In Search of a Distant Voice

by Taichi Yamada, Michael Emmerich (Translator)

Kazama Tsuneo is an immigration officer in Tokyo, struggling to live a 'normal' life after an event that happened eight years previously. His problems worsen following the emergence of a strange voice - a woman who is trying to contact him. Tsuneo desperately chases this woman, and the mystery behind what happened eight years earlier.

Genres: Japan, Japanese Literature, Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Asia, Mystery

183 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Taichi Yamada was one of the most famous and highly respected writers in Japan. Winner of many awards for literary excellence from private organizations and from the Japanese government, he is best known for his scripts for TV dramas, but has also written many novels and plays. He was born in Tokyo in 1934, and graduated from Waseda University in 1958 after having studied Japanese Language and Literature in the Department of Education. That same year he entered the Shochiku Film Company and began to work at the Ofuna Studio Production Department. In 1965, he left Shochiku and established himself as an independent scenario writer.

Japanese profile : 山田 太一

Reviews

[wiszi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

ło matko dlaczego to mi się podobało bardziej niż myślałam że mi się spodoba?
kupiłam tę książkę za 2 zł i naprawdę nie miałam wielkich oczekiwań, a dostałam coś naprawdę spoko.
co prawda spodziewałam się (po pierwszym rozdziale i po opisie książki) trochę więcej akcji i trochę bardziej osobliwych i onirycznych opisów, których tutaj... było mało.
mimo wszystko, przez całą lekturę miałam masę najróżniejszych przemyśleń na temat życia i kondycji człowieka w naszym świecie, co jest tym, czego szukam w książkach.
nie sądziłam też, że książka będzie opierać się w całości tak naprawdę na queerowym wątku. przynajmniej w mojej interpretacji tak właśnie jest. właśnie - w mojej.
bo interpretacji tej historii może być mnóstwo. gdy kończy się książkę, dalej wie się mniej więcej tyle, ile na początku. ale czy to źle?
to sprawia, że książka zostanie ze mną na dłużej, będę do niej wracać myślami, będę ją obracać i patrzeć na nią z każdej strony, aby w pełni zrozumieć jej sens. dla mnie? tym jest właśnie dobra książka.

[Ying Ying · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short and quite fascinating read. The mystery keeps on going throughout the book and even after you finish reading: who was this voice and how did it reach Tsuneo? While the plot goes on, the author throws us questions about emotions, love, trauma, mental health, and inner voice.

[Gabunie · Rating 5 out of 5]

TO BYŁO CUDOWNE WTF

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book of the writing of "In Search of a Distant Voice" would be interesting. Or, I'd like to be Japanese and read it again. Why is "Eric" American? What does Yamada think of him and his behaviour? What does Yamada think we should be thinking? Does he anticipate different reactions from a Western audience? And how does Yamada think Erik's story complements or contradicts the idea of true expression of human feeling? It's an intriguing little book.

[Jessica Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Originally appeared on New Reads and Old Standbys in June 2009:]

Nobody does crushing loneliness and uncertainty like the Japanese, and of those novelists one of the very best is Yamada Taichi. It’s a real shame his body of work has gone largely untranslated, and an even bigger shame that only one of his three novels in English has received a wide release.

Like his previous works, In Search of a Distant voice is about the loneliness that inhabits even the busiest city-dweller, the emptiness at the bottom of the soul that exists possibly in greater quantities when the bearer is entrenched firmly in city life. There’s a combination of hopelessness and nonchalance about the whole thing that is decidedly Japanese. This mix of emotions and reactions could quite possibly exist nowhere else on the planet.

Kasama Tsuneo is twenty-nine and about to get married to a woman he met through his boss. It’s an arranged marriage, loveless and sexless and as formal as formality gets. As an immigrations officer, Tsuneo spends most of his time at work and doesn’t have much opportunity to meet women, so having his boss set him up seems a stroke of luck.

In the predawn hours of what would normally be an average morning, Tsuneo participates in a raid on a residence full of illegal Indonesian residents. One man slips out a window and into a neighboring graveyard. Tsuneo corners the man and is about to arrest him when he is suddenly struck by a wave of emotion that culminates in a body-shaking orgasm. Humiliated and terrified, Tsuneo lets the man escape.

In the days that follow Tsuneo is haunted by a feminine voice asking who and where he is. He responds, sometimes audibly, sometimes internally, until the stress of it all threatens a complete nervous breakdown. Finally, in exchange for an arrangement to meet face-to-face, Tsuneo tells the woman about his time in America in his early twenties, and about a man he once knew named Eric.

