The People's Landscape of the Capital: "Tokyo People"

Leaving Dublin, the next stop is Tokyo. Yes, this time I will introduce Kawabata Yasunari's "Tokyo People".

Kawabata Yasunari's achievements, I don't need to say more. As the first person in Japan to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, his works are naturally one of the must-reads, including "Snow Country", "Izu Dancer" and "The Ancient City". But his masterpiece "Tokyo People" (Tokyo の人) did not attract much attention, and it was not translated into Chinese until 2015 (simplified version in 2015; traditional version in 2018). Maybe the "giant book" is too huge, with 400,000 words. Compared with other works by Kawabata-sensei, if there is no "courage", you will probably shrink back when you see the thickness of the book.

So, why did I "bravely" pick up this book and read it? I have to mention Yang Zhao's ten lecture series by famous Japanese literature masters, "The Magnificent Remaining Life: Yang Zhao Talks About Kawabata Yasushi". Teacher Yang Zhao analyzes "Tokyo People" in detail in this book. His writing attracted me to "challenge" the book.

"Tokyo Man" was serialized from May 1954 to December 1955. The background of the era is post-war Japan, almost 10 years after Japan's defeat and surrender in 1945. At that time, the United States established the Supreme Allied Command in Japan until 1952, after which Japan regained its sovereign state status. And Japan's post-war economy was revitalized, and it happened to meet the Korean War. The United States needed to use Japan as a springboard, which made it recover.

The main focus of this book revolves around 6 protagonists. In the process of reading, I feel that this book is like an 8 o'clock file, because the relationship between the characters is too complicated. The story mainly revolves around "Shimaki/Shirai Family":

• Shimaki Shunzo: Shirai Keiko's "husband", but only in relationship; Shimaki Yuko's father. His wife was Kyoko, but she was unable to take care of Gongzi after she was seriously ill and was in a nursing home after her birth. I met Shirai Keiko at the train station and asked Keiko to take care of Gongzi. Later, they fell in love with each other and lived together. Junsan runs a publishing house, but when he encounters a problem with capital turnover, he hopes that Jingzi will help him, but he is rejected. He has no choice but to close the company and run away from home.
• Keiko Shirai: Her husband died in World War II. He runs a small shop under the stairs of the train station, and lives with his son Qing and daughter Chaozi. During this time, he met Shimaki Shunzo, and Shunzo entrusted his daughter to Keiko's care, and the two of them lived together and organized a "family". Jingzi gradually earns money by starting a small business and allows the children to have a well-to-do life. Jingzi likes Gongzi more than his own children, and the relationship is more intimate.
  Unfortunately, when Junsan disappeared, she felt helpless. At this time, the presence of Akio Tabe reassured her, and she developed emotional and even physical relationships. But at the same time, she realizes that Gongzi is also interested in Akio, which puts her in a dilemma.
• Shimaki Yuko: The daughter of Shunzo and his "law wife" Kyoko, but her mother's illness could not take care of her, so she was taken care of by Jingzi since she was a child, and Jingzi regarded her as his own. Even so, the "brother" Shirai Kiyoshi, who lives under the same roof with her, does not regard her as his own sister. He desires to be with her, so he expresses his love to her. At this time, her father suddenly left, making her feel sorry for Jingzi, because Jingzi has been taking care of her father. And the appearance of Akio Tianbe, let Gongzi have another feeling for her mother.
• Shirai Kiyoshi: Jingzi's son, who is average in his studies, has always been in love with Gongzi and longed for Gongzi to accept himself, but because of his "passion", Gongzi was afraid and left home for a period of time.
• Asako Shirai: Jingzi's daughter, loves the stage. Since she was a child, she has ignored other people's feelings and only needs to like her, which is often her wishful thinking. I have always disliked the relationship between my mother Jingzi and Junsan; I also feel disgusted that my brother likes Gongzi. So when she learned that Yuko / Akio were interested, she actively "assisted". She had no idea that her mother had a relationship with Akio, which made things even more complicated.
• Akio Tabe: The family doctor of the Shirai family. Jingzi met his half-brother and sister-in-law when he was running a small shop at the train station. Because he knew the Shirai family, after Junsan disappeared, Akonan accompanied Jingzi to find Junsan, and was attracted by Jingzi's character. On the other hand, since he came into contact with Gongzi, he has a good impression of him, but he knows the purity of Gongzi, which has become a distance from each other.
  However, his brother has been eager for him to start a family as soon as possible. When he saw that Zhao Nan had a good impression of Gongzi, he arranged a meeting with Chaozi, which made him embarrassed.

