Japanese Novels

"There are various reasons why an individual might habitually consume large quantities of alcohol, but they all effectively boil down to the same thing. Five years ago, my business partner was a happy drunk. Three years later, he had become a moody drunk. And by the last summer, he was fumbling at the knob of the door to alcoholism. As with most habitual drinkers, he was nice-enough, regular-if-not-exactly-sharp kind of guy. He thought so too. That's why he drank. Because it seemed that with alcohol in his system, he could more fully embody this idea of being that kind of guy."

"We can, if we so choose, wander aimlessly over the continent of the arbitrary. Rootless as some winged seed blown about on a serendipitous spring breeze. Nonetheless, we can in the same breath deny that there is any such thing as coincidence. What's done is done, what's yet to be is clearly yet to be. In other words, sandwiched as we are between the "everything" that is behind us and the "zero" beyond us, ours is an ephemeral existence in which there is neither coincidence nor possibility. In actual practice, however, distinctions between the two interpretations amount to precious little. A state of affairs (as with most face-offs between interpretations) not unlike calling the same food by two different names. So much for metaphors."

"Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit."

"There are symbolic dreams—dreams that symbolize some reality. Then there are symbolic realities—realities that symbolize a dream. Symbols are what you might call honorary town councilors of the worm universe. In the worm universe, there is nothing unusual about a dairy cow seeking a pair of pliers. A cow is bound to get her pliers sometimes. It has nothing to do with me. Yet the fact that the cow chose me to obtain her pliers changes everything."

"Generally, people who are good at writing letters have no need to write letters. They've got plenty of life to lead inside their own context."

"“My biggest fault is that the faults I was born with grow bigger each year. It's like I was raising chickens inside of me. The chickens lay their eggs and the eggs hatch into other chickens, which then lay eggs.”"

"Speaking frankly and speaking the truth are two different things entirely. Honesty is to truth as prow is to stern. Honesty appears first and truth appears last."

"You have an interesting history. Now people can generally be classified in to two groups: the mediocre realists and the mediocre dreamers. You clearly belong to the latter. Your fate is and will always be the fate of dreamers."

"The world is mediocre. About that there is no mistake. Well then, has the world been mediocre since time immemorial? No. In the beginning, the world was chaos, and chaos is not mediocre. The mediocratization began when people separated the means of production from daily life."

"The negation of cognition thus correlates on the verbal level. For when those two pillars of Western humanism, individual cognition and evolutionary continuity, lose their meaning, language loses meaning. Existence ceases for the individuum as we know it, and all becomes chaos. You cease to be a unique entity unto yourself, but exist simply as chaos. And not just the chaos that is you ; you chaos is also my chaos. To wit, existence is communication, and communication, existence."

"“Everybody has some one thing they do not want to lose," began the man. "You included. And we are professionals at finding out that very thing. Humans by necessity must have a midway point between their desires and their pride. Just as all objects must have a center of gravity. This is something we can pinpoint. Only when it is gone do people realize it even existed.”"

""Body cells replace themselves every month. Even at this very moment," she said, thrusting a skinny back of her hand before my eyes, "most everything you think you know about me is nothing more than memories.”"

"“Sheep hurt my father, and through my father, sheep have also hurt me.”"

"Looking at things this way," she said, comparing the left and right side of the chronology, "we Japanese seem to live from war to war."

"The house kept its own time, like the old-fashioned grandfather clock in the living room. People who happened by raised the weights, and as long as the weights were wound, the clock continued ticking away. But with people gone and the weights unattended, whole chunks of time were left to collect in deposits of faded life on the floor."

"There's nothing worse than waking up in total darkness. It's like having to go back and live life all over from the beginning. When I first opened my eyes, iy esd sd ig I ertr living someone' else's life. After an extremely long time, this began to match up with my own life. A curious overslap this, my own life as some else's. It was improbabblr that such a person as myself could even be living."

"Time. Particles of darkness configured mysterious patterns on my retina. Patterns that degenerated without a sound, only to be replaced by new patterns. Darkness but darkness alone was shifting, like mercury in motionless space. I put a stop to my thoughts and let time pass. Let time carry me along. Carry me to where a new darkness was configuring yet newer patterns."

"I guess I felt attached to my weakness. My pain and suffering too. Summer light, the smell of a breeze, the sound of cicadas - if I like these things, why should I apologize?"

