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Mother’s Visit to TokyoAuthor: Sakaguchi Ango
| Original Title | 母の上京 |
|---|---|
| Author | 坂口 安吾 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the shadowed ruins of postwar Tokyo, Natsukawa navigates a life frayed by guilt and dissolution. Having severed ties with his past to escape the weight of familial duty, he is jolted when his elderly mother—relentless in her pursuit—tracks him down. His existence, a haze of black-market dealings and liquor, intertwines with outcasts: Hiroshi, a former kabuki actor clinging to fading dignity as he sells his body; a middle-aged okonomiyaki vendor consumed by desperate longing; and her daughter, an eighteen-year-old drifting through transactional encounters with unsettling innocence. \nNatsukawa’s return to his ramshackle lodging—where his mother awaits—unravels into farce and anguish. Hiroshi’s fragile devotion collides with Natsukawa’s self-loathing, while the specter of filial obligation looms like a ghost. Amidst squalor and absurdity, fleeting moments of human connection flicker—a prostitute’s naive rebuke, a drunken stumble into naked vulnerability—yet each only deepens his spiral. As memories of childhood fear resurface, Natsukawa confronts a truth: escape is impossible when decay resides within. The story pulses with visceral despair, probing the cost of survival in a world where dignity and desire rot side by side. |
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