Novel karya Banana Yoshimoto terdiri dari dua judul, Kitchen dan Moonlight Shadow. Secara umum, cerita tentang sepasang anak muda yang ditinggal orang terdekat, dan berusaha bangkit dari bayang-bayang kesepian dan rasa kehilangan itu. KITCHENKitchen bercerita tentang seorang gadis muda di Tokyo, Mikage, yang ditinggalkan oleh kematian neneknya. Ia sebatang kara, hingga ia bertemu dengan Yuichi Tanabe di pemakaman neneknya. Yuichi adalah seorang pekerja paruh waktu di toko bunga favorit neneknya. Pemuda itu sangat mengenal nenek Mikage, dan ia mengajak Mikage ke rumahnya. Mikage terpesona dengan rumah Yuichi, terlebih pada dapurnya yang bersih. Selain itu ia menyukai sofa rumah keluarga itu. Yuichi tinggal bersama orangtua tunggalnya ibu/ayah nya bernama Eriko/Yuji. sesungguhnya adalah Ayahnya, yang menjadi waria sepeninggal ibu Yuichi, dan bekerja di sebuah klub malam di Tokyo.Eriko digambarkan sebagai wanita yang cantik. Mikage sangat mengaguminya, karena kecantikan dan bijaknya. Suatu kesempatan Eriko berkata pada Mikage, kurasa siapapun yang sungguh-sungguh ingin mandiri sebaiknya mencoba merawat sesuatu, entah anak atau tanaman. Soalnya, kita jadi mengerti keterbatasan yang kita miliki. Dari situlah hidup bermula (Hlm 53). Mikage tinggal bersama keluarga itu, dan tempat favoritnya di rumah itu adalah dapur dan sofa. Baginya itulah sedikit pengganti rasa kehilangan yang membuat hidupnya sejenak lebih bersemangat. Yuichi memberikan komentar akan kebiasaan Mikage yang suka tidur di sofa, ...sejak dulu aku senang kalau ada orang yang menginap tidur di sofa ini. Meski berada di rumah sendiri, aku merasa seperti orang yang sedang melakukan perjalanan jauh...(Hlm 85). Ternyata satu kebersamaan mengancam hubungan lain, seorang perempuan muda lain merasa terganggu dengan kehadiran Mikage di rumah Yuichi. Suatu ketika, ia melabrak Mikage, Kamu hanya suka mencicipi bagian yang menyenangkan dari percintaan, terus menerus memamerkan keperempuananmu di hadapannya. Akibatnya Tanabe menjadi orang yang tanggung. Memang praktis kan, kalau kamu tetap menempel padanya dalam hubungan tanpa status? Tapi bukankah yang disebut dengan percintaan adalah ketika kedua belah pihak saling mengurus satu sama lain? Sementara kamu mangkir dari semua beban berat itu, memasang ekspresi tenang, dan bersikap seolah-olah memahami semuanya..(hlm 97) Bagaimana memaknai kehilangan? mungkin sesuatu yang tidak bisa dikembalikan lagi seraya berharap bahwa ada keajaiban seperti yang ada di film-film dimana ada 'penundaan' kematian. Sesuatu yang tampaknya tidak masuk akal, namun punya pemaknaan yang berbeda bagi tiap orang, termasuk kehilangan dari versi sang Ayah (Ibu) Yuichi yang mengingat kematian istrinya, ...Sambil memeluk tanaman ini, tubuhku gemetar. Dalam hati aku berpikir; di dunia ini,tidak ada lagi makhluk yang bisa saling memahami selain aku dan nanas ini. Sambil memejamkan mata seolah-olah berusaha menahan gempuran angin dingin, aku merasa aku dan nanas itu merasakan kesepian yang sama...Istri yang selama ini menjadi tempat berbagi telah akrab dengan kematian , dibandingkan aku dan nanas itu (Hlm 109).Suatu kejadiaan, Eriko dibunuh oleh seorang pelanggan bar. Tidak hanya Yuichi dan Mikage yang ikut bersedih, tetapi juga, Chika, teman Eriko di bar. Penyampaian luapan-luapan emosi pada karakter Chika menunjukkan sisi kemanusiaan yang rasional, Aku kesepian Mikage. Kenapa semua menjadi begini? Tuhan ada atau tidak sih? Aku tak akan pernah bisa bertemu Eriko lagi (hlm 116). Yoshimoto memilih kalimat-kalimat yang bijak, yang saya rasa bersumber dari pemikiran yang dalam atau mengutip dari seseorang. Saya memilih beberapa kalimat ini dari Mikage:"..Menurutku, manusia tidak dikalahkan pleh situasi atau kekuatan dari luar. Kekalahan justru menggerogoti dari dalam." (hlm 125) Manusia bisa memilih satu di antara begitu banyak jalan. Mungkin akan lebih tepat jika dikatakan bahwa momen untuk memilih jalan itu tak ubahnya seperti menyaksikan mimpi. Aku pun mengalami itu. Namun sekarang aku mengerti sehingga bisa mengungkapkannya dengan kata-kata." (Hlm 132) "Aku tahu. Kristal bercahaya yang berisi masa-masa menyenangkan tiba-tiba terbangun dari tidur panjang di dasar ingatan, dan kini mendorong kami. Bagaikan embusan angin baru, kesegaran hari-hari yang harum itu terlahir kembali di dalam hatiku dan aku menghirupnya. Aku punya kenangan