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E-book Japan in The Heisei Era (1989 - 2019) : Chapter Introduction

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Penilaian

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okyo Ueno Station: A Novel (JR Uenoeki K?enguchi, 2014) by Y? Miri recounts the heartbreaking life story of an unnamed man, born in the same year as the now Emperor Emeritus Akihito (b. 1933; reigned 1989–2019). The protagonist’s son was born on the same day as Akihito’s eldest son, the present Emperor Naruhito, on 23 February 1960. In more ways than one, the life of the protagonist intersected with the life of Japan’s imperial family and the national events they attended. But his life and that of Akihito could not have been more different. Born into a poor farming family in Yasawa Village in Fukushima Prefecture (today’s Hamad?ri, where the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini Nuclear Power Stations are located), the man left Fukushima and his family when his children were still young to become a migrant worker in Tokyo. Estranged from his family and the local community, the protagonist ends up homeless near Ueno train station, Tokyo’s northern gateway that once welcomed many farmers’ and fishermen’ children from the nation’s north during Japan’s postwar economic boom years. The story is told from the perspective of the man as a ghost, reflecting on the last day of his life that he ended by jumping off a platform at Ueno onto the tracks of the Yamanote Line. Y?’s narrative meanders through different moments, memories, and places mark-ing the man’s life. Though a fictional account, it is based on the novelist’s interviews with homeless individuals in Ueno and her research in Minamis?ma in Fukushima, one of the townships most affected by the 2011 nuclear accident, and where she has been living since 2015.Y?’s novel reminds us that the convergence of multiple factors—economic, historical, and political—leaves individuals like the protagonist in precarious circumstances. The story draws our gaze to more humbling realities that resonate with the gathering anxie-ties widespread in early twenty-first-century Japan. The power of Y?’s writing to move the reader highlights how cultural forms can offer the most engaging means of express-ing, interpreting, and comprehending the impact of larger social forces on individual lives. Above all, Tokyo Ueno Station calls attention to the duality of violence and invi-olability that mediates the relationship between the emperor and the people in Japan to this day. Central to Y?’s narrative is a visit to Ueno Park by Emperor Akihito and his wife Michiko, and the ‘sanitising’ of the area before their arrival that includes the police-enforced removal of the homeless and their makeshift shelters to avoid ‘spoiling the royal view.’ It is difficult to imagine a more emblematic setting than Ueno Park—the archetypal public space of modern Japan and a microcosm of the nation’s official culture—to stage this brief encounter between the emperor and the nation’s unnamed citizens.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

952 MUR j

Penerbit

London : Taylor & Francis., 2022

Deskripsi Fisik

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Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9780429273575

Klasifikasi

952

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

History of Japan

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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