"A friend to kill time is a friend sublime."

"“Weakness is something that rots in the body. Like gangrene. I’ve felt that ever since I was a teenager. That’s why I was always on edge. There’s this something inside you that’s rotting away and you feel it all along.”"

"I watched an old American submarine movie on television. The creaking plot had the captain and first officer constantly at each other’s throat. The submarine was a fossil, and one guy had claustrophobia. But all that didn’t stop everything from working out well in the end. It was an everything-works-out-in-the-end-so-maybe-war’s-not-so-bad-after-all sort of film. One of these days they’ll be making a film where the whole human race gets wiped out in a nuclear war, but everything works out in the end."

"The song is over. But the melody lingers on."

"There's that kind of money in the world. It aggravates you to have it, makes you miserable to spend it, and you hate yourself when it's gone. And when you hate yourself, you feel like spending money. Except there's no money left. And no hope."

"“The Boss is an honorable man. After the Lord, the most godly person I've ever met." "You've met God?" "Certainly. I telephone Him every night.”"

"Mediocrity is a constant, as one Russian writer put it. Russians have a way with aphorisms. They probably spend all winter thinking them up."

"“I think I just don’t like names. Basically, I can’t see what’s wrong with calling me ‘me’ or you ‘you’ or us ‘us’ or them ‘them.”"

"There's not a branch of publishing or broadcasting that doesn't depend in some way on advertising. It'd be like an aquarium without water. Why, ninety-five percent of the information that reaches you has already been preselected and paid for."

"The basic stupidity of modern Japan is that we’ve learned absolutely nothing from our contact with other Asian peoples."

"In my heart, I really do long for that kind of drama because there is truth in those television shows. Because there's the introduction, development, turn, and resolution; there's an explosion of emotions, and there's the conclusion. . . On the other hand, our lives continually are filled with dim, dreamy anxiety, and there are no easily understood dramas, situations, or confrontations—nothing at all like that. . . Isn't that sort of absurd? I'm twenty, and you're twenty-two, Satou. Even so, we've never really loved anyone, hated anyone, fought as a result of love or hate, or had any of those experiences at all. It's terrible!"

"Those who believe will be saved! We must make something we ourselves can believe in order to bring meaning to our lives! And the meaning will be how we live on with our incredible new religion!"

"Defining Satou Tatsuhiro as party A and Misaki Nakahara as party B, the two parties agree to the following: A will not start to hate B. In fact, A will start to like B. A will never change his mind. A will never have a change of heart. When one party is lonely, the other always will be at his or her side. As B is always lonely, basically A always will be at B's side. If we do this, I think our lives probably will move in a good direction. I think the painful times will go away. If you break this contract, the penalty is ten million yen."

"Come on, what idiot could have come up with such a stupid scenario? It was me. I was the very person who had written the original outline for the story. I grew sad. It was a bittersweet sadness, because I thoroughly understood the scenario of the game: Soldiers taking a stand against evil. This had been our exact desire; we had wanted to fight an evil organization; we had wanted to fight villains. If a war had broken out, we would have joined the JSDF36 right away and launched kamikaze attacks. That definitely would have been a meaningful way to live and an attractive way to die. Had there been villains in the world, we would have battled them. Fists raised in the air, we would have fought. There was no mistake about it. There weren't any villains, though. The world was just complicated in various ways, and there weren't any obvious villains to be found. It was excruciating."

"The purpose of the Hitojichi Kokankai: Members will exchange hostages with each other; you offer your lives to each other, as hostages. In other words, it means, "if you die, I die, too, dammit!" If we agree to this, then we will be unable to act, like nuclear powers, glaring at each other during a cold war. And even if we want to die, we will be unable to. If the situation turns into, "I don't care, even if you die," then this group's system has failed. Let's make sure that it doesn't become that way!"

"According to the results of my research, not just hikikomori, but all emotional problems are caused by an inability to conform to one's environment. Basically, because you can't get along well with the world, various difficulties arise."

"In short, if you can't be self-confident, then just imagine the person you're speaking to as even more of a failure than you think you are!"