tentang keluarga." (Hlm 135). dan akhirnya, kalimat inilah yang menjadi kata-kata pembakar semangat serta meraih mimpi bersama:"...Hei, Yuichi.Aku tidak mau kehilangan kamu. Selama ini kita selalu kesepian, tapi tak pernah kita hiraukan perasaan kita. Kematian adalah sesuatu yang berat. Kita masih muda dan seharusnya belum perlu tahu tentang hal itu, tapi mau tidak mau kita harus begitu...Dan nanti jika masih bersama-sama denganku, mungkin kau akan menyaksikan hal-hal yang menyedihkan, menyebalkan, buruk. Tapi kalau kau tidak keberatan, kita bisa bersama-sama menghadapi apa saja, baik yang jauh lebih menyusahkan maupun menyenangkan. Aku ingin kau memutuskan itu setelah perasaanmu lebih baik. Pikirkan masak-masak dan manfaatkan waktumu, ya?...(Hlm 137).MOONLIGHT SHADOWdibanding cerita sebelumnya, Moonlight Shadow lebih "menurun". Tema yang diceritakan tetap sama. Kehilangan karena kematian, namun kali ini kematian seorang kekasih dan saudara kandung. Satsuki kehilangan seorang kekasih, Hitoshi. Ia bersama dengan Shu, adik Hitoshi, juga mengalami kehilangan orang dekatnya. Shu kehilangan seorang kakak laki-laki dan kekasih sekaligus. Pacar Shu bernama Yumiko. ia seorang gadis cantik bertubuh pendek, sebaya dengan Shu dan pandai bermain tenis.Karena usia tergolong dekat, mereka berempat berteman akrab dan sering sekali pergi bermain bersama. Karena sekalian akan pergi keluar, malam itu Hitoshi mengantarkan Yumiko, yang waktu itu berada di tempat Shu, sampai di stasiun dengan menggunakan mobilnya. Di tengah perjalanan terjadi kecelakaan. Suatu peristiwa terjadi yang biasanya diistilahkan magical realism terjadi di sini. Percaya tidak percaya bahwa Satsuki melihat Hitoshi-yang tadinya sudah meninggal- di seberang sungai seraya melihatnya. Tidak lama, lambat laun Hitoshi mengabur dan menghilang. Apakah suatu kebetulan Satsuki bertemu dengan Urara yang membawanya ke sungai, dan bertemu dengan Hitoshi di sana. Urara memberi satu nasihat kepada si gadis muda mengenai pelajaran hidup:..Karena batasan yang dimiliki seseorang tidak akan berubah. Segala sesuatu tentu akan berulang dan mungkin penderitaan yang sama seperti sekarang akan datang lagi, tapi jika bersikap tabah, penderitaan itu bisa ditangani. Begitulah mekanismenya. Mungkin kita akan jadi enggan menghadapi masalah, tapi kalau menerima masalah sebagai bagian dari hidup, penderitaan tidak lagi terasa sakit, kan?" (hlm 186)Mungkin inilah model magical realism bahwa ada kebetulan yang sedang dan akan terjadi.Urara berkata pada Satsuki, ...dengan perbandingan satu kali dalam 100 tahun, kebetulan-kebetulan akan tumpang tindih dan ada kemungkinan kejadian itu bisa dilihat. Tempat dan waktu belum diputuskan. Orang yang mengetahuinya menyebutnya sebagai fenomena Tanabata. Dan hal itu hanya bisa terjadi di sungai besar. Tidak semua orang bisa melihatnya. ketika pikiran tentang orang yang sudah meninggal masih tersisa dan kesedihan yang ditinggalkan merespons dengan baik, maka pemandangan itu akan terlihat... (Hlm 196)Kedua cerita dalam novel ini ini cukup bagus menyajikan bagaimana perasaan, kata hati dan tingkah laku dari pribadi yang mengalami kehilangan orang terdekat. Sorot utamanya adalah dari sisi seorang wanita belia yang melihat dunia langsung suram tanpa ada harapan menjalaninya. Novel ini bagus dengan kata-kata bijaknya. Yoshimoto menyisipkan pandangan-pandangannya tentang hidup dari sisi berbeda. Namun sayangnya, cerita Moonlight mengalami antiklimaks. Pembaca sedikit bosan dengan penyampaian yang berulang bahwa si tokoh utama kehilangan kekasih, dan adiknya kehilangan kakak dan kekasih. Namun, dengan membaca buku ini, sedikit banyak tau tentang budaya orang muda Jepang. Empat bintang saja deh,---------------- Banana Yoshimoto adalah nama pena dari Mahoko Yoshimoto (吉本 真秀子 ), Putri Takaaki Yoshimoto, seorang filsuf yang berpengaruh di Jepang. Ia lahir Tokyo pada 24 Juli 1964. Dia lulus dari Universitas Nihon's Art College, jurusan Sastra. Selama waktu itu, ia mengambil nama samaran "Banana" karena cinta pada bunga pisang(??). Saudara perempuan Yoshimoto, Haruno Yoiko, kartunis terkenal di Jepang. Pekerjaan penulisan pertamanya, Moonlight Shadow, ditulis ketika ia bekerja sebagai waitress in Tokyo, kebanyak ketika ia beristirahat atau pada saat menenangkan antara pelanggan. Moonlight Shadow meraih penghargaan Izumi Kyoka Prize pada 1986. Dan Kitchen, memenangkannya pada Umitsubame First Novel Prize. Kitchen telah dicetak 60 kali di Jepang dan telah diterjemahkan ke lebih 20 bahasa di dunia.Di luar Jepang, ia dianugerahi beberapa penghargaan di Itali; Literary Prize Scanno pada Juni, 1993 dan Fendissime Literary Prize pada Maret,1996 and Literary Prize Maschera d' argento pada November, 1999.@hws 22122010
