Visiting Japan in More Ways Than One

By Nilima Sinha, Library Committee

In April, Amar and I took a two-week trip to Japan. We had a great time visiting some amazing places and learning about the culture.  Before our trip, I read two novellas by Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese writer to receive the Nobel Prize in literature.

In Japan, the crane is a symbol of good luck and longevity.  Ancient folklore promises that if you create one thousand origami cranes then your ​wish will be granted. Thousand Cranes is the story of Kikuji.  The story begins with a tea ceremony that Kikuji has been invited to by his father’s mistress, Chikako. His father’s other mistress, Mrs. Ota, is also present at the tea ceremony.  Kikuji’s parents have passed away and he is drawn into the lives of these women and manipulated by them. The tea ceremony, a spiritual practice and meditation where every object and gesture has a meaning, is at the center of this story.

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Snow Country is the story of a love affair between Shimamura, a wealthy idler from Tokyo, and Komako, a geisha.  Komako entertains at an isolated resort at a hot spring in the snowy mountains on the west coast of Japan. Shimamura is a husband and a father who visits this resort often to escape from his life in Tokyo. On one of his train journeys to snow country, he meets an enigmatic woman named Yoko who wreaks havoc in his world.

Both novellas are deeply imbued with the cultures and myths of Japan and have slow paced simple storylines filled with lovely moments while exploring the theme of human loneliness.  Kawabata’s short and clean sentences are like haiku with vivid imagery. Much is left unsaid.  Most of his writing is about the beauty and sorrow of the impermanence of things.

Both books are in the Coffman collection and can be found in the Fiction section shelved under Kawabata.