Yoshimoto, Banana. Kitchin, Kitchen (1987)
(adapted from web page of Kumiko Sato:
Summary
The narrator, Mikage, is a college
student living with her grandmother in Tokyo. Her Grandmother is her
only family member after her parents died, but she has also died
three days prior to the narrative present. Mikage, left alone,
cannot believe this reality. She starts to sleep in the kitchen,
which is her most favorite, and conformable, place in the house. One
day, a boy Mikage has never seen visits her house. He is Yuichi
Tanabe, a student of the same university. He invites Mikage to live
with him and his mother, and tells her that he knew Mikage's
grandmother very well at the flower shop he works for and that her
Grandmother was always worried about what would become of Mikage
after her death. Mikage moves to Yuichi's house, where a huge sofa
becomes her favorite place (and her bed). Yuichi's mother, Eriko, is
surprisingly beautiful, but Mikage learns that she is actually a
"he," originally Yuichi's father. After his mother's death, he had
plastic surgery and has lived as a woman. Yuichi is a boy who does
not know how to love people, but very, very kind. He can only love
people in the way he loves a fountain pen (which means he can love
things very sincerely as well). Mikage finds one form of family at
this Tanabe residence, especially through cooking. Mikage cooks
porridge for Eriko. Yuichi and Mikage cook ramen after they had the
same dream of cleaning a kitchen together. Mikage thinks that a
kitchen, anywhere, will be the location of the "family."
Comments
Soon after its publication, Kitchen became quite
popular among young girls. The atmosphere, the language, and the use of food
in Banana's works were catchy to women of her generation. Banana's stories use
both the language and story line that might be typical in culture of shojo
manga, or comics for young girls. The most eminent characteristic of Kitchen
as shôjo culture is, I think, the lack of the sense of reality, which
is exactly "realistic" to girls. When I first read Kitchen, I was surprised
to find my reality, the reality I belong to, in narrative (although her narrative
sounded rather childish). Whether written by men or women, whether realism or
fantasy, I had not found that kind of reality I lived in expressed in fiction,
and Banana's narrative seemed successful in reconstructing this reality of shojo
culture. What are those characteristics? In terms of the form, or narratology,
there are no realistic descriptions of facial traits or clothes, except for
the kitchen.
Mikage looks like "non-chan," a dog
Yuji had years ago. That's all we know about her looks. There is
also the lack of emotional waves in narrative. How does Mikage
describe her emotion after her grandmother's death? She writes,
"Senjitsu nanto soboga shindeshimatta. Bikkuri shita."
Bikkuri shita, "surprised," is the only word that describes
Mikage's emotion. This is a narrative that recountss incidents and
emotions with such nonchalance that death and cooking have the same
weight, in other words, they have equal (non-)reality. There is no
climax, no ending, of course. Banana's language flattens and
disembodies reality.
The content in relation to culture
of shôjo. Like Banana's many other stories, Kitchen centers
on the absence of family. I think it is off the point to say that
the loss of family conditions the shojo culture. To the
contrary, it seems that family relationships are precluded from the
shojo culture, which necessitates the loss of family in the
plot of Kitchen. Since family as blood relations must be
disembodied in shojo culture, an empty, clean sign replaces
"family"-- the sign is "kitchen." Kitchen is a vacuous sign
that circumscribes the hole left by "family" in the conventional
sense. Like "kitchen" and "family," the disembodiment of human
relationships such as "friendship" and "love," takes place as their
replacement by signs of inorganic objects. A sofa and kitchen at
Yuji's house substitute for affection among Mikage, Yuji and his
mother.
Cucumber salad replaces Mikage and Eriko's friendship,
ramen replaces Mikage and Yuji's love. Cleaning a kitchen together in
dream is the only expression of the relationship between Mikage and Yuji. When
Mikage says that Yuji can love people only in the way he loves a fountain pen,
she may also mean that we recognize our reality, our relationship to reality,
only in the vacuous signs of inorganic materiality.
