Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.

| Original Title | 男ぎらい |
|---|---|
| Author | 豊島 与志雄 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a riverside Tokyo café, a young woman navigates a world steeped in visceral disgust toward men—their unwashed bodies, greasy pomade, and oppressive presence permeating every interaction. Her acute sensitivity to their odors—sour breath, musty socks, leathery skin—fuels a simmering revulsion, contrasting sharply with her reverence for Christ’s imagined purity. While serving patrons like the boorish Mr. Inoue and vain Mr. Kuramitsu, she endures their crude jokes, unwelcome gifts, and invasive touches, her disdain sharpening into defiance. A chaotic festival night culminates in humiliation when drunken men manhandle her, their clammy hands and fetid laughter pushing her to the edge. Fleeing into a fog-shrouded night, she encounters a fleeting vision of transcendent cleanliness—a symbol of escape from the suffocating masculinity that taints her world. Yet as dawn looms, her resolve hardens: she cannot return to the filth she’s left behind. This haunting exploration of alienation and yearning pulses with raw sensory detail, blurring the line between visceral reality and desperate fantasy. |