今村夏子『むらさきのスカートの女』

Made a reservation at the National Library for a digital copy of Natusko Imamura’s ‘The Woman in the Purple Skirt’ (2021), 今村夏子『むらさきのスカートの女』, translated by Lucy North. Blinked when I saw the queue. 89 digital copies all out on loan, and there were 67 people in the queue. Okay lor. Y’all please read faster. It would be about four to five days before I got my digital loan. (Reviews here, here, and here.)

I would have read this in Japanese first, but my reading speed is much slower. I understand that this is a relatively easy book to read in Japanese since it's a short story, and the prose is simple, with nothing complicated within. However, when my work is about doing translations, I think I want to be lazy and do leisure reading in my master and thought language. So reading this in English it is! The odd thing, I keep translating it into Japanese in my mind. LOL Had to eventually borrow a copy to read it in Japanese. Dohhh. As good as a translator is, some things/phrases are lost in translation. It was very much more enjoyable to read this book in its original language. 

The narrator likes to watch this woman in the neighborhood known as 'The Woman in the Purple Skirt', 「むらさきのスカートの女」. The first three pages tell us that, and how creepy the narrator is. This woman is sort of periodically employed. Other than that, her favorite pastime is to go to the bakery, get a cream bun with almond flakes, go to park and sit on the bench to eat. The narrator calls herself 'The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan' ,「黄色いカーディガンの女」. The narrator begins creepy moves such as following the Purple Skirt Woman, listening to her conversations, tracking her purchases and even lurking outside the front door of her apartment, exhibiting classic stalker behavior. 

While I didn't accompany her to every interview, the Woman in the Purple Skirt applied for a number of other jobs too, after that spate of attempts, and often in tandem. She didn't get any of them. Hardly surprising, considering the kinds of jobs she chose—all totally unsuitable. Telephone receptionist, shopping plaza floor guide, et cetera. Would you believe that she even applied to be a waitress? Why would anyone hire someone as a waitress in a cafe who is happy to drink straight from the water fountain in her local park? Clearly, the repeated rejections were affecting hr mind. Needless to say, the cafe told her to get lost. 

And so, I am sorry to say, it was a good three months before the Woman in the Purple Skirt finally had a telephone interview to work at a place that was willing to consider hiring her. During that time, I had visited the convenience store to collect the jobs magazine for her a good ten times.

Purple Skirt Woman, whose name is Mayuko Hino, ends up working as a hotel housekeeper, contracted by the agency to the same hotel the narrator works at. She completes her training within two weeks, and seems to have fallen into a romantic affair with the agency director. As quickly as the affair began, it ended. The agency director didn’t even pick up her calls. The whole turn of events is of course followed and observed by the narrator. 

It was only later on that the plot moved. Mayuko was accused of stealing hotel items to sell at a school bazaar. The agency director came to her house to tell her to admit it and write a formal statement to apologize. She insisted that she didn’t do it. In the ensuing physical altercation, she accidentally pushed the agency director, and he fell, and was unconscious. The narrator was present too, of course. The Woman in Yellow Cardigan is also Supervisor Gondo. Mayuko thought that she had killed him.

Gondo helped Mayuko flee the scene. She was pleased that Mayuko finally noticed her, and knew jer name. Gondo gave Mayuko money, her commuter pass and instructions to the pre-loaded lockers at the train stations, and told her to take the contents. She told her to meet in the next town. Mayuko predictably never showed up. She had gone somewhere else, rather than meet with this weirdo who came out of nowhere. 

Gondo returned to work, disappointed, dejected and penniless. Dunno how she managed to keep her job with all the frequent absences. She became unnoticed and ignored again. She had to blackmail the injured and hospitalized agency director to get a loan because she was completely broke, and got evicted from her flat. The whole cycle of pilfering to sell for a small profit, envy, loneliness, while stuck in a dead-end job surviving on minimal wages and low self-esteem began anew for Gondo. All she wants, is a friend, and to be noticed. But nobody does. Gondo remains The Woman in Yellow Cardigan who is so plain that nobody remembers her. It’s such a sad urban tale. Creepy too, yes.