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Chanko - nabe (1)

by ammonite 

Posted: 28 April 2004
Word Count: 1561
Summary: This was going to be a short story but it's rapidly becoming a long short story so I'm going to post it in chunks.


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The first time I lived in Tokyo was in 19__, in my last year of school, when I worked the summer at Disneyland. I won an internship in an essay competition. The title of my essay was ‘The Importance of a Smile’.

I was sent to stay with my uncle, who lived with his wife in a two-bedroomed apartment. They began trying for a child as soon as they were married, and decided that their first home should have room. Six years later, the room was still empty. According to the tests, neither of them was completely infertile, so there had always been hope.

The day before my induction I arrived at the house. My uncle was a slight, balding man, but in the small lift he still towered over me. I have always been little. He ushered me into the flat and showed me the room. It had been decorated in a neutral colour, and there were no mobiles or toys or anything like that, but I still felt that I was trespassing. I had a lot of stuff, it seemed – more than I could ever remember carrying on my own before. I had told my parents firmly that I was quite alright to travel to Tokyo on my own, and that I would get a taxi from the station. My mother cried and told me how grown-up I was, and to be careful, and that Tokyo was full of strange things and I should be careful, and I told her she had already told me that and she cried some more. I didn’t cry. I don’t know what I felt. Nothing, I guess. My mind was full of skyscrapers, and I couldn’t see my family at all.

My aunt arrived home from the store with two bags of groceries. I tried to help her unpack but of course I didn’t know where anything went.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, as I opened the door to the waste disposal unit.
‘It’s fine. The tofu goes in that cupboard there – no – there, yes, that’s it. This way, you can find out where everything lives and we can have a catch-up. So, you won a prize!’
‘Yes. I want to do a degree in marketing, so this internship will be great experience.’

She asked me all the usual questions, about my family, my studies. I began to relax a little and the walls of the kitchen retreated slightly.

As we sat down to eat there was a great thump that seemed to shake the building. I thought for a moment that there was going to be an earthquake. My uncle, noticing my confusion, laughed, and said;
‘Don’t worry – it’s just the sumo wrestlers training next door. Sometimes they make a terrible crash! But the old place hasn’t fallen down yet.’
Over dinner I told my uncle all the things I had told my aunt in the kitchen. She listened with perfect attentiveness, as if hearing them for the first time. The city made so much noise, even through a closed window: cars, aeroplanes, sirens, drunken shouts, and the occasional discreet rattle and crash, from what I imagined was the dojo.

I had been to Disneyland once before, when I was nine years old, and I had loved every moment. From the first sign on the freeway to the characters from the TV screen made flesh, to the scary rides and even the queues, I was as happy as I can remember being. So this job was a big deal for me. Also, it was a real job, with training, not like helping out in the fish restaurant in my home town, clearing tables and fetching more sake.

I had received a letter from the company, detailing every possible thing I could want to know about my internship. At the bottom of the letter, Yukio Mishima, Vice President of Marketing, had handwritten; “Great Essay! Look forward to making your acquaintance!”
I had been told to go to the main gate and give my name. They issued me with a plastic laminate pass and directed my to a small building about a hundred yards away. I pushed the buzzer and was led into a smart set of offices. There were six of us. Four girls and two boys. The person who gave the induction was not Yukio Mishima. He was not much older than we were.

‘Okay, please let me introduce myself; I am Toshiro Watanabe, Assistant Marketing Officer here at Tokyo’s Disneyland. I would firstly like to congratulate you all on winning a place here. I myself won the same competition not so many years ago, and I can assure you that it will stand you in very good stead for your university applications and job prospects. Who knows, you might even secure a position here!
As you will have read in your information packs, your internship will take in all aspects of working life at Disneyland. You will each rotate through six areas, working a week in each. You will be given a roster with your shifts, which will include some evenings and weekends. You will be given written assignments to complete based on your experience; these are very important and will be taken into consideration when we come to write your references. Any questions so far?’ No hands were raised.

We were taken on a whistle-stop tour of the complex. I sat next to a girl whose name was _____. She lived in a rich suburb of Tokyo and seemed bored with the idea of working already. Before I could meet anyone else we were siphoned off to our first position. Mine was on the reception desk of the African Savannah Hotel. I was introduced to the duty manager who was told to take good care of me.