""I just kept thinking and thinking, 'what are we missing?' There's something missing from us. There's a big hole in our chests, so I wanted something to fill that hole. I wanted something to make me content. That's it. Yesterday, our religious observation reinforced my meditation on the subject. Everyone is uncertain. In this incomprehensible world, we want to be ordered around by someone else, and that's why we made God. The dual antagonism between God and Satan explains the world more easily. You see? That strong, simple story! I honestly was affected!"

"However, the largest source of rage is his own cowardice. He is poor because he lacks the skill with which to earn money. He has no girlfriend because he lacks charisma. But the process of seeing this truth and acknowledging his own incompetence requires quite a bit of courage. No human being, regardless of who they might be, wants to look directly at their own shortcomings."

"A normal life within society would be impossible for someone like me, who cried so unsuccessfully to apply Freudian analysis to last night's dream. My dream featured indulging in an impure heterosexual relationship in a small room with the female upperclassman from high school, and my analysis suggested only that it indicated a subconscious desire to indulge an impure heterosexual relationship in a small room with the female upperclassman from high school. My final result concluded, "What part of this is a dream interpretation? You're just reiterating the same thing!""

"Listen to me, Satou. Women. . . they aren't people. No, they're not normal humans. In fact, it might not be an exaggeration to say that they're unbelievably close to being inhuman monsters. Therefore, there's no need to go out of your way like this. What does it matter if you're scorned by some female?"

"Our reason and instinct are in opposition, but we can't get rid of either one. Given that, what are we meant to do? Compromise appropriately and start trying to date girls? Get married and try having kids? That is, after all, the conventional path. However, I discovered. . . women. . . those things just aren't human. Instead, they may, in fact, be closer to monsters. About a year ago, I realized the truth. While I was working at a convenience store to earn my tuition, all kinds of things happened. They're really terrible memories, and I don't want to think about them anymore."

""We wanted to smile casually and happily each day; we wanted to enjoy a normal, average, invigorating daily life. The incomprehensibly rough waves of fate have made it impossible, though—so, cry in despair! We really wanted to be useful to everyone, to be respected by everyone, to live in harmony with everyone. Now, though, we're lolicon hikikomori—so, cry in despair! You must cry!"

"I didn't really understand Yamazaki's anger, but becoming furious allowed him to put off thinking about these problems. He acted as though he would simply not commit to anything, even if everything caved in around him. I decided to follow his example and just avoid reality for the time being."

"Someone that beautiful should be able to live a carefree life. In actuality, there's nothing to do about a useless, recurring depression. A person could become disconsolate or angry. Even if they're enraged enough to punch something, they won't find a target. A huge organization. . . They wish that some huge, evil organization existed. That becomes our dream... Terrible things inundate the world. This world is wrapped in complex, messed-up, senseless, and incomprehensible misfortune and sadness."

"Name of hikikomori: Satou Tatsuhiro. Name of escape supporter: Misaki Nakahara. Defining the hikikomori as party A and the supporter as party B, the following has been contracted between the two parties. A will confess to B all anguish, complication, complaints, whines, and every other inward thought concerning escape from hikikomori life. B will do everything in his or her power to aid A’s escape from hikikomori life and to make his or her return to society (noted as C) succeed. Additionally, during the process toward C, B will attempt in preserve the emotional stability of A. Conversely, A will speak politely to B. A will obediently do anything that B instructs. Furthermore, A will not treat B as an obnoxious person. A will not treat B cruelly. Naturally, violent acts, such as hitting or kicking, shall not be performed. Counseling shall take place every evening at the Mita Fourth District park. Come after eating dinner. If A observes the contract, A should move toward C. If A breaks the contract, the penalty is one million yen."

"Don't worry, I used the blunt end of the knife." - to Keiichi Maebara"

"I’m the only one that can help you, Keiichi-kun. I won’t allow you to transfer away..." - to Keiichi Maebara"

"Hello, Keiichi. Found you..." - to Keiichi Maebara"

"How many Sundays - how many hundreds of Sundays like this - lay ahead of me? "Quiet, peaceful, and lonely," I said aloud to myself."

"I would stare at the grains of light suspended in that silent space, struggling to see into my own heart. What did I want? And what did others want from me? But I could never find the answers. Sometimes I would reach out and try to grasp the grains of light, but my fingers touched nothing."

"Each day the sun would rise and set, the flag would be raised and lowered. Each Sunday I would have a date with my dead friend's girl. I had no idea what I was doing or what I was going to do."