Anyone who’s read either of Yamada’s previous works, Strangers and I Haven’t Dreamed of Flying For a While, will know what they’re getting into. I won’t spoil the plot any further, but if you’ve read one Yamada ending you will definitely have a heads up on what’s coming. For anyone else, rid yourself of expectations and you may enjoy it. Perhaps even reading Strangers first would be advisable, as it’s his strongest English work to date.

Yamada’s not for everyone, but his books are incredibly quick, accessible reads. A few hours spent with his characters are easily worth the less than two hundred pages that encompass In Search of a Distant Voice.

[mrtn · Rating 3 out of 5]

the fuck?

[Nyx Solman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I imagine, read in japanese this is even better. I've not read anything like it. This sort of ending would normally infuriate me but I actually found it satisfying and worked with the story telling over all.

[Claudia Boldor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book literally left me heartbroken.

[Irina Trancă · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is really gross at times, although the idea of someone talking to you from far away is pretty cool.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had so much to say and also a whole lot of nothing to say. Was very hard to keep going after that first chapter tbh but it did pick up a bit after that. I do think it was stylistically well written and a potentially interesting concept, but as a whole feels very unresolved and lacks a real theme/central message. I guess I get the whole idea of it trying to show that there are some things you won’t be able to ever fully understand/comprehend, and the difficulty of accepting that, but I just don’t feel like it was executed super well. I feel like it’s hard to make that the central theme when everything about the book feels so scant and unexplored. Also the ending was basically repeated twice, once when Tsuneo met the girl at the tennis courts and once when he met the girl at the picture gallery. Both times, the woman’s voice was trying to help him move on with someone else and do so in a way so he wouldn’t ever realize it. But then it also didn’t work either time? And why would the voice reach out on the first place? Why talk about the strength of the connection they had and the emotion behind it and then put it to an end for no clear/apparent reason (other than apparently being ugly + lonely to an unfathomable degree)? I really just can’t get a grasp on what I was supposed to take away from this. Overall it was a fine read with an interesting concept and good writing style, but just fell flat in a lot of ways.

[readbyjulia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5.
Jakie to było niespodziewanie dobre

[Izabela · Rating 3 out of 5]

nie zrozumiałam nic ale buja
no dobra edit nie ze nie zrozumialam ale chetnie dowiedzialabym sie co w glowie mial autor

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turn to face this way -
Mine as well, this loneliness
The end of autumn.
- Chapter 11

I wanted to live in a world where people weren't pigeonholed according to their academic history or what company they worked for, a world that knew how to recognize the worth of real, living people. I wanted to see what I could accomplish in a place like that.
- Chapter 13

Mysterious and Intriguing. Even if these books aren't for everyone, Taichi Yamada deserves recognition for some attention-grabbing titles. I experienced In Search of a Distant Voice after reading All of Us Strangers.
Next up: I Haven't Dreamed of Flying for a While.

Related Works: Rip Van Winkle, The Poetry of Walt Whitman

Favorite Passages:
Somewhere along the way, though, he had come to believe in the existence of the Other - of people who possessed depths that were totally beyond him.
_______

In the end, he thought, I guess we humans don't really take our lives all that seriously.
_______

The realization that something had happened that could never be undone cut into him like a knife.
_______

He knew he was staring at the ceiling, but at the same time he was peering up into a dark and distant sky. The profound sadness he'd felt was flying off into that sky, its cape flapping wildly behind it. It grew smaller and smaller, then vanished into the darkness.
Peering into the void, he saw lightning flicker through the distant clouds, a dull flash unaccompanied by any sound, as if the lightning were breathing.
'Who are you?'
. . . .
What does that mean? Who are you? Are you asking who I am? You must be kidding. I'm the one who should be asking you who you are. You come here of your own volition and start asking me who I am? I don't think so.
_____

"There's no telling what sort of powers foreigners might have at their disposal. I mean, in India there are guys who can levitate, right? Let them into the country and you have to deal with that kind of thing, too. You have to let people live these lives that are totally different, you know - unfathomable."
______

I never realized I had this messed-up, twisted side to me.
______

"Hit me, please," cried Tsuneo through his sobs. "Please, hit me again."
Maybe if he hits me I'll be able to stop, just as I did when I was laughing.
"I can't hear you," said Mrs. Saito. "I can't understand you when you're crying."
______

I have to be careful or I'm just going to keep getting weirder and weirder.
______

