinch towards the wedding, how can she join all 5 characters, people from different period of her lives to one, she created (advice from her friend) a sixth character, which seems to solve the situation. At least with her future husband.
I think we all try to live up to the expectations of our surrounding, sometimes appearing and talking like someone we want to be, or the people around us expect us to be.
Many times in Japan, Japanese expect me to be the “foreigner” type, a bit loud, not too familiar with Japanese customer, free, which I am obviously not. So, in that respect I am fighting the expectation appearing as “me”, or at least someone very close to the “real me”