Kaori Shoji’s “What This Means (a short-story about love and marriage in Japan during the pandemic)”

　Kaori Shojiさんの新しい小説“What This Means (a short-story about love and marriage in Japan during the pandemic)”が公開された。

　http://www.japansubculture.com/what-this-means-a-short-story-about-love-and-marriage-in-japan-during-the-pandemic/

　今日のGetUpEnglishはこの短篇小説を紹介してみる。

Rikako, my wife, was staying with her best friend from university, the one that hung around her all these years and never got married. She was pretty attractive too, the last time I saw her, which was what, 10 years ago? Now I couldn’t remember what this friend’s name was. Something that didn’t end in ‘ko’ meaning ‘child.’  In Japanese, the ‘ko’ at the end of a name indicated that the person was female which in this day and age, can raise questions about misogyny or gender discrimination but let’s just put that aside for now.

　赤字にしたあたりがそうだが、Shojiさんは英語でThe Japan Timesなどにたくさん記事を書いているが、日本の状況をさりげなく批判することが書かれていたりして、とても面白い。この人だから書けることだ。

　https://www.japantimes.co.jp/author/int-kaori_shoji/

　http://st.japantimes.co.jp/st_contributor_profile.htm?f=007

In Rikako’s case, the written characters of her name stood for ‘wisdom,’ ‘fragrance,’ and ‘child,’ and Rikako said she often felt uncomfortable by the sight of her written name. “It’s a little demeaning,” she had said, wrinkling her nose as if she smelled something bad. “Makes me feel like a little girl.” Then Rikako would get that look on her face, which was supposedly a cue for me to say something like “but you are my little girl. You’ll always be a young girl to me.” And then she would pretend to pout which was another cue for me to massage the back of her feet, and then we’d head off to the bedroom or just fuck on the floor. But for years I hadn’t taken that bait. I mean, come on, we’re both 45. That kind of ritual just doesn’t work anymore, not that it did when we were in our thirties.

　赤字にした部分、日本語でRikakoがどう書かれているか記されている。日本人の読者がいちばん楽しめるようにしてくれているのがありがたい。

　エンディングもいいし、すぐに読めるので、ぜひ最後まで読んでみてほしい。

　http://www.japansubculture.com/what-this-means-a-short-story-about-love-and-marriage-in-japan-during-the-pandemic/

　Shojiさんはほかにも小説を書いている。ぜひあわせて読んでみてほしい。

　Read Kaori Shoji further!

　http://www.japansubculture.com/the-amazing-japanese-wife-part-3-a-man-needs-his-carcinogen/