If we were to introduce the story and character relationships of the entire book in a simple way, it would be:

• The "Shimaki/Shirai" family is a family of 5, but it is actually a combination of two "independent" families
• Before and after Junsan left home, everyone's changes and conflicts
• Jingzi falls in love with Zhaonan, Gongzi has a good impression of Zhaonan, Chaozi tries his best to help Gongzi, but he does not know that he is destroying the family relationship; Qing loves Gongzi and cannot extricate himself.

In short, the relationship is constantly cutting and chaotic.

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When reading, in addition to the basic requirements of understanding the central idea of the plot development, there are other things that make me have to think: Why does Mr. Kawabata use 400,000 words to write? Is it necessary to write that long? Are there any plots/paragraphs that can be deleted? This question is reserved first, and then answered at the end.

As mentioned before, the background of "Tokyo Man" is set after World War II. When people experience great changes, how will people deal with it? What role should the family play in "this" generation? Judging from the structure of "Shimagi/Shirai's house", it is no longer a "normal home". Those who are related by blood have alienated relationships; on the contrary, those who are not related by blood have the closest relationship. Jingzi didn't take much care of him in Qing and Chaozi when they were young, because he had to manage the house; but Jingzi's meticulous care for Gongzi was in great contrast to Qing and Chaozi. Jingzi's care for Gongzi is spiritual rather than material. Jingzi has always been very kind to his family. Every time he goes out, he always buys clothes for his family. This scene did not appear in Chaozi. This "mother-daughter" relationship has become a hidden worry in the future, and even led to a series of misunderstandings.

Another thing Kawabata wanted to express was that after men and women experienced defeat, they faced different attitudes/survival styles ahead. The men became helpless, and Junsan was a representative - facing the company's financial difficulties, he had no way to deal with it. He only knew how to ask Jingzi for help. He hoped that Jingzi would help him again and mortgage the house, but in the end he refused. "Flee" to face everything.

In fact, post-war men still hold the values of the past: women only need to get married, while men have to work hard to face all kinds of difficulties. This idea has reached the young generation of the Qing Dynasty, and still holds this idea:

"As long as girls dress up and go outside, someone will always take care of them." The Qing neither encouraged nor stopped Chaozi.
Jingzi certainly found Qing's contemptuous cynicism harsh, and he couldn't pretend he didn't hear it. As a mother, her heart is cold.
"Then how do you think boys can be dealt with?" Jingzi asked quietly, she couldn't help but consider the current situation of the two children.
"It's nothing, I can't deal with it." Qing replied nonchalantly.
"What does 'handling' mean?" Chaoko asked.
"It's just getting married. Isn't that what I used to say?" Qing said.
"What about the man?"
"Men...that's right, he's dead. For example, that kid was dealt with, or that guy was dealt with...that's what it means."
"Qing, be serious," Jingzi said.
"Okay, let's get rid of the man and let him get a job after graduating from school. To be serious, there's really no place to deal with it."
"If Qing said that, it's because the young people today are troubled and confused about life, and I have nothing to refute. But is it okay for Asako to be like this?"
"I don't think it's okay, but it doesn't have to be a happy ending. If you can find a good young man, it might not be bad."
"You're also bad."
"I'm not that easy to be bad, but those who accuse others of being bad must first have a conscience." Qing said, "Chaozi dresses up pretty and goes out all day, and mom goes out to sell jewelry all day, isn't it the same?"
"Everything is the same? You don't find it pleasing to the eye?"
"I don't like anything."
"Don't be rude, I live my life seriously."
"Certainly, of course. When my mother opened the store, I believed that my mother was working hard, and Asako and I were watching the house..."
"..."
"It's the same with Asako, she is serious about things like women's instincts. Even bad guys and criminals live very seriously." (pp. 48, 49)

