Strange Weather in Tokyo in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jun 05, 2021 Karen Witzler rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, japan, women-in-translation

Strange Weather in Tokyo is a May/December romance of a sort. The book is more about a modern form of loneliness. Tsukiko (40ish) and Sensei (65/70ish) are teacher and pupil, potential life partners who by a trick of their present incarnations are 30 years apart in age. Hiromi Kawakami delicately sketches the two of them gradually becoming aware of their mutual attraction and complementary natures in a series of vignettes inside and outside of Satoru's bar. Beautiful descriptions of Japanese bar ...more

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Sep 06, 2023 Alison Rose rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2-star-books, women-authors, read-in-2023, poc-authors, translated-works

I know given their ages that the dynamic between these two characters wasn't actually creepy. But it sure felt creepy!

This was a bit weird. More than a bit. A bit to the tenth power. I understand this is meant to be sort of slice-of-life, and that's fine. I'm often into those kind of stories. But for that to work, the characters need to be really fleshed out and interesting, and these two just weren't at all. I could barely tell you anything about them, personality-wise, and I could not figure o I know given their ages that the dynamic between these two characters wasn't actually creepy. But it sure felt creepy!

This was a bit weird. More than a bit. A bit to the tenth power. I understand this is meant to be sort of slice-of-life, and that's fine. I'm often into those kind of stories. But for that to work, the characters need to be really fleshed out and interesting, and these two just weren't at all. I could barely tell you anything about them, personality-wise, and I could not figure out for the life of me why they were into each other, why they kept up this very bizarre pseudo-friendship for so long, and definitely not why she suddenly claimed to be in love with him, and he with her later on. It felt like one of these "here is a man and a woman in each other's vicinity, obviously they're gonna be DTF eventually" situations. Which are always annoying! There was just zero chemistry or explanation whatsoever.

And then...so, Tsukiko is 38 and Sensei is about 30 years older, so late 60s. I have no problem at all with large age gaps in relationships, especially if the younger person is nearly middle-aged. HOWEVER. If we weren't ever told her age, I would absolutely have guessed Tsukiko to be in her early 20s at most, and more like late teens. She just acted so petulant and whiny and moody all the time, and had no hallmarks of growth or wisdom or personality that someone in their late 30s should have. Even though I knew her age, I could not see her as such. Sensei just came across like a strange older man--if I hadn't known his age, I probably might've guessed mid to late 50s or so. And that dynamic would absolutely be a little uncomfy! Especially the way she sometimes almost behaves like a daughter toward him, and he was always patting her head, it was just...it gave me a slight case of the ick. Why make your female character 38 if you're going to give her the characterization of someone who maybe can't even legally drink alcohol yet? (I looked it up--in Japan, it's 20.) (For me, it's "one day older than whatever exact age at which I die".)

There were a few charming moments, and I liked the author's use of descriptive language and some of her comments about time and its fleeting nature. But there were also moments that I suppose were meant to be charming and were just inane. When Tsukiko first goes to Sensei's house and he brings out his collection of teapots from railway station cafes, I was like...okay, cute, I guess. Kind of gives big "8-year-old showing you his action figures" energy, but fine. Then he brings her all these plastic bags filled with dead batteries that he's labeled with what item the batteries had been in, like a calculator and stuff. And I was like...what in the electrochemical fuck is happening? I was expecting the next collection he brought out to show her to be like, teeth he extracted from roadkill and labeled with the name of the road where he found them.

Yeah, I don't know. The word Strange in the title is doing a lot of work. ...more

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Jan 17, 2018 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, fiction, international, translated-into-english, diversity, 2018-reading-challenge

Strange Weather in Tokyo is my first foray into work translated from Japanese to English, and it's a lovely introduction. Lovely is the best word to describe the lean and yet descriptive writing, the spare and yet resonant dialogue, and the aching emotions underlying it all. Tsukiko and her Sensei both seem like strangely awkward and prickly people, decent but lonely, in their solo orbits. Watching their slow growth into friendship and connection, where before there was nothing, is beautiful. It ...more

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