"Snakes and Earrings" by Hitomi Kanehara

This is an odd disturbing little book. In fact, I had to read it twice. Hitomi Kanehara’s 2005 novel Hebi ni piasu, which was translated by David James Karashima also in 2005 as Snakes and Earrings, is set in the dark side of Tokyo’s youth culture. The narrator is a young woman named Lui who recounts her relationship with Ama, a boy friend who she met at a strange bar. He was the scariest-looking guy there.

Besides having a face full of earrings, Ama has an unique body modification: his tongue is forked at the end like a snake’s; he also has a large distinctive-looking dragon tattoo. Lui becomes fascinated and follows Ama home. The next day they go to meet Shiba-san who is the artist that gave Ama both his split tongue and large tattoo.

So it is, that Lui who up this point been a Barbie girl type-complete with blonde hair-is drawn into the punk/goth world of Japanese counterculture and into the lives of two very dangerous men. What disturbed me about this book after the first reading was Lui’s seeming ennui and nihilism. Like Meursault in Camus’ The Stranger, Lui simply reports what happens to herself and the world around her in a matter-of-fact way. She also reminded me of what NPR commenter Andrei Codrescu once said that one reason why goths and punks like tattoos and body piercings was that the pain of receiving them was the only thing that broke through the ennui.

On the second reading, however, I decided that Lui was no Meursault. She tries to shape the world around her so she can live the way she wants to live. And while she wants to be different, she knows that there are boundaries. When Ama tries to give her an inappropriate token of his affection, for example, she responds “That’s no symbol of love. At least not in Japan.” So there are limits to her rebellion.

This is author Hitomi Kanehara first novel. It won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize. She is the youngest writer to win this important Japanese literary award. Interestingly one of the judges was Ryu Murakami. His first novel Almost Transparent Blue also won the Akutagawa Price back in 1976. His book, not surprisingly, was as disturbing as Snakes and Earrings.

This book was a good read; I look forward to reading more by Hitomi Kanehara.