BIG IN JAPAN
Banana Yoshimoto
 The
biographical blurb inside Yoshimoto' novel N.P. reads: "Banana Yoshimoto was born in
1964. She has won numerous prizes in her native Japan, and her first book, Kitchen, has
sold millions of copies worldwide. She lives in Tokyo." Not exactly packed with
detail. So who is Banana Yoshimoto?
Yoshimoto Mahoko was born on July 24 1964, and is the daughter of Yoshimoto Takaaki, aka
Ryumei, probably the most famous and influential Japanese philosopher and critic to emerge
out of the 1960s New Left. (Ryumei's notoriety of late has mostly been due to his nearly
drowning a couple of times in the last few years). In addition to having a famous father,
Mahoko's sister, the cartoonist Haruno Yoiko, is also a public figure. Mahoko grew up in a
leftist, liberal family with significantly more freedom than the typical Japanese teenager
and, while she was still in high school, she moved in with her boyfriend. After graduating
from the literature department of Nihon University's Art College, Mahoko took the
deliberately androgynous pseudonym "Banana" and began to write seriously. One of
the chief influences on her writing, both in terms of style and content, was the work of
Steven King (particularly his non-horror stories), whom she still greatly admires. Later
she developed less populist inspiration from the works of Truman Capote and Isaac Bashevis
Singer.
As it turned out, Banana was instantly successful. Her story "Moonlight Shadow"
won the Izumi Kyoka Prize in 1986 and she became a publishing sensation the next year with
the release of her debut novella Kitchen (published in English with
"Moonlight Shadow"). The two stories were written while she was working as a
waitress in Tokyo - often she would write during her breaks and slack periods at work -
and the book went on to win her the Umitsubame First Novel Prize. There have been two
films made of the story, a Japanese TV movie and a more widely released version produced
in Hong Kong by Yim Ho in 1997. So far the novel has had over sixty printings in Japan
alone. At the 1993 G7 summit, the Foreign Ministry even handed out copies of Banana's book
to foreign delegates. One wonders whether anyone at the ministry had read Kitchen, whose
two stories concern a transsexual father and a boy who dresses up in his dead girlfriend's
school uniform!
Since Kitchen, Banana has sold in excess of six million books in Japan and become
an internationally renowned author. She has produced eleven other novels and seven
collections of essays, only a handful of which have so far been translated into English.
Her most popular works include Sanctuary, Tsugumi (made into films by Ichikawa
Kon in 1990), N.P., Lizard (a collection of short stories), Amrita
(winner of the Murasakishikibu Prize), the novels Kanashii, Yokan, Honeymoon and SLY,
and the collections of essays Pineapple Pudding and Song from Banana.
Despite her phenomenal success, Banana has remained a somewhat enigmatic and down-to-earth
figure. She usually appears without make-up and dresses simply. Despite a long-term
relationship, and the fact that the characters in her last novel Honeymoon found
redemption by marrying, she maintains that marriage is unnecessary. The fact that her own
mother fell in love with her father when she was married to another man has undoubtedly
influenced her view of relationships. Certainly the majority of her characters enjoy
rather unconventional relationships and lead what most would consider atypical Japanese
lives.
These days Banana has the security of success. "Banana Mania," it seems, is now
impervious to bad reviews, with sales of the unremarkable and simplistic Amrita
being largely unaffected by its critics. Now Banana writes to please herself, putting in
at least thirty minutes at the keyboard every day, and says, "I tend to feel guilty
because I write these stories almost for fun." Certainly her readers would agree that
she offers escapism, fun, and a view of modern Japanese life still tinted with a touch of
the traditional sense of mono no aware - the pathos of things.
Matt
Wilce |
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