Nantonaku, kurisutaru [Somewhat, Crystal] by Tanaka Yasuo

Nantonaku, kurisutaru [Somewhat, Crystal] (1981) by Tanaka Yasuo (1956–) is one of the most conspicuous novels that portrays Tokyo of the 1980s as a postmodern city inhabited by new consumers who have broken away from the mass collectivism dominant until the 1970s. Focusing on the urban life style enjoyed by the heroine Yuri, an affluent college student who grew up in London and Kobe, the narrative showcases the multifarious layers of commercial culture that defines the city. More than three decades have passed since the end of the Second World War, which razed the city to ashes, and Tokyo has gone through the phases of postwar recovery, reconstruction, and high economic growth in the 1950s to the 1970s. Having passed the peak of intensive redevelopment, the novel is set in a subtly decadent ambience rendered through Yuri’s dilettantism and indulgence with refined commodities. As Nagaoka Yoshihisa notes, Somewhat, Crystalis often dubbed “a catalogue novel” echoing the contents of...