目取真俊の「剥離」
Medoruma Shun’s “Hakuri” [Detachment]
JAPANESE TEXT:
Medoruma, Shun. “Hakuri” [Detatchment]. Gunchō no ki. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 2001. Print. 51-102.
1. Introduction
“Hakuri” was first published in 1998 in Shūkan asahi bessatsu shōsetu trippā. The short story describes a teacher dealing with classroom breakdown and examines the impact of surveillance. In the story, Medoruma shows the aggression hidden behind students’ innocent looks, and the sense of distrust between teachers and parents at school. Miyagi, the main character, feels exposed to the cold stares of his coworkers and students. He gradually becomes delusional, and his daily life falls apart. In other words, he becomes “detached” from reality.
2. Character List
Miyagi 宮城
The protagonist of the story. Miyagi is a 28-year-old junior high school teacher in Okinawa. He is very serious about his job. After moving from an isolated island to Naha, his life gets worse. His wife, Kyōko, has a mental illness resulting from problems with her unruly students, and she begins to hear noises from next door. Miyagi becomes paranoid, worries too much about what people think, and begins to have a breakdown, too.
Miyagi Kyōko 宮城香子
Miyagi’s wife, who is two years younger than Miyagi. As an elementary school teacher, she had problems with students who attacked her or walked around during class. Because she is a quiet person, she can’t give them a scolding, and finally, one of her students pushes her down the stairs. She becomes worn out both physically and mentally. One day, she hears a strange noise from next door, but nobody believes her.
Maekawa 前川
Maekawa is an office worker at Miyagi’s school. She started working there one year ago, and she is kind and considerate. Maekawa is popular not only with students but also with teachers. She comes to Miyagi’s class to tell him about a phone call from his wife, but when she sees his grim expression, she goes back to the office with a scared look on her face.
Shiraishi 白石
Kyōko’s coworker of about the same age. Shiraishi looks active and ties her hair casually. Kyoko trusts her the most, but when Kyōko was pushed down the stairs, Shiraishi doesn’t think the suspected student was responsible. However, she tells this only to Miyagi, not to Kyōko.
Isa 伊佐
Miyagi’s classmate from college. Isa was an activist on base issues. There was trouble
between Isa and Miyagi when they were students. Kyōko suspects that Isa is living next door in order to get revenge, but readers never find out if he actually appears.
Ōshiro 大城
Ōshiro is the assistant homeroom teacher for Miyagi’s class. He has a good relationship with students and tries to help Miyagi. However, Miyagi hears sarcasm in what Ōshiro says. It’s not clear whether there are erasers in Miyagi’s stew, but Ōshiro says there aren’t. Miyagi is surprised to hear that and feels betrayed.
Ishikawa Natuki 石川奈津希
One of the students in Miyagi’s class. She is a big girl and leads the other students.
Nobody goes against her in the class. Miyagi suspects that she put cut erasers in his stew. Her parents want Miyagi to be replaced as homeroom teacher.
Tōyama 富山
He is the friendly, elderly landlord of Miyagi’s apartment. Miyagi and Kyōko greet him
and chat for a while when they meet him. Miyagi sees Tōyama cleaning up the parking area and separating the garbage, so he is impressed. Tōyama suggests entering Yamashiro’s apartment with Miyagi in secret.
Yamashiro 山城
Yamashiro is about 34 years old and lives next door to Miyagi and his wife. He works
at an architecture firm. He is married and living in another house, but he also rents the apartment without telling his wife. Actually, he never appears in the story, though the narrator and Tōyama mention him.
3. Cultural Background
Classroom Breakdown
Classroom breakdown refers to a classroom situation in which students are unruly and completely out of control. For instance, students do not obey their teacher and move around the classroom. According to Fujiwara Yukio, a teacher at the University of Ryukyus, teachers and students are growing apart recently. His study, which questions 400 teachers in Osaka and Wakayama, reveals that 24% of teachers have experienced students leaving the class without permission, 47% of teachers have students that take a defiant attitude, and 66% of teachers have students walking around during the class. These numbers show that classroom breakdown is a major problem in Japanese schools. In the upper grades, teachers can’t deal with such trouble and lose confidence, which finally, leads to a breakdown of the class. Fujiwara points out that teachers who get hurt by students lose their pride and dignity. However, he emphasizes that teachers should try to understand students’ sorrow and pain, especially the trouble between students and parents. He argues that the best way to solve classroom breakdown is to make a good relationship with parents to solve the problems of the students and class.
