{"id":117,"date":"2022-08-22T04:45:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T04:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kalaualmony.com\/?p=117"},"modified":"2022-08-22T04:45:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T04:45:05","slug":"it-happened-after-kanae-sato-had-received-her-end-of-the-year-bonus-and-was-about-to-go-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kalaualmony.com\/?p=117","title":{"rendered":"The New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s a bit strange to share a story about New Years while Tokyo is still in the clutches of the summer heat, but The New Year by Kanoko Okamoto<\/a> will take you to the dusty, windswept streets of Ginza, 1937 regardless of the temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanoko Okamoto is maybe best known as the mother of artist Taro Okamoto. Part of me understands why her work is still a bit overlooked. She never wrote a full length novel, and we know western audiences are rather ambivalent about short stories and novellas unless written by troubled white men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than that though, her stories are thematically complex in a way that challenges readers. Case in point, The New Year. At its simplest, it’s the story of a woman named Kanae out for revenge on a man who slapped her. She hunts the streets of Ginza for her assailant nightly, but by the end, Kanae doesn’t really seem to care much about the slap. In fact, maybe she’s come to pity the man who did it. I’m not quite sure what it is, but it is no longer a simple revenge narrative by the end. All of this plays out in a Japan that’s at war, and tremendous violence is the subtext for this whole story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a few other translations of Okamoto works available. Though I believe they’re both out of print, you can still find A Riot of Goldfish<\/em> translated by Keith Vincent and The House Spirit and Other Stories<\/em> translated by Kazuko Sugisaki. Sugisaki’s book includes a riveting biographical sketch of Okamoto. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now enjoy The New Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a bit strange to share a story about New Years while Tokyo is still in the clutches of the summer heat, but The New Year by Kanoko Okamoto will take you to the dusty, windswept streets of Ginza, 1937 regardless of the temperature. 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