I wanted to live in a world where people weren't pigeonholed according to their academic history or what company they worked for, a world that knew how to recognize the worth of real, living people. I wanted to see what I could accomplish in a place like that.
______

He realized then that he was submerged in an emotion more intense than any he had ever felt before. It seemed to him that this feeling included each and every emotion that could be felt, and moreover that each individual emotion was especially dense and profound. It was quiet. He was sunk in a swamp whose surface was as still as oil. A deep, thick, dark quagmire of emotions. Like a pool into which every color had been mixed ever so persistently; all the emotions in existence had been gathered there, and no matter how hard he tried to feel any particular one - only anger, for instance, or only joy - he knew it would be impossible. Then, quietly, the swamp drew back, leaving Tsuneo behind. The barest trace of an emotion lingered in him, but that emotion was his own. It seemed a dingy, trite, and mundane thing.
______

"There's a whole world that you can't see."
______

Perhaps there was beauty out there more stunning than he could imagine, happiness of which he couldn't even dream.
______

By the time he emerged above ground, the cloudless sky was already tinged with the colors of twilight.
A gentle breeze gusted through the long rows of ginkgo trees that lined the avenue leading to the woman's favorite meeting spot, the Memorial Picture Gallery; the yellow leaves trembled, gleaming brilliantly in the sharply slanting rays of the sun.

[Kin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ประหลาดมากๆ ชอบปมของเรื่อง ความกระอักกระอ่วนของคนจนตรอก ชอบความไม่มีที่มาที่ไปของสิ่งต่างๆ ชอบที่มันไม่บอกอะไรออกมาตรงๆ ทุกเรื่อง

[Boorrito · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea is interesting - an immigrant officer who's trying to forget an incident in Portland 7 years before starts hearing a mysterious voice and feeling someone else's emotions - but it never really capitalises on it. I also started laughing after one line in the revelation section about what happened in Portland and I just couldn't take it what happened that seriously afterwards. I'm not sure wherever it was the translation or it read that awkwardly in Japanese too.

For those who are interested, it was the line "And yet that weekend, at Cannon Beach, Eric's penis did penetrate my rectum. And that wasn't all . Whenever Eric penetrated me, my own penis grew hard, and every time, each and every time, I ejaculated." Probably because it reads like a badly translated yaoi manga. Also funny: "His face looked like the actor Donald Sutherland, except that his face didn't have that eerie aura about him that Sutherland has."

The ending was also a let-down. I've read that ambiguous endings are more acceptable in Japanese works (as in audiences don't tend to feel cheated by them like English language audiences do - very much generalising here) but it felt more like he didn't know how to conclude it than a satisfying yet ambiguous end.

Read Strangers instead.

[Gertrude & Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

From humorous beginning to exotic end, this story, In Search of a Distant Voice, is an exciting and fast paced quest for truth and self-discovery. Yamada Taichi always enchants with his exceptional depictions of life, where reality gives way to supernatural fantasy.

Yamada's prose is easy to understand, at least on its surface. However, with some reflection the story is deeper than first thought. This story looks into subconscious desire. The main character, Tsuneo, an immigration officer, seeks only to live a normal life like everyone else, when he begins to hear voices, the voices of a woman.

Initially, he thinks these voices are only in his head, signs of a vigorous imagination, but later he feels that he is actually going crazy. Neither of these are happening though. The voices are real - too real - as he becomes intoxicated by its alluring call. During the course of these inscrutable episodes, Tsuneo recalls his troubling past in the U.S., a past where one encounter with an Oregon man changes his life for good. The plot keeps the reader spellbound. The main character's unique problem and his determination to find answers sustains our interest throughout. The sytle is easy yet appealing. And all this makes for an enjoyable reading experience.

[Ez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a random library pick; the cover attracted me - and though I still have no idea what the forest picture actually has to do with absolutely anything in this book, it was a nice, quick read. A few passages felt so clumsy I felt like cringing or laughing at inappropriate spots, but some of the blame for that might lie with the translation, too - I’m not sure. The characters didn’t give me much, nor was I especially wowed by the writing. But it’s a solid, interesting story, with poignant themes that really spoke to me: the perils of guilt and dreams, wanting the world and your life to be something MORE, yet settling for too little. The plot starts out slow, really picks up the pace around halfway, yet concludes with the kind of restraint and earnestness I feel is quite characteristic of Japanese writing - and one of the reasons I, personally, find Japanese literature so refreshing. You don’t have to end everything in a bang and then explain it to death.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tsuneo is 29, he has a managerial position in the Immigration Bureau in Tokyo, and suffers guilt about raiding, hounding, and displacing foreigners - many of them innocent and defenseless. He has particular insight into their position, having been there himself nearly a decade earlier as a young illegal alien in Portland, Oregon. All this makes for an interesting premise, and when Tsuneo starts hearing a woman's voice inside his head, intriguing mysteries arise. But while the author is adroit at the set-up, unfortunately the scattered plot points never come together, no explanation is given for any of the many mysteries, and it felt to me like made-for-TV brain candy.

