Red Room Where the Writers Are

Mary,

Thank you for your support.  This is the reason why I'm a member of red room.  I certainly cannot find people like you here easily.

Luciana,

I like your new photo!

Yes, you made a great point.  Next time if I happen to converse with them on the same subject, I’ll go into about genres and so on as you said.  I couldn’t talk more than what I wrote on the blog because Japanese tend to avoid any conflict.  But this is the conflict we should discuss further. 

Long time ago, a Japanese male friend of mine said to me while we were arguing that he felt as if he were talking with an American woman.  Well, what did he mean?  Probably no women ever argued with him.  That’s unlucky for him.  To talk about important things like this issue, the only way is to discuss, and sometimes we can’t avoid some challenges.  He didn’t realize, but it was triple insult: American women, me, and my mother because I came from her.  Unfortunately most Japanese men are used to only agreeable women.  So when I bring some obvious points, they look shaken.  If I press more, they’ll be angry.  

But I’m positive.  I gave my red room address to a few women writers while we were chatting at the cafe.  So by now, they are looking at this site.  Next time I see them, probably at the end of September, I’ll translate this blog for them.  I know they are interested in what an Irish, Brazilian, and American man and woman said about this blog.

Ron,

Thank you for your comment.  Coming from a male writer, I especially appreciate it because I will probably discuss this matter again, and I can mention to them what an American male writer responded to this. 

Ivory,

Thank you for your response and information.  I agree with your first paragraph.  It's the same situation.  But I'm disappointed to hear the similar situations in the U.S.  How can it be?   

Shiba Ryotaro is like a small god of historical novelists in Japan, and he has his own museum in Osaka.  As I said before, I enjoyed reading his novels, but there are clearly pretty big problems in his books such as bias.  Nobody seems to pay any attention, or if some people have noticed, they keep quiet.  I think that is why those novels are not translated.  Russians will get angry from volume one to eight.  And one such obvious bias is that he mentions about Jacob Henry Schiff http://www.answers.com/topic/schiff-jacob-henry   in only one or two sentences in his entire 8 volume novel.  Because of it, I read a book about him and wrote a blog.  Schiff helped Japan finance the Russo Japanese War, and without the raised money, the war could not have won.  And of course, the novel focuses on how the war was won.

I see sad situations and attitudes sometimes.  I try my best to make sure to respond at the time it occurs.  So I appreciate Red Room to give me this opportunity to express my view and receive comments.  I hope more people including Japanese see our comments. 

Aberjhani,

Yes, I see exciting revisions of history going on in Japan.  And I often see further opportunities for experts to revise the lists and definitions.  For those opportunities, I can write a blog and count on the opinions of my friends, children, and red-room members.  But when I'm most unexpected, I encounter such chances with real people.  With blogs, I can write and edit and delete and rewrite.  But with real people, I often freeze and miss opportunities. 

It seems I'm digressing from the subject of this blog, but underneath, I feel it is directly related to the unbalanced lists.  For instance, the old argument I mentioned to Ellen was the result of the following.  It was fifteen years ago.  A Japanese male friend of mine who lives near the Atlantic Ocean said that he used to go fishing but not anymore.  We're friends since twelve, and this is a phone conversation.  He said he caught many fish and tried to give to his friends, but nobody wanted.  One of the women he tried to give his fish told him, "If the fish are already cut and clean, I'd like to have them."  He sounded disgusted as he said it.  If someone tried to give me such whole fish, I probably felt the same way as the woman.  If I said so, I might offend him, so I could not say it.  So, I said to him,

"Why don't you release those fish back to the Atlantic Ocean?  Then you can fish all you want."

"No way, I can't do such a wasteful thing."

"What did you do with the fish?  Did you eat them all?" 

"I feel like I'm talking with an American woman," he said.

To say the least, I felt disappointed in many levels with this remark.  I fell quiet.  It's been fifteen years since then, but I still find it difficult to speak truthfully in similar real-time situations.  If I still can't, how I can expect the unbalanced lists to go balanced, I'm telling myself. 

Thank you for reading.

Deborah,

Probably about ten years ago, I found in the Claremont library a book of a collection of Japanese women writers.  It was translated and edited by two Japanese women in English.  I think I saw "Princeton University" written at the back of the book.  I think the book included some of the women from the 14 writers that appeared in "The Modern Japanese Writers Collection (143 volumes).  I was surprised to find such book, so I read it although I could borrow Japanese books from the Little Tokyo library twice a month. 

Even now when I research on the Web for Japanese writers, I see the lists of male writers.  For instance, Donald Keene listed five important writers.  They are all males.   Foreigners always talk about Mishima and Tanizaki as though we have no other writers.   But availability in English is a problem.  It's really shame because Japanese language books are very creative.  I'm reading Genji Monogatari and find it so interesting.  I read some English translations of it, but the fun part is missing.  So I hope I can fill the gaps through my blogs.  I enjoy it.  I can do this for the rest of my life. 

I don't remember all, but Nogami Yaeko was one of the writers in the Princeton book I borrowed from Claremont.  I was impressed with her short story.  The story was about her renting of her room upstairs.   A stranger comes to see the room, but the negotiation fails.  The stranger says something so revealing in such a subtle but clear way as she leaves.  That story must be my most favorite among the collection because I still remember.  Nogami Yaeko's husband was also a writer, and he was a regular to the most famous writer Nastume Soseki's workshops.  Natume Soseki is the father of modern Japanese writing.  So her husband showed his wife's works to the most cerebrated Japanese writer and received his feedbacks.  So the male connection helps women.  The first story in "New Japanese Females Writers Collection" was also good.  It's "Yabu no Uguisu" (Cuckoos in bushes) by Miyake Kaho.  But the English evaluation I read on the web is not good.  It's a very poor evaluation similar to the critics of Murasaki-shikibu's Genji Monogatari.  I have to read the story one more time slowly, but the story is worldly, sophisticated, and enlightening.  The language is rooted in Edottko (Tokyo born language) not like Nogami Yaeko whose root language is not.  This is rare because most people in Tokyo are from outside.  So, most people today wouldn't notice the difference especially in writing.  What I want to say is that it is definitely not inferior to Nogami Yaeko's stories. 

Today, we have many active women writers, and also minority writers.  We have online sites for writers, too.  One of them is e-booker.  But you're right.  Probably not enough stories have been translated yet.  We have many literary awards, too.  A month ago, a young Persian woman won a new comer award from Bungakukai.  It is a prestigious literature award in Japan.  She is one of very few foreigners who write in Japanese.  That's really exciting.  And last week, I read in newspapers that pieces of an eighth century Persian ceramic were found in Nara.  I get very excited with this kind of news.

Thank you for taking time to comment on my blog.

Keiko Amano

Teramis,

That's great.  Readers can use the information also.  Thank you.

Also Wendy Tokunaga and Eve Kushner are authors, and they are members in red room.  They probably have more information on the Japanese literature in the U.S. than I do.

I'm far from an expert of Japanese literature or history, but because I didn't study much growing up, I'm trying to catch up right now.  Listening to this kind of my comment, a Japanese friend of mine said, "You're lucky that you hadn't studied."  She meant, therefore I'm enjoying it right now.  I thought hers is a great point of view.

The Japanese culture and literature are like a huge treasure chest.  Growing up, all of my family members often chatted about Japanese history and literature and recited classic poems.  I liked the Beatles than their interest, but now I appreciate that experience very much.  Besides, each of us has a different background, so the interpretation is unique.  It is the most democratic enjoyment.

Keiko Amano