This is, hands down, the worst thing I've read in recent years.Let's start with the translation, because that is largely to blame for my utter disgust. The prose is terrible. Awkward, contradictory, inconsistent, hackneyed and immature. (Apparently not so in the original Japanese which has been hailed as poetic and lyrical. Even given my limited knowledge of Japanese, I can see how this would be the case.) This is what I would expect from an electronic translator, e.g. google-translate and its ilk. Though the work has been proofread appropriately for a work destined for mass distribution, (the only glaring errors are an inability to distinguish between the colon and the semi-colon, and an army of commas deployed across each page splicing at random.) I suspect that it was never edited for content.There are simple errors in translation that can only result from using a bilingual electronic dictionary that provides a list of approximate synonyms rather than actual definitions. This is something I would expect from someone struggling to write in a second language, but it seems that Megan Backus is a native speaker of English. (I am guessing, though perhaps her first language is neither Japanese nor English?) Her errors are nothing less than sloppy, and the fact that they escaped the editing process is embarrassing. Words like 'suddenly' 'though' 'as if' 'ironically' and 'actually' are dispersed at random. The only attempt to acknowledge the intricate Japanese system of honorific and casual verb forms seems to be the use of swears paired with exclamation marks. Words in Japanese that have more than one possible English meaning are translated not only incorrectly, but inconsistently. (The Japanese '笑' could be 'smile' or 'laugh' in English. Maybe it is not a huge distinction, but when a character 'smiles' at something his friend says and then can't stop shaking it creates the impression of an unbalanced or perhaps epileptic person when, in the original, the character was simply laughing.) Even the friendly Japanese exclamatory 'えええ' has been translated with an inappropriate emotional volume. In response to a ringing phone: “[Mikage] answered it. 'Aaaah!' screamed a high, thin voice. 'Mikage, dear? How have you been?'” This accounts, I suspect, for a huge amount of the inconsistencies in the prose, and for characters that vacillate wildly between contradictory and inappropriate emotions. Japanese is a context dependent language. A translator who can't be bothered to acknowledge multi-sentence discourse is not ready to translate prose. Instead, she has given us characters who emote passionately, overreact wildly, and then are described as cold, hard-to-read, independent and stoic. (or vice versa) The only character that displays a realistic chain of response is the anachronistic potted pineapple (dead years before Mikage even meets the Tanabes, yet somehow still able to arouse in her memories of Eriko.) that blooms in the sun and then withers when over watered. At last. Consistency.Even worse is Backus' (irresponsible and thoughtless) total reliance on cliché to bridge the gap between languages. When it's not garbled and confusing, it is so purple it practically glows. While Yoshimoto’s description is recognized as fluid and poetic, Backus’ descriptions are like farts in an echo chamber: loud, repetitive, embarrassing and stinky. In the 40 pages of the second story, 'Moonlight Shadow', she describes the morning as 'blue' at least 10 times. (Blue mist, blue light, blue dawn etc.) So mindless are her clichés that on one page hell is a raging inferno, then later it is as cold as a winter's day. People smile and chat while being 'as still as a statue', and private thoughts occur 'straight from the heart'. Even while walking in a cold wind, a character squints his eyes 'as if against a cold wind'. Metaphors are as mixed as mixed-nuts and similes are as stale as stale bread. Imagination has been messily sacrificed on the altar of the cliché and even