One morning before work I went looking for the dojo. It was an old building, surrounded by a wooden veranda, set back across a large courtyard where a few chickens scratched in the dust. The concrete apartment building in which I lived loomed up behind. Delicious smells emanated from what must have been the kitchens, mingling with sweat, and laundry drying, overpowering the usual city smells, and a man’s voice called out, to be met with the response of twenty answering in unison. I hovered around the gate, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fighters. I had only seen the wrestling on television.

Suddenly a man burst across the courtyard right in front of me, carrying an armful of vegetables. I was so startled that I screamed, which in turn startled him, so that he dropped some of them. He lunged to rescue them and tripped, sprawling on the floor. He leapt up and began gathering the vegetables, and I hurried across to help him. He looked up and said;
‘Don’t you think you’ve got me into enough trouble?’
When I saw his face I realised that, although he was much bigger than my father, he was no older than I.
‘I’m sorry – ‘ I said – ‘I was just looking, and you did scare me’.
His face was flushed as he scraped together a bundle of spring onions that had scattered across the courtyard.
‘Look at this mess!’ he said, ‘The sensei is going to kill me!’ He paused for a moment and looked up. ‘What are you doing here, anyway? Don’t you know that girls aren’t allowed?’
‘I work at Disneyland. I just moved here from ____________.’
‘You don’t look old enough to work at Disneyland’, he said.
‘You don’t look old enough to be a sumo wrestler’. I answered.
He smiled shyly. ‘I have to go. What’s your name?’
‘Mieko. What’s yours?’
‘Kizuki, but everyone calls me Mr Chanko’, he shouted as he hurried off.

My first few days at Disneyland were wonderful. I set my alarm for five a.m., showered, did my hair and put on make-up, walked to the station, bought a pear and a newspaper, and caught the six thirty train. I experimented with the different routes I could take, and every new thing I saw excited me – a stray dog, a noodle bar, a disused park, a canal. Most of the time I spent on the reception desk, checking people in, taking messages, and once I helped organise the working hours for the following week. My boss was kind and polite and went out of his way to explain what he was doing all the time.

I was very tired in the evenings and, although I offered to help with the chores, I usually just ate and went to bed. I had brought two books from my father’s library – a copy of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. I had begun Anna Karenina on the train down, but after reading the opening pages several times, had put it to one side. On the other hand, Dickens’ vivid description of the boy on the marshes and the terrifying convict had drawn me immediately and I had read almost a hundred pages. I never read for very long, and once I awoke at midnight to find I still had my glasses on and the book in my hand. The whole of the first week went by and my route did not take me past the dojo once.






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Comments by other Members



scottwil at 13:42 on 28 April 2004  Report this post
Very unusual Alex. There's a kind of unadorned reportage style and structure to the sentences that I find very convincing in building the character of Mieko. It's very ambitious and very hard to pull off. But I think you're doing it.
I love the idea of the blanks and the essay title is an inspired touch.
I'll certainly read more when you post.
Best
Sion

Salty at 21:20 on 28 April 2004  Report this post
Alex, there is a gentle flow to this work, quite sedate and soothing. I also echo your thoughts about it being a much longer work.

I am not hot shot on the grammer, but I picked up;

I sat next to a girl whose name was _____

and the repetition of the word 'careful'

to be careful, and that Tokyo was full of strange things and I should be careful, and

I felt the last paragraph peetered out into a sort of hopeless feeling, loosing the buoyancy of the earlier parts, as if it needed to be going somewhere a bit more desisive. I do not know if this is deliberate or not.

Cheers and look forward to reading more,
Ian

ShayBoston at 07:44 on 29 April 2004  Report this post
Alex,

This is very interesting. I like the style you have written this in, as though from another culture. I would definitely like to read more. Meiko seems a wide-eyed innocent. Do you plan some kind of awakening for her?

One thing threw me. In fact it really distracted me. You called the VP of Marketing Yukio Mishima. I'm not sure whether this was deliberate or not.

For those that don't know, Yukio Mishima was one of the most famous Japanese writers ever. He committed suicide in 1970 by falling on his sword.