In “Hakuri,” classroom breakdown happens in both Kyōko and Miyagi’s classes. In the case of Kyōko, she didn’t have a good relationship with her students. As mentioned above, students walk around and don’t listen to Kyōko’s requests. On the other hand, Miyagi treats his students very strictly, so his students grow apart from him. As a result, he loses pride as a teacher and his enthusiasm for education.
Readers can suppose that Medoruma confronted classroom breakdown when he was a teacher, or at least saw this problem in his school. He writes about classroom breakdown because this is a problem that can happen anywhere in Japan. Medoruma looks back on his teaching period in his essay, “Chi o yomu, toki o yomu.” He worked as a Japanese teacher in the northern area, in the central area, and on Miyako Island in Okinawa. He saw a lot of students who couldn’t pay tuition, so Medoruma makes an appeal to not deprive children of an opportunity to learn. To solve the problem, he suggests unemployment measures, a betterment working environment, and financial support for low-income groups.
4. Plot Summary
Section 1 (51-61)
Miyagi is teaching math when Ms. Maekawa tells him that he has a second phone call from his wife, Kyōko. As Miyagi leaves the class, he feels his students staring at him. He goes to the teacher’s office and grabs the phone. Kyōko says, “I’m hearing the sounds, now.” This is her third phone call for the day. She asks him about his attitude. Eventually, she starts freaking out. Miyagi imagines that her strained voice can be heard all around the office. He tells her he will go home and gets ready to go. It is a Wednesday in July.
On the drive home, he thinks about the past. It’s been six years since they were married. After graduating from college, Kyōko was recruited by an elementary school in a village in the North. One year later, Miyagi worked at a junior high school in the same place as Kyōko. Although they didn’t have children, they enjoyed their lives together for four years until they moved to Naha one year ago.
Kyōko’s new elementary school was in a downtown area, and she was put in charge of a sixth-grade class. Kyōko started acting strange after a school trip in April. She was black and blue in May due to her students pinching her. But she couldn’t give them a scolding because she was a quiet person. In early July, about one year ago, a student pushed Kyōko down the stairs. She was devastated mentally and physically. In April, she couldn’t go to school, much less leave home. Miyagi left her with her parents, but he took her back to their apartment just a week ago.
Section 2 (61-71)
Miyagi arrives home at their apartment. The complex is very quiet, and they rarely meet their neighbors. Kyōko has started to go shopping with Miyagi, doing housework, and getting better. But four days ago, Kyōko started to change after Tōyama delivered a flyer from the police to the residents. The flyer recommended being on the alert for suspicious persons before the Crown Prince arrives. From that day, Kyōko listens carefully to catch any noise, and lately, she’s been saying that strange noises have been coming from next door. She’s also been upset that Miyagi doesn’t believe her. As a result, Kyōko stopped cooking four days ago. On the other hand, Miyagi sleeps on the couch. Kyōko tells him that she saw Isa, so Miyagi goes next door to check, but no one is home. Miyagi tells her not to call the school anymore.
Section 3 (71-78)
Miyagi goes back to the school and arrives as students are preparing for lunch. When he appears, the atmosphere becomes tense because Miyagi has been strict. As the stew is served, Miyagi feels students are giggling, and then he finds some small erasers in the stew. He gets angry, knocks the soup on the floor, and leaves the classroom. At the teacher’s office, he receives a phone call from Tōyama, who tells him that Kyōko complained about the noise from next door. Tōyama wants to check Yamashiro’s room with Miyagi, so he asks Miyagi to come home.
Section 4 (79-88)
Miyagi arrives home, and Tōyama tells him that Kyōko called many times to complain about noise, so Tōyama is annoyed. They enter Yamashiro’s apartment. The room smells bad, and there are many trash bags in the kitchen. On the floor, there are two models: one is of the city, centering on the main road, and one is of Miyagi’s apartment. Except these models, there is nothing strange in the room. Miyagi tells Kyōko about the room, but she just watches TV without replying. Then Miyagi is called by Ōshiro, who tells him that his students’ parents are complaining. So he returns to school again.
Section 5 (89-102)
Back at school, Miyagi meets some parents who are waiting in the principal’s office. They complain that Miyagi is too strict and that he interrupts the class. Miyagi just apologizes many times. After the meeting, the assistant principal asks Miyagi about the erasers in the stew. Ōshiro responds that erasers were not in the stew. Miyagi is taken aback but goes back to the teacher’s room without saying anything. Depressed, he goes to a Japanese pub after school and drinks alone until late. He comes home at midnight and falls asleep on the couch.