important cultural images like the moon and the night view are lost, drowned in a sea of 'indigo-coloured' sentimentality, running about 'like a chicken with its head cut off' 'in a raging tempest'. Blah.Mikage's existential angst mirrors my own upon encountering such prose: “From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to give up; I wanted to give up on living. There was no denying that tomorrow would come, and the day after tomorrow, and so next week, too. I never thought it would be this hard, but I would go on living in the midst of a gloomy depression, and that made me feel sick to the depths of my soul. In spite of the tempest raging within me, I walked the night path calmly. I wanted it to end, and quickly...”(she continues on for another meaty paragraph and then runs up ten flights of stairs in a sort of fugue that is simultaneously gloomy and energetic, whereas I just threw the book across the room in a fit of disgust.)If this is the much celebrated minimalist prose that won so many awards, I dread the thought of her attempt at detailed long fiction.So, is Backus solely to blame for this abomination of taste and style? I sadly think that she is not. Characters are systematically schizophrenic, detached, emotionally unreliable and static. Events unfold unevenly, and plot development occurs as an afterthought. Unnecessary details are introduced at random and motivation is left unaccounted for. The effect is jarring and profoundly unlikeable.From a cultural perspective I was embarrassed to see Japanese people represented uniformly as spoiled, privileged, emotionally isolated and selfish, devoid of effective introspection, and socially cold. The theme of loneliness and isolation comes across as a national character flaw rather than a universal aspect of grief and it makes me uncomfortable on a personal and political level.Looking at the back cover, I noticed that this book is supposed to be “about mothers, transsexuality, bereavement, kitchens, love and tragedy...” It is not. The only mother presented is actually a father (and the only family interaction that the reader witnesses is financial), and the central character's 'tragedy' is the loss of a grandmother to old age. As for transsexuality, the book isn't even about any sexuality in any form. Yoshimoto's prudery is so profound that the closest her characters come to acknowledging sex and desire is a veiled allusion to a 'double bed.' As for the transsexual character Eriko, her transition is presented as an impulsive reaction to the loss of a heterosexual partner. Indeed, in both stories cross-dressing is shown to be the result of a mind damaged by heterosexual heartbreak. There is no acknowledgment of homosexuality and non-stereotypical gender identity and Backus can't even be bothered to distinguish between the terms transsexuality and transvestism. Furthermore, (spoiler) Eriko's murder is only considered a tragedy insofar as it affects her loved ones with a sense of loss. They are all so selfishly self-absorbed [yes.] that they only bother to feel bad about the fact that they miss her, not that her life was sacrificed to a bruised male ego in a scene of sexualized violence and systematic homophobia. (It’s also unclear exactly how she died, as the translation suggests that her attacker was killed when she fought back. What?) That is all taken in stride, even by Eriko who anticipates her murder and, rather than turn to friends or the police for protection, sits down to write her will. She says, “lately I've been feeling that I might be in danger...if people I don't care for are attracted to me, I accept it as the wages of beauty.” Here is a profoundly relevant and pervasive social justice issue that is glossed over and turned into an exotic episode used to colour the barely disguised teenage angst of her main characters. The closest she comes to addressing issues of transphobia and the marginalization of the queer community is when she relates how one of Eriko's employees cried after being harassed on the train, but she quickly explains that this is because she is unusually 'sensitive'. All told, this book does nothing to challenge Japanese beliefs that homosexuality and transexuality are a source of superficial entertainment and it actually enforces norms of homophobia and violence against women.I couldn't like this book less.