[erisfromvenus · Rating 5 out of 5]

zaczynajac te książkę nie spodziewalam się takiego obrotu akcji oraz ze aż tak się w nią wciągnę, w szczegolnosci czytając ostatnie rozdziały.

spoiler (?)
Jestem świeżo po zakończeniu i muszę przyznać, ze odczuwam lekki niedosyt. Chce poznać dalsze losy bohaterów, liczyłam na to, ze ich relacja przejdzie w końcu na kolejny stopień, najwidoczniej wczulam się bardzo w głównego bohatera. W każdym razie zakończenie z pewnością dodaje jeszcze większej tajemnicy całej tej historii.

Polecam, krótka, przyjemna i bardzo wciągająca lektura.

[Nurul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, I'm biased in this rating because I relate so well to the premise of the book - which is deeply connecting with a stranger without actually meeting him/her. I think this is one of those books that won't go beyond mildly celebrated, mostly because the approach is quite flat, and thus it would bore most readers. I found that I had to actively try to absorb the intent of the author; it did not come naturally. However what I did absorb made this quite a meaningful read.

[MT · Rating 5 out of 5]

- Your Name + Layla(CoHo) + Giovanni's Room + ดิวไปด้วยกันนะ = !!!!!
- จริงๆพึงรู้ยามาดะปีที่แล้วนี้เอง เพราะนิยายเรื่องStrangersของเขากำลังถูกสร้างเป็นหนังพูดภาษาอังกฤษ(Paul Mascelแสดง) พอรู้จักเลยแบบ เออ น่าสนใจดีงานของคนนี้ แถมดูเป็นคนที่ไม่ค่อยทีใครพูดถึงเท่าไร เลยอยากอ่านเรื่องStrangerมากๆ แต่หวยดันมาออกที่เล่มนี้แทน(เจอในกลุ่มเฟซแบบงงๆ) เลยจำใจต้องอ่าน สรุปอ่านแล้ว ก็อยากหางานเขาทุกเล่มมาอ่าน
- งานเขาดูน่าสนใจดี เรื่องนี้ดูหลุดและเบียวมาก แต่ความเบียวกลับไม่ได้พาให้นิยายดิ่งลงเหวแต่ใด แต่ความเบียวกลับทำให้มิติตลคเอกอย่างซึเนโอะ ดูเป็นคนที่มีหลากหลายมิติและความซับซ้อนในใจได้ ถือเป็นหนึ่งในตลคโลกวรรณกรรมอีกคนที่น่าศึกษามาก จริงๆนิยายทั้งเรื่องแทบไม่สำคัญเท่ากับการตามชีวิตชายวัยกลางคนที่ไม่รู้แห่งหนและใจของตนเอง เป็นนิยายเควียร์ที่ไม่ได้เปิดเผยอะไรออกตรงๆขนาดนั้น ตอนแรกว่าจะเทียบกับงานแบบGiovanni's Room แต่รู้สึกยามาดะจะดูสร้างสภาวะคลุมเครือมากกว่าจะเป็นการกดทับเพศวิถีแบบBaldwin แต่เราก็ยังชอบงานทั้งสองเล่มพอๆกัน อยู่ดี

[Leo Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool!

This was pretty close to what I wanted out of this book, even without reading the blurb or knowing anything about the writer other than that he wrote the book that became "All of Us Strangers", which I haven't even seen, hahaha... I'm that good at divining my own taste!

I wonder if I am conflating my Japanese authors by saying that this seems a lot like a Murakami novel, or if there really is something Japanese about the intersection of the matter-of-fact and the surreal. Something uniquely identifiable as Japanese about a particular style of loneliness. Japanese cinema would back up this claim. Much like, my other current interest, there can be something uniquely Australian about a bleak noir thriller.

