Elizabeth Lee
on
Banana Yoshimoto’s Asleep
 

 
As a basic human necessity, sleep is a very significant aspect of life. Both our mental and physical health depends on sleep, and throughout the ages, many cultures have also placed a spiritual emphasis on sleep and dreaming. Modern culture, as well, looks to sleep and dreams for answers. In movies like TheGift sleep is used to find answers and solutions to crimes, at other times dreams are interpreted to promote spiritual healing. Like food, water, and air, sleep is an important aspect of life, and, in many instances, it can be symbolic of our spiritual condition. Asleep, by Banana Yoshimoto also uses this highly significant feature of life to explore the spiritual states of her characters. Banana Yoshimoto’s collection of short stories, Asleep, includes three tales about young Japanese women dealing with sleep issues that signify underlying spiritual difficulties in their personal lives, each of which results in a Zen understanding of appreciating life, even in the toughest of times.

Banana Yoshimoto is the daughter of Yoshimoto Nahoko, one of Japan’s most famous philosophers and critics (Wilce). Yoshimoto’s upbringing contributed significantly to her writing. She was raised in an extremely liberal setting, enjoying much more freedom than most Japanese teenagers(Wilce). Her parents had an unusual relationship as well. When Yoshimoto’s father and mother met, her mother was married to another man. She fell in love with Yoshimoto Mahoko, however, and the two of them were married, giving birth to Banana. With such untraditional role models, and the absolute freedom to choose her own path in life, Banana Yoshimoto turned into a wonderfully independent, creative individual, and has succeeded greatly in her writing. Her individualist attitude and nontraditional ideas about interpersonal relationships may be seen continuously throughout her stories. So, the characters that Yoshimoto creates are unique, but not highly representative of traditional Japanese culture. The culture of Japan may, however, be witnessed through the eyes of her characters, and Japanese ideals do appear in many of their attitudes, including their ability to endure hardship through Zen sensibilities.

The first story in the collection entitled "Night and Night’s Travelers" deals with a girl, Shibami, who must deal with the loss of her brother, Yoshihiro. As a younger sibling, Shibami has admired her brother her whole life and has a great deal of trouble dealing with his death. Her cousin, Mari, however, is even worse off than she. Mari and Yoshihiro had a romantic relationship that was forbidden by their families. So, the couple had to sneak around to see each other. Mari poured her soul into her relationship with Yoshihiro, and when he died she was left with nothing. Her over-protective parents molded Mari into the quintessential Japanese debutante, providing her with private etiquette, music, and English lessons. So, when she sparks an interest in her cousin, he parents object because they want her to find a husband of higher social standing. In this struggle between Mari and her parents, the reader may see some of the social issues that occur within the nuclear Japanese family.

Yoshimoto begins the story while Yoshihiro is still living, dating an American girl named Sarah. He ends up going back to America with Sarah, but when the relationship does not work out he returns to Japan and begins his affair with Mari. Yoshimoto’s descriptions of Sarah and the Western influence that she represents signify an admiration for American culture. Shibami, the main character says, "I was writing to a real American Girl- a very kind, very pretty American Girl" (Yoshimoto 4). This admiration of the West is seen in Shibami’s interactions with Sarah throughout the story.

Upon returning to Japan, Yoshihiro and Mari begin their secret relationship, which Yoshimoto reveals sporadically by Shibami’s memories throughout the story. Bits and pieces of the events leading up to Yoshihiro’s death are revealed as Shibami remembers certain things. Meanwhile, Mari struggles to maintain equilibrium, displaying very odd behavior that Shibami cannot seem to figure out. Mari appears at Shibami’s window late at night, wearing no shoes in the snow. She also spends considerable amounts of time at dark, dusky bars all alone. Shibami labors to explain Mari’s behavior and eventually she comes to the realization that Mari has been sleepwalking. When she had shown up at Shibami’s house in the middle of the night she had actually been sleepwalking.