What do You think about Kitchen (2006)?
Two or three times a year I read something by a Japanese writer. And every time, almost without fail, I am reminded of how simply and beautifully written much of their fiction is. Also there so often seems to be an undercurrent of loneliness or alienation, sadness, or melancholy. And suicide is openly talked and thought about. Yet book endings are not necessarily sad, nor do terrible things always happen. And this book was no exception. After teenaged Mikage's grandmother dies, she is left with no family. She is devastated by her aloneness. Even after being taken in by a classmate, Yuichi, and his "mother" she is unable to shake her feeling of being alone in the world. Sometimes accepting it and sometimes battling its demons. Her solace is the kitchen. The cooking and sharing of food is her salvation. But that is almost peripheral to the room - the heart of the home. It is in and through kitchens she feels loss, is saved from despair and reconnects with life. And is is through the food from kitchens that she realizes and nurtures love. Banana Yoshimoto wrote this book when she was 24. I didn't find it perfect. Without revealing any of the storyline, I can say I had difficulty accepting her food delivery to Yuichi's motel in the middle of the night. Perhaps this episode signified the darkness of the soul, and how much determination it takes to climb out of that darkness. But I don't know. I guess it just didn't work that well for me. Other than a few minor glitches, it is beautifully written. I read the edition with the girl in the white dress on the front and back covers which unfortunately gives the impression of being a women's book. I see no reason guys would not like this book. I think they would relate to Yuichi, his silences and his mixed feelings to the women in his life.
—Mmars
I did a quick audit of my Japanese cultural input and came up with the following :MOVIESTokyo Story – beautiful acknowledged masterpieceNobody Knows – great indyKikujiro – worth watchingLove Exposure – quite insane, probably brilliant, unmissable, but you should be warned that it’s quite insaneVisitor Q – er, probably avoid this one! Really gross.Seven Samurai – may be the greatest film ever, if there is such a thingWESTERN PERSPECTIVES Babel – brilliant film, but the Tokyo part is strange & uncomfortableLost in Translation – what planet was everyone else on? This was a snoozefest. If you haven’t seen it, count yourself fortunateNOVELSIn the Miso Soup – Ryu Murakami – yeah, I liked thisA Personal matter – Oe – yeah, I HATED thisThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by the other Marukami guy – I LOVED this because it was so easy to parody and gave me my top scoring review (While I was reading it was a different story)MUSICAbsolutely NOTHING And now to add to this very small Japanese input, Kitchen, a tender sprig of a novel. It was kind of goofy, kind of nice, kind of weirdly translated. Kind of sad. Had a transgendered person and a transvestite. Had a lot of food. If I write any more of this review it’ll be longer than the novel. But basically, I need more Japanese stuff. Recommendations welcome.
—Paul Bryant
"Kitchen" is a great little novella, and reading it is like having an old friend come to stay with you for a few days out of the blue. That one friend who had just the perfect quirky turn of phrase, the oddly poetic outlook on things like noodles and shoelace-tips. Yoshimoto's writing has matured since "Kitchen," but this story remains fresh and thoughtful, charming and simple and deep. My favorite part of the book, though, isn't the title novella but the one included after it, "Moonlight Shadow." The story is tight, the characters compelling, the noodles savory. "Moonlight Shadow" is a brief work about grief and nostalgia, but also about kindness, and about how you just go on because you have to, and about the things you learn as you step further away from grief. The grief of leaving grief, I guess. Even if "Kitchen" doesn't enchant you (which it should), the second story alone is worth buying the book.
—ruzmarì