The next day, he wakes up with a headache and feeling woozy. In the evening, he heads to the market for dinner. Tōyama is standing at the entrance and tells Miyagi that Yamashiro is moving out. Miyagi asks if he can have the model. He wants to complete the model because he belonged to the art club when he was a high school student. After eating dinner, he starts to paint the model. Not only does he admire Yamashiro’s work, but also he realizes that the model accurately depicts Miyagi’s room. This scares him. Kyōko says, “You are good at painting,” with a smile. Miyagi tries to laugh, but he can’t say anything. He feels tiny black bugs digging their nails into his throat and chest.
5. Setting
The main setting of the story is Naha, the capital of Okinawa. Although no specific location in the city is named, we know the place is located downtown which is crowded with many bars. In the story, the specific location changes a lot. At first, Miyagi is teaching his class, but then he moves to his house due to a call from Kyōko. Then he goes back to school again. So the story also takes place at school. In “Chi o yomu toki o miru,” Medoruma Shun mentions the bad influence of depression on students. He also argues that we should make a society that does not deprive children of a chance to learn (369-72).
In the sense that this story could have taken place anywhere in Japan, the setting does not play a significant role in the story. However, the story mentions the Crown Prince’s visit to Okinawa (63-64) which happened in Okinawa on July 17, 1975. During that visit, two activists threw a Molotov cocktail at the Crown Prince in protest of the Emperor System. Satō Izumi argues that this visit relates to the story because Kyōko sees a flyer with a picture of a helmeted man who has a bomb. She is scared of the extremists and becomes more nervous, even though Miyagi is less concerned about it (46-48).
6. Point of View
The narration of the story is third person, but the point of view follows Miyagi. Thus, readers initially accept Miyagi’s perspective, but as the story progresses, readers will begin to doubt him more and more. The point of view in the story is unreliable because we don’t know who is telling the truth. For example, Kyōko hears a noise, but Miyagi doesn’t hear it. Similarly, Miyagi thinks there are erasers in his stew, but Ōshiro says there aren’t any. This is significant because readers will gradually notice that Miyagi is unreliable, and that he is confusing reality and delusion. In this way, Medoruma has the narrator focus on Miyagi’s feeling to emphasize his mental breakdown. Miyagi feels exposed and then gets paranoid. In “Hakuri,” Medoruma describes Miyagi’s suffocating feeling through the narration.
7. Symbolism and Imagery
Tiny bugs
In “Hakuri,” bugs are often used as similes to describe stares or sounds. For example, the stares of students are described as tiny bugs on Miyagi’s back (51). He says that the noise of the TV comes into his ears like tiny bugs (62), and someone’s voice is compared to flies (71). Such “bugs” reveal Miyagi’s negative feelings. By comparing stares to bugs, readers can imagine Miyagi’s feeling easily because most people don’t like insects, especially bugs. The bugs also show that Miyagi is threatened by his students’ eyes. The bugs represent the terrifying effect of surveillance.
The models
The models are also symbolic of the surveillance of modern society. Miyagi always feels people are watching him, so the model shows that he is indeed being monitored. This implies that in the real world we are being monitored all the time. In addition, the models are used as a metaphor. It suggests that Miyagi might be watched by himself in the model although he is just watching the model from outside. This also relates to surveillance. When the landlord is about to throw out the models in Yamashiro’s room, Miyagi asks to keep them. Although Miyagi feels stressed out by being observed, the models seem to bring him a feeling of relief because he can then feel that his is the one looking at others.
Miyagi’s apartment
The apartment complex is used as a symbol of modern life. Miyagi’s apartment represents a typical home in any urbanized society. The apartment is always quiet, but inhabitants don’t know each other. Even people living next to each other are separated by a reinforced concrete wall. They tend to monitor each other and also feel that others are watching them.
8. Themes
Surveillance and Its Distorting Effects
In the period when “Hakuri” was first published in 1998, the issue of surveillance was becoming a public concern. One year later, the Wiretapping Law and the Resident Register Law were established. According to Wikipedia, the Resident Register is a registry of current residential addresses maintained by local governments in Japan. Japanese law requires each citizen to report his or her current address to the local authorities who compile the information for tax, national health insurance, and census purposes. In this way, the government monitors the private information of all Japanese residents.