The sleepwalking is significant of the depression that Mari has gone into after Yoshihiro’s death. As Shibami tries to figure out her cousin’s ailment she reaches an understanding of what her cousin is dealing with. The ultimate reason that Yoshihiro died was related to Mari. The lovers had a plan to rendezvous at a café in secret. Alone on the road at night, with no one but Mari knowing of his whereabouts, Yoshihiro gets into a car accident and dies. Mari waits for him for hours, in vain. The final twist, which causes Mari so much anguish, is that Yoshihiro’s death was mostly dependent on the fact that their relationship was a secret. If someone had known where he was heading, they would have discovered his absence sooner and would have been able to get him to a hospital. So, Mari deals with this depression which presents itself in the form of sleepwalking.

Shibami eventually recognizes Mari’s condition and addresses the issue with her cousin. Asking Mari to spend the night, Shibami plans to talk with her cousin about her problem. Finally, Shibami tries to comfort Mari by explaining to her that the past year has been strange and trying, but that it has had "its own unique coloring" (Yoshimoto 64). Mari responds, saying, "It’ll be this kind of deep blue. The kind of color that somehow sucks in your eyes and your ears and all your words- the color of a completely closed-in night" (Yoshimoto 64). So, in the end, the two girls come to the realization that they have been swept up in mourning, missing out on the fullness of life. With a Zen-like attitude they give the difficult time period a beautiful label and move on with the intention of enjoying the rest of their days to the fullest.

Sentiments such as these may be seen in Japanese haikus. One such haiku says, "Violets have grown here and there/ one the ruins of my burned house" (AM 52). So, even though the poet has suffered tragedy, he is able to find beauty in life. Similarly, Shibami and Mari label their tragedy with a beautiful color and move on together.

The second story in the series entitled, "Love Songs", deals with some of the nontraditional relationship issues that Banana Yoshimoto likes to address. Once again, sleep indicates a spiritual dilemma when Fumi, an up and coming alcoholic hears haunting music as she drifts off to sleep. She slightly recognizes the voice of the person singing the song as a woman named Haru, who she was once in conflict with in a love triangle. Haru and Fumi had both been in a relationship with the same man. They even lived with the man at the same time, sometimes even sleeping with him together. Vehemently despising each other, the two women would fight and criticize each other mercilessly, hoping to chase the other away and have the man to themselves. Eventually, the man got fed up and fled to Paris, and the two women went their separate ways.

So, when Fumi begins to hear Haru’s voice singing to her as she drifts off to sleep, she begins to question her own sanity. Asking around about the whereabouts of Haru, Fumi discovers that her old acquaintance has recently died from alchoholism. She asks her current boyfriend, Mizuo for some advice, and he suggests that she go to see a medium to contact the spirit of Haru. Fumi follows his advice and meets up with Haru in a hypnotic state. The two women reminisce and discover that they never really hated each other, but that they may have even harbored some romantic feelings for each other.

Fumi comes out of her hypnotic trance refreshed, with a greater understanding of her condition. After talking with Haru and clearing up some of the misunderstanding of the past she feels as though her alcoholism will fade away. So, Haru’s "love song" was a spiritual Godsend, warning Fumi of the road ahead of her. Haru did not want her friend to die the way that she had. In this instance of a nontraditional love affair, sleep actually saves the main character from at least alcoholism if not death.

In this story we can see Yoshimoto’s unconventional ideals appear from her liberal background. She is completely comfortable with the idea of single sex relationships as well as psychics and ghosts. Although this is not a reliable cross section of Japanese culture, one may see the Zen ideals again in this story. Even though these two women were pitted against each other over their love for a man, they learn to step back and realize that they enjoyed each other’s company as well. Haru helps Fumi to see that she is rushing too quickly through life, drinking herself to sleep every night, and Fumi recognizes her need to slow down and enjoy life. The story even ends with a haiku-like moment. Yoshimoto says, "I felt sure that every time I saw the green of the trees in my garden awash in light from the street, I’d be struck by a sudden flicker of remembrance- the tail of that soft melody- and I’d chase along behind it, as if sniffing my way forward in pursuit of a pleasant scent" (Yoshimoto 102).