For more explanation of shôjo, click here.
Kumiko Sato
10/24/1999
See also: This Review of Kitchen
Banana Yoshimoto is one of Japan's greatest contemporary writers alongside Haruki Murakami, and Kitchen is her début novel which became a best-seller in Japan. The English edition of the novel also includes the short story Moonlight Shadow at the end.
Kitchen is divided into two parts. The first part sees a young woman, Mikage Sakurai, lose the only member of her family she has left, her grandmother. She is completely lost and befriends Yuichi, a friend of her grandmother who works in a flower shop and who invites her to live with him and his mother while Mikage sorts out her life. Yuichi's mother, Eriko, was initially her dad before she decided to change sex and we get an interesting insight about what it's like to live as a transgender. Yuichi is also familiar with grief as his mother died when he was younger. The second part, still told from Mikage's point of view, sees Yuichi dealing with grief while Mikage has found a work she enjoys and is finally overcoming her sense of loss. They also both deal with their feelings for each other. The bond they share is quite unique and they're here for each other when they need it.
In Kitchen, Mikage and Yuichi realise that the world doesn't exist for their benefit and sometimes horrible things happen over which they have no control. I found the writing fascinating to read and how Mikage is seen coping with her loss. She concentrates on small things, her love of kitchens and cooking, while inside her a storm is raging. Why does everyone close to her dies? How can she survive if she is all alone? Does she still exist and is she still the same if the people who knew her the most aren't here to see her anymore?
The love and the sense of family she is given in Yuichi and Eriko's home helps her build herself back together little by little. It's always the small things in life which ground you and enable you to get on with your life. Mikage becomes increasingly passionate about food and cooking and is always preparing fabulous meals for Yuichi or Eriko, and later finds a job as an assistant to a cooking teacher. The passages with food and eating are amazingly woven into the story as a lifeline for the characters. Eating is what keeps you alive and the simple activity of preparing and eating a good meal is one of the best pleasures in life. Mikage is obsessed with kitchens (hence the title) and it is fascinating to read why it is her favourite place in the house.
Moonlight Shadow is a beautiful short story about loss and grief and it is very fitting that it's published after Kitchen. A young woman named Satsuki loses her boyfriend in a car accident and is plagued by her grief and the feeling that she could have done something to prevent the accident. She grows closer to Hiiragi, her boyfriend's brother, who is coping with the death of his girlfriend who passed away in the same accident. Hiiragi copes by wearing his girlfriend's clothes to school. Both are lost and it is beautiful to read how a shared grief is a road you often have to walk alone.
One morning, Satsuki meets a strange woman named Urura who introduces her to a mystical experience, which Satsuki believes is linked to her boyfriend's death. I won't spoil the experience but it is amazing. Moonlight Shadow also features food and Satsuki says how much she enjoys eating tasty food in the company of Hiiragi.
Both stories show some of Banana Yoshimoto's trademark themes: loss, gender identity, love and friendship and the small pleasures of life. There is also an undercurrent of magical realism in both stories. Mikage and Yuichi have grown so close that they can (or believe they can, which is roughly the same thing) talk to each other in their dreams and thoughts. Satsuki gets to see something incredible and unique during the mystical experience Urura shows her. The magical aspect is only hinted and appears quite realistic since it's perceived as such by the narrators. The loss of someone close is terribly hard to deal with, and sometimes, a little hope - even if not explainable or actually real - is all you need to get you through another day.
I really loved both stories and I think they're fantastic short reads. The writing is beautiful and the emotional state of the characters is brilliantly portrayed. Even though the book is about loss and grief, the stories are quite hopeful and make you think about life in general and your place in this world. I will definitely be reading more of this author.
https://portrait-of-a-woman.blogspot.com/2012/06/kitchen-banana-yoshimoto-japanese.html
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