On ‘Kitchen’

One writer said, “The first step in creative writing is to edit reality.” That’s exactly what Banana Yoshimoto did in her novella “Kitchen.” My friend, Oliver Smith, who is very familiar with Japanese culture moved out of our city into a country area and gifted the book to me.

What is most remarkable about Yoshimoto’s piece is that it was written at the age of 24. The English translation arrived by the hand of Megan Backus in 1993. Since then, Yoshimoto has naturally gone on to better and greater works. “Kitchen” did make it into filmography in Japan and Hong Kong.

In 102 pages, she brings to us a bit of Japanese thinking and culture. Additionally, she enlists a bit of American culture that had spread to the Far East. For example, she writes, “I pulled the futon into the deathly silent, gleaming kitchen. Wrapped in a blanket, like Linus, I slept.” Futon is a traditional Japanese type of bedding (usually a mattress with a comforter or quilt cover) that one can fold and store away to allow space to serve other purposes during the day. It is a bit similar to the Korean “yo” which is a sleeping mat placed on the floor with a covering for use as a bed. And, you know Linus, which is a common first name in Sweden, as the fictional character in the comic strip Peanuts. He was always attached to a blue comfort security blanket.

Yoshimoto even captures some Americanisms in her writing. For example: In a table conversation in which two are speaking: “… It makes me very happy. So happy I feel like shouting it from the rooftops.” … “What kind of talk is that? Sounds like it was translated from English.” Of course, you recognize the idiom alluding to climbing on a roof to proclaim or announce publicly some news so as to be heard by as many people as possible.

Mikage Sakurai, the primary character, worked part-time as a culinary assistant in a cooking school and her favorite of all places was a kitchen, whether it was spotlessly clean or dirty. The kitchen was a consolation to her in the times when she faced hard realities and needed to adjust and adapt to losses in her life.

So, what’s the story about? It centers around Mikage whose ‘family steadily decreased one by one,’ leaving her alone. Then, came along Yuichi Tanabe (the second primary character) who befriended her and invited her to live with his family of two who gave her unconditional support. Later, Mikage stated,” My God - in this gigantic universe there can’t be a pair like us.” The older sister of sleep robbed the both of them of family members and left them forlorn and desolate to share loneliness together in this big, big world.

A supporting character “he/she” Eriko Tanabe and I will not say more about this individual lest I give away a good part of the story. Anyway, Erika imparted philosophical advice to young Mikage: “If a person wants to stand on her own two feet, I recommend undertaking the care and feeding of something. It could be children, or it could be houseplants, you know? By doing that you come to understand your own limitations. That’s where it starts.”