The final story, entitled "Asleep," is about a woman, Terako, who is involved with a married man whose wife is in a coma. Terako not only has to deal with this complexity, but she has also lost her best friend, Shiori, to suicide. To make matters even worse, Terako feels even more displaced because her boyfriend asked that she quit her job so that they could spend more time together, so she has no routine and ends up sleeping all day long. Mr. Iwanaga pays for all of Terako’s living expenses, so her job is to spend time with him. In a state of depression, she sleeps her time away when she is not with her boyfriend, becoming more and more detached from the outside world. Eventually, she sleeps for such an alarming amount of time that she scares herself into recognition of her problem. She stumbles down to the park near her apartment and sits down on a bench, where she immediately falls back asleep. A woman comes to Terako in a dream, telling her to get herself together and get a job. Slowly, Terako comes to recognize that the woman is Mr. Iwanaga’s wife who is in a coma. The woman tries to help her, saying, "We probably only ran into each other now because you’ve come so near to where I am…You see, your spirit and your psyche are both so drained, you’re terribly exhausted…But I have this feeling that I’m the reason you’re so exhausted.." (Yoshimoto 163). Mrs. Iwanaga recognizes that Terako is her husband’s future and she wants him to be happy, so she wants to help Terako. This is a beautiful example of the goodness of human nature. Banana Yoshimoto has a very positive opinion of human nature, creating characters that are ultimately kind and generous, like Mrs. Iwanaga and Haru. Although these women would traditionally be pitted against each other, they come together through their love for Mr. Iwanaga.

Terako takes Mrs. Iwanaga’s advice and gets her life back on track. In keeping with the previous stories, the main character comes to a Zen realization at the end of the story, having a haiku moment, an appreciation of life.

I felt like I’d just woken up a moment ago, and everything looked so clear and beautiful it was frightening. Everything really was gorgeous. Those crowds of people walking through the night, the light from the paper lanterns dotting the arcade, the line of my boyfriend’s forehead as he gazed straight up, eager for the fireworks to start, as we stood there in slightly cool wind- it was all so beautiful (Yoshimoto176). So, in the end Terako recognizes the simple beauty of life and is able to enjoy immensely simple things such as paper lanterns and the line of her boyfriend’s forehead.

The theme of appreciation of the obvious may be found in several haikus. One haiku reads, "When cherry trees bloom / birds have two legs / horses four" (FB 38). According to the footnote "The perfection of the flowers awakens the poet’s astonishment of the obvious." Terako has a similar experience, appreciating the simple beauty of life. This story also ends in theme with Zen tradition. --Paper by Elizabeth Lee.

Banana Yoshimoto masterfully creates these stories rich with three dimensional, contemporary characters, intriguing interpersonal relationships, and Zen ideology. With her liberal standards, these stories take on a modern, one-world effect, making them non-culture specific in many ways. The Zen attitude, however, give them a very Japanese feel. With the background of several Zen poets, one may pick up on these sentiments, such as the appreciation of every detail of life. Sei Shonagon is an example of a poet who picks up on simplicity, making the ordinary into the divinely beautiful in her poem "Elegan Things" she lists several ordinary items that bring her joy, such as "Duck eggs" or "A pretty child eating ice cream" (Shonagon 2289). All of the characters in these stories end up with a renewed sense of appreciation, enforced by such convictions.

The language that Yoshimoto utilizes is also in keeping with Japanese tradition. Like the Japanese haiku poets, Yoshimoto uses words very sparingly. In a minimalist fashion, she carefully chooses words to portray a very specific thought. Everything from the picture on the cover of her book, a simple, blue, cloudy background with a pillow, to the title of her book, Asleep, is very reserved, like many of the Japanese poets that we have read. Again, Sei Shonagon is a good example of this tradition. She uses an imagist approach to convey ideas, using a few, very descriptive words, like "Ugly handwriting on red paper" to convey an image of something she finds unattractive in "Unsuitable Things"(Shonagun 2290). Carefully chosen, sparse language is characteristic of Japanese writers like Yoshimoto and Shonagun.

Asleep, includes three stories about young Japanese women and the spiritual difficulties, which effect their sleep, combined with conclusions rooted in the Zen understanding of appreciating life. The modern nature of these stories decrease the cultural influence in them, however, it also contributes a universality that otherwise could not be attained. It could be for this reason that Banana Yoshimoto is a world-renowned writer. Her characters are both intriguing, and believable, and her subject matter is spiritual and profound. For these reasons, Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto is an entertaining and spiritually rewarding book. She addresses and issue of common human interest, sleep, and rouses a spiritual connection between the human and this necessity of life.