Suicide
This novel is the fifth entry in a series of works by the author that focus on the Yamanote Line, a double looping subway circling around heart of Tokyo. This line has become inextricably linked to the high suicide rate in Japan because so many suicide attempts—usually successful—have taken place along it. This story is actually narrated by what appears to be the ghost of the main character. He is a member of Japan’s substantial population of homeless elderly. The previous stories in this series are show standing on a train platform as they contemplate suicide, but none are actually shown making the jump in front of the train. The treatment of the theme of suicide in this novel is more abstract and allusive. Rather than making the obvious choice of either beginning or ending the story with the protagonist on the platform, suicide is subconsciously embedded into the narrative through connecting the idea Kazu as a ghost, the historical connection between the train station and Japanese suicide rates, and the abundance of characters who seem destined for that decision at some point.
Living Ghosts
Whether Kazu is actually a ghost narrating his story or not is beside the point. Or, technically, it is the point. Whether he dead or alive, Kazu is a member of the invisibles of society. The only time the homeless are come to the attention of most people is when they become a personal nuisance. This idea even extends to visually perceiving them when they are not a nuisance. Perceiving them with the eye and registering their existence with the mind are two different things. Kazu leads a productive life for most of his existence. Productive for the benefit of others, admittedly, but it is not as if his homeless status has been a lifelong condition. He is not a bum. He is one of those people who do the work that results in the glory of others—like helping with the construction of Tokyo in preparation for their re-entry onto the global stage with the 1964 Olympics. Kazu, despite being one countless many Japan depended upon to bring them back into the good graces of the world after World War II, has been little more than a ghostly presence all his life.
Critique of the Empire
Kazu was born in the same year as the future Emperor of Japan, Akihito. His son—dead by the present day of the narrative—was born on the very same day as Akihito’s son and successor, Naruhito. The link between Kazu and the Japanese Royal Family is further connected by his pride in retelling the story of how he had once seen Akihito’s infamous father, Emperor Hirohito, in person just one day shy of the second anniversary of bombing of Hiroshima. The stories of the two families are juxtaposed against each other to illuminate the ironic inequity of the position of Emperor being officially designed “the symbol of the State and of the unity of the People” of Japan. While people like Kazu did the heavy lifting and remained invisible and lost his wife and child, the royal family enjoyed unearned privilege and wealth and attention.