If this sounds like what you're after, Yamada won't disappoint :)

[Klara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

Czy było złe - nie
Czy jakoś specjalnie wniosło cos do mojego życia - tez nie

Dosyć neutralna krótka opowieść, patrząc na to ze kupiłam to za 3 zł to było lepsze niż to czego oczekiwałam

[Karl Stark di Grande Inverno · Rating 1 out of 5]

L'idea è interessante, ma si trascina troppo ed è inconcludente.
Non è scritto bene, e in almeno un paio di parti sembra di leggere la sceneggiatura per un serial tv.
L'unica cosa che ho apprezzato veramente sono le parti della storia d'amore, mancata, tra Tsuneo, il protagonista, e la sua fidanzata: è un bello spaccato della società giapponese, dei matrimoni combinati e del loro protocollo.
La cosa peggiore è il finale, che semplicemente non c'è: o sono io che non l'ho capito, o è l'autore che non sapeva come chiudere questa farsa.
Per tutto il libro c'è il mistero che avvolge la voce che parla a Tsuneo, alla fine sembra che si debbano vedere, ma poi lei scappa per sempre: che conseguenze lascia nella psiche di lui? Nessuna, a parte qualche mese di vaga depressione. Che strascichi lascia nella sua vita? Nessuno.
Ma che razza di finale è, allora? Cos'è questa voce?
E' la voce della sua coscienza?
Oppure la voce del suo senso di colpa per avere causato la morte del suo amante?
Oppure è semplicemente un fantasma? E in questo caso, si diverte solamente a prendere in giro Tsuneo, oppure c'è un motivo per cui ha scelto proprio lui?
Non si capisce, e non perché l'autore lasci una libera interpretazione con finale aperto. Questo è un finale "tronco", non aperto.
A che pro raccontare della sua travagliata esperienza omosessuale se poi non ha nessuna rilevanza ai fini della trama e dell'evoluzione del personaggio? A che pro lasciare alcuni indizi, ad esempio quando la voce parla dell'oceano, se poi non hanno un seguito nella trama?
Per me questo è un romanzetto sopravvalutato.

[Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

2009 bookcrossing:

Wow. This book was absolutely fantastic. I just loved it. I thought the ending was great, and in some ways the best way to end the book. But at the same time I wanted to know all the answers, I wanted to see just as the main character, Tsuneo did. So was the woman a horribly disfigured person; a woman with incredibly low self-esteem; a ghost... or maybe even Erik? I mean, if the blind girl was paid to play a part, maybe the other people he met on those renez vous were as well? So frustrating that I will never know.

This book is set in Tokyo, and is about a young man nearing 30, Tsuneo, who works for the immigration department, rounding up illegal immigrints. He is getting engaged to a girl he hardly knows and has no feelings for, all through the old Japanese style formality of getting engaged. And he drifts through his life, expecting nothing more than existance from life - which is very sad in itself. And he starts having these strange experiences, connecting with "the woman" in his head, having conversations with her and feeling her emotions. And through this, his own inner self is opened up: he falls into depression and confussion, and admits to her and himself about a past episode in his life that has haunted him, when he himself was an illegal immigrint in America.

This is such a beautifully written story, quite heart breaking in some ways. Really would recommend it.

[Gwynplaine26th · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yamada è un buon narratore, la componente nostalgica di chiaro stampo nipponico è sempre presente. Rispetto all'altro suo romanzo "Estranei" , i personaggi sono più ricercati ma manca la tanto attesa risoluzione dell'enigma (ma si sa, il finale aperto è di per sé molto giappo).

Una lettura piacevole, per una ghost-story la cui forte pecca non è da associare all'autore, se non all'edizione nostrana (La Nord traduce ahimè dall'inglese all'italiano, manca la sapienza di un Giorgio Amitrano qui..)

[Arwen56 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chiedo preventivamente scusa agli estimatori dell'autore, ma, personalmente, l'ho trovata una delle peggiori storie mai lette. Inconcludente, mal strutturata, mediocramente scritta. Si vuol far passare come "originalità" una completa mancanza di idee, che si risolve in un insieme di fatti slegati ed improbabili. A tratti è persino irritante.

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Più andavo avanti più aumentavano le domande al riguardo, e praticamente sono rimaste tutte senza risposta. Fine alquanto curiosa (cioè leggendolo dall'ebook continuavo a fare lo slide per girare pagina, quando mi sono resa conto che era l'ultima,mah!)
Si legge bene e non manca l'elemento "paranormale" che accompagna quasi tutti i libri nipponici

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing Japanese ghost story - part mystery, part psychological/supernatural novel, with ambiguous ending. Very easy to read.

[Leila Sandra M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most amazing book I have ever read. It just takes you to another world and makes your skin crawl. AMAZING!!!