Regards,

Shay

Nell at 08:23 on 29 April 2004  Report this post
Hi Alex,

I loved the quiet tone of this, the conviction that the character you'd created was real and the events described true. You take the reader to Tokyo with an economy of means - we're transported - and I reached the end all too quickly. The image of the dojo and the sumo tradition - can one call it a tradition? - in the heart of the modern city was appealing, and the hint of a romance to follow was subtle and rather lovely, although perhaps I'm on the wrong track, nevertheless I long to find out! Beautifully written too, a joy to read, look forward to the next installment.

N.B. I noticed one little typo - a speech mark missing from the beginning of a new para: As you will have read in your information packs...

Best, Nell.

ammonite at 08:41 on 29 April 2004  Report this post
Dear Sion, Ian, Shay and Nell,

Your collective perception is a little frightening... Absolutely everything that you've spotted is deliberate... Apart from Yukio Mishima, who, to my shame, I've never heard of. Don't know whether to change that or try and make it a feature.

Thank you all a thousand times for the brilliant and understanding comments - the rest of the story will be all the better for the input at this stage. God bless Writewords!

Alex xx

Ralph at 10:56 on 29 April 2004  Report this post
Hi Alex,

This is superbly written. The openness and the honesty of the prose is extremely inviting, and the tone really sets both age and location of the narrator perfectly...

I loved the idea of her mind being "filled with skyscrapers", and of the kitchen walls retreating... And the scene with Mr Chanko and the vegetables is just... well, it's all brilliant.

Only one query... and I'm probably about to make a complete idiot of myself here... It's been the longest time since I read David Copperfield, so I could be wrong, but this sounded much more like the opening of Great Expectations to me...??

I might get shot for saying this as well... but Paul Schrader made a beautiful film about Mishima's works and the life that surrounded them that I'd highly recommend as an introduction if you're interested... "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters"....

Really looking forward to more of this. It is so beautiful.

All the best with it

Huggs

Ralph

ammonite at 15:48 on 29 April 2004  Report this post
Dearest Ralph,

Doh. Of course it's great expectations. I'll check out Yukio Mishima and try and track down the film post haste as well. Anyone have any book recommendations?

BTW - is your move to Dublin? Any chance you'll pass through London on the way??

Alex x



Becca at 20:39 on 29 April 2004  Report this post
Alex, I really liked the economy of style here, and the story kept my interest throughout. I feel as if something is going to happen to this girl. I thought it a unique touch the way she compares herself to the sizes of other people. Funnily enough I was reading some of Lafcadio Hearn's strange stories, (kwaidans), of Japan a while back, I don't know if you've come across him?
Do we hear more about modern Tokyo in the part to follow?
The blanks that you left, a funny old convention from the 19th century, did you put them there to link up with having read 'Great Expectations'?
Becca.

Elkman at 21:01 on 29 April 2004  Report this post
Hello Alex,

Great story. There is a patience and poise in your writing which reflects the Japanese sensibility and Mieko's thoughtful character perfectly.

I also love the way that you write about the excitement of being in a new place and the detail that Mieko notices as a result of her heightened senses. I wonder, will Disneyland live up to her expections?

Oh, and cheers for the Yukio Mishima lead, Shay and Ralph. Sounds fascinating.

Mel


ShayBoston at 22:03 on 29 April 2004  Report this post
Mel,
Mishima's 'Acts Of Worship' is also an excellent short story collection.

Shay


ammonite at 13:58 on 30 April 2004  Report this post
Hi guys,

Thanks for the kind responses - I'm very touched and inspired to get the next chunk up soon. Becca - the blanks actually started because I'm not very good at Japanese names and places, and I thought I would fill them in at a later date, then I just decided I liked them... And rest assured, quite a few things are going to happen to Mieko... I've never heard of Lafcadio Hearn, but will add him to the ever-growing list of writers to check out.

I spent a very happy hour in Borders yesterday browsing a biography of Yukio Mishima. What an incredible character. Couldn't afford to buy the Sea of Tranquility books new (and certainly not from the evil chain), but will be getting down to them as soon as the library comes through!

cheers all,

Alex x


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