Nowadays, Medoruma goes out to the sea in Henoko as part of the protest movement against the new base. He reports on his activities in his blog. For example, he writes about his protest activities against the base relocation in Henoko and posts photos and videos. In his blog, he encourages people to protest, too. Sometimes, he writes about his novels, Japanese far rightists, and controversies over school textbooks, etc. He also sometimes mentions surveillance, which shows that he regards surveillance as having an important impact on the base problem. In “Hakuri,” Medoruma teaches us about surveillance and its distorting effects. Satō Izumi, in his academic paper on “Hakuri,” points out that every time we use a cellphone, we provide private information. He adds that monitoring devices, such as monitoring cameras, are part of our daily life.
Miyagi is influenced by surveillance. For example, his relationships with colleagues, students, and his wife all seem to be monitored. Every time he gets a call from Kyōko, he feels his coworkers listening intently to their conversation. To be honest, it’s not clear if they are listening, or if Miyagi is being paranoid. Ōshiro cares about Miyagi, but Miyagi feels betrayed by Ōshiro. Miyagi’s students cower before him due to his strict teaching, and he gets cold looks, too. Furthermore, Kyōko also keeps a distance from Miyagi. For instance, they don’t sleep together, and she ignores him, just watching TV. These things lead to a break up in their relationship. In this way, Miyagi is “detached” from people around him, even his wife.
Another problem is that Miyagi is obsessed and can’t distinguish fact from delusion. For example, Miyagi doesn’t believe Kyōko; however, maybe she is telling the truth which means there were noises. Similarly, he feels erasers in his mouth when he eats the stew, but Ōshiro can’t find any erasers. When Miyagi is painting the model at home, he feels someone looking at him from behind the stairs, and feels sure that it is Isa. This all shows that surveillance can make us feel paranoid about being watched.
Moreover, Kyōko is frightened about someone who is invisible. She builds a wall around herself. For example, she doesn’t cook, doesn’t want to share a bed with Miyagi, and watches TV alone. Thus, the development of a surveillance society creates people who are paranoid and scared. Similarly, Miyagi also becomes increasingly isolated by the looks of students and teachers. He gives up on human relationships and goes into a delusional world where he can’t distinguish between facts and paranoia. In other words, Miyagi becomes paranoid by the feeling that he being watched. Every time he talks with Kyōko on the phone at the teacher’s office, he cares too much about what his coworkers think. As a result, he begins to doubt whether there were erasers in his stew. To summarize, people who are under surveillance, can’t be true to themselves and lose their freedom.
Classroom Breakdown
In the story, Medoruma describes classroom breakdown for both Miyagi and Kyōko. Medoruma himself worked as a teacher in Okinawa when he was in his thirties. At the time, there were some social problems in Okinawa, such as the base issue and a gang rape committed by American soldiers. According to Wikipedia, the 1995 Okinawa rape incident took place on September 4, 1995, when three U.S. servicemen were all serving at Camp Hansen in Okinawa. They rented a van and kidnapped a 12-year-old Japanese girl. Then, they beat her, duct-taped her eyes and mouth, bound her hands, and raped her. The biggest problem of this incident was that these three U.S. soldiers weren’t extradited to Japan due to the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement. Therefore, an arrest warrant wasn’t served, and the Japanese government couldn’t investigate. At the same time, Japan fell into a deep recession after the economic bubble burst. The unemployment rate doubled, so it affected school life. Medoruma saw with his own eyes that students left school or gave up going to college for economic reasons. Therefore, he mentioned that we should change the society that has deprived students of a chance to study.
“Hakuri” shows us that there are three causes of classroom collapse. First, there are teacher’s problems. Kyōko is a quiet person, and she couldn’t scold her students. So she didn’t have communication with them. In contrast, Miyagi was too strict, so his students began to cower before him. Moreover, Miyagi’s attitude toward his students causes them to make fun of him. This suggests that teachers need to have positive interactions with their students.
The second cause is students’ problems. Kyōko’s students can’t understand why the teacher is scolding them, and then they begin to walk around the classroom. Clearly, this is an unacceptable way to behave. In contrast, Miyagi’s students look down on him, although they are scared. They know his weak point is Kyōko, and they use that against him.
Finally, the story shows that community is important, too. When Miyagi and Kyōko lived in the northern area, they had a good relationship with students and colleagues. But the school in Naha is in the downtown area where there are a lot of bars. In addition, most of Miyagi’s colleagues take an unfriendly attitude towards him in the teachers’ room. Miyagi feels that they listen intently to his conversation on the phone, but they never say anything to him.