I don't know how Kawabata-sensei felt when he wrote it, but this passage "represents" the "psychological imbalance" of post-war men. From another point of view, women no longer need to depend on men's lives, or in other words, they have regained their strength and know how to pursue their lives. According to Teacher Yang Zhao:

...Yuko likes Akio, but she can't attract Akio. The one who will attract Akio is a new type of post-war Japanese woman that Kawabata Yasunari wants to shape - a survivor of accumulated trauma and torture in the war, reborn with a strength that Japanese society could not imagine before. with confidence. [Note 1]

And Junzo, in this case, could not pass the test of the post-war situation. According to Joyce, it is a state of "paralysis", or, "hang/crash".

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After the author used about one-third of the description of the relationship and personality of the "family", he entered the main axis of "Tokyo People": after Shunsan "evaporated from the world", the triangular relationship between Jingzi, Gongzi and Akio. In addition to Gongzi, Jingzi, Zhaoan and readers all know this triangle relationship. To a certain extent, Gongzi was "pushed" into this triangular relationship, because Asako and Akio's older brother were helping to fuel the flames. She actually didn't know what was going on, but when she was sandwiched between Jingzi and Akio, she could feel the difference, because Jingzi didn't treat her as simply as before, and Akio consciously stayed away from her.

Akiko Keiko was indeed in love, but the age gap between Keiko and Akiko was not necessarily acceptable in Japanese society at that time. Jingzi is a person who has experienced two "marriages" - if Junzo's one is regarded as "marriage", so she knows exactly what she needs.

However, when Gongzi appeared in their relationship, it was a dilemma for Jingzi: she didn't want to give up Zhaonan to Gongzi, but she was worried that it would affect Gongzi's relationship, especially if Gongzi knew that she would invest in another project soon after Junsan left home. When it comes to a relationship, even a physical relationship, it's undoubtedly destructive.

As for Gongzi, in addition to facing her father's emotion of leaving without saying goodbye (like being abandoned), she also vaguely felt that Jingzi and Akio's attitude towards her had changed, and she had to face Qing's intense feelings for her, which made her feel a lot of pressure. She gradually has a different view on love:

In the translated novels, Gongzi still can't understand in some places, the life of love and lust makes her feel that the world is made up of intricate relationships between men and women. Maybe there is no such love in the world that Gongzi is fascinated and waiting in a daze. (page 339)

Chaozi should be the "bad guy" in the whole book. When she was a daughter, she only knew how to ask Jingzi to get money; she couldn't see anything, from Junsan to Qing, she despised it; at the same time, she thought she was helping others with good intentions and took action." Intervention" Yuuko and Akio's relationship. Indeed, every time I see her, I feel bad because she is destroying her home step by step. But she is also a poor person. In fact, she is eager to support her husband and teach her children, but her husband Xiaoshan feels that his wife's career development is more important than her role as a wife. She longed to leave her original home because she was disappointed with it; but when she arrived at another home, she was disappointed again and came back empty.

What is the ending of the novel? I'll leave it to you all to read.

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Kawabata-sensei used "home" as the theme to discuss one thing: whether happiness can be obtained in places other than "home". As Mr. Yang Zhao said:

If this kind of "Tokyo people" wants to pursue happiness, the premise is the method of exclusion, which first excludes the possibility of finding and obtaining happiness in the family. [Note 1]

Back to my original question, why did Mr. Kawabata write so long? In order to "he patiently laid out one test factor that the Shirai family encountered". [Note 1] The happiness of the protagonists is slowly found and established after the collapse of the "Shimaki / Shirai family", and in the past and mistakes that do not miss the "paralysis". Kawabata-sensei used his pen to "record" the people of Tokyo during this period through his calm writing: the family-centered thinking after the defeat was no longer feasible in this place in Tokyo. Only by getting rid of the family relationship, can you survive and get a piece of the sky with your own efforts.

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[Note 1] Magnificent Remaining Life: Yang Zhao on Kawabata Yasunari "Group Portraits after the War - Reading "Tokyo People" (from blog) https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010919238

"Tokyo People" (from blog)
https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010782387