In this way, “Hakuri” shows that classroom breakdown is not a simple problem. It results from a combination of factors. To solve this problem, all these problems need to be addressed.
9. Criticism
Satō, Izumi. et al. “Apāto doa no nozokiana” Ekkyō Hiroba.2017.Vol4. Print. 45-53.
In “Apāto doa no nozokiana,” Satō Izumi discusses the power of the gaze and the distorting effects of surveillance. Satō argues that “Hakuri” is a story which was written about the gaze. He points out that the story focuses on Miyagi’s internal world, like a movie filmed with a first person camera. Satō says Miyagi is exposed to the scrutiny of everyone, and that he becomes paranoid as a result.
In the first section of his paper, Satō discusses the setting. The story does not use any dialect, nor are there any specific references to location. In this sense, the story deals with a universal theme. However, the story does mention the visit of the Crown Prince. Satō points out that this reference to Okinawan history is important because the visit of the Crown Prince led to enhanced security in Okinawa. Satō explains that the visit caused Okinawan people to reconsider about the Emperor System and the Battle of Okinawa.
In the next four sections, Satō deals with surveillance in society. He discusses surveillance devices in modern society, such as smartphones and monitoring cameras. Moreover, he talks about the Okinawa Summit and the Futenma Base relocation plan. Medoruma is worried that people or organizations that protest against the base issues might become targets of unfair monitoring. Furthermore, Satō mentions that Japan usually supports the U.S. when they go to the war. At the same time, when people who are protesting are under surveillance, their beliefs and privacy might be controlled by the government.
In the last section of his paper, Satō discusses the symbols of the models and the tiny bugs. According to Satō, Miyagi looks at the models like a giant, but maybe he is a little man in the models who is being watched himself without realizing it. The eyes that watch from outside can be terrifying for a person who is holed up inside. In other words, the models represent the multilateral surveillance system of people who are afraid of enemies. Satō points out that in order to fully understand the story, readers have to understand the hidden messages about the Emperor System and the Battle of Okinawa.
10. Discussion Questions
1. What happened to Miyagi’s wife at her previous teaching jobs?
2. Is Miyagi’s interpretation of events accurate? Or is he imagining? How do you know?
3. Was there really eraser dust in Miyagi’s stew? Who is telling the truth, Miyagi or Ōshiro? How do you know?
4. Describe Miyagi’s relationship with his students. Why does he think they are talking about him? Is there evidence for his assumption?
5. Why did Yamashiro make the model of Miyagi’s room? How does Miyagi react to the model?
6. What is the significance of the pamphlet that caused Kyōko to get upset?
7. Is Yamashiro really Isa? And why does Kyōko thinks that he is making a noise?
8. How would the story change if the events were described from Kyōko’s point of view?
9. Why is Miyagi attracted to the model? Is it because he had belonged to the art club? What other explanations can you give?
10. How will the story continue? Can Miyagi and his wife return to their old selves?
11. What does Medoruma teaches us about surveillance and its distorting effects?
12. What does the story teach us about mental health and the effects of being watched?
13. What does the story teach us about classroom breakdown? Are any solutions suggested?
14. What is the significance of the title?
11. Works Cited
Fujiwara, Yukio. Shōgakusei no are to gakkyūhōkai ni kannsuru kōsatu [Raging of Elementary School Children and Collapse of Class]. University of Ryukyus, 1999. Web. Accessed from http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12000/1075.
Hagi, Kazuaki. “Interview:Tairitsu no umi de.” Asahi shinbun. 13 Mar. 2015. Print. 13
Medoruma, Shun. “Chi o yomu toki o miru.” Yokohama: Seorishobou, 2006. Print.
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Satō, Izumi. et al. “Apāto doa no nozokiana.” Ekkyō Hiroba. 2017.Vol 4. Print. 45-53.
Suzuki, Tomoyuki. Me no oku ni tsukitaterareta kotoba no mori. Tokyo: Shōbunsha, 2013. Print.
Shinjō, Ikuo. “Hakuri Medoruma Shun.” Okinawa to iu subete. Tokyo: Inpakuto Shuppankai, 25 Oct 2003. Print. 195-198.
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Yonamine, Matsuichiro. “Okinawa sen kioku tsumugu bungaku” Ryukyu shinpō 18 Jun. 2013. Print. 12.
Original report by Kanako Hanashiro. Edited and revised by Kasumi Sminkey.