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なんとなく、クリスタル
一九八〇年東京。大学に通うかたわらモデルを続ける由利。なに不自由ない豊かな生活、でも未来は少しだけ不透明。彼女の目から日本社会の豊かさとその終焉を予見した、永遠の名作。
225 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
8 people are currently reading
444 people want to read
About the author
Yasuo Tanaka
20 books3 followersYasuo Tanaka (田中 康夫) entered the Faculty of Law at Hitotsubashi University in 1976, writing Somehow, Crystal while still a student there, and received the Bungei Prize in 1980. He graduated shortly thereafter, and worked briefly in the corporate world before switching to writing as a career.
In 2000 he was elected governor of Nagano Prefecture as an independent. He soon attracted attention in Japan for policies radically different from those of the bureaucratic establishment, including halting construction of new dams and campaigning for environmental issues. In 2002, he was forced from office by a vote of no-confidence brought by conservative assemblymen, but won the ensuing election with an overwhelming margin. In 2005 he established the New Party Nippon with a handful of reform-minded members of the House of Representatives, and has served in various positions in national and local government since.
In 2000 he was elected governor of Nagano Prefecture as an independent. He soon attracted attention in Japan for policies radically different from those of the bureaucratic establishment, including halting construction of new dams and campaigning for environmental issues. In 2002, he was forced from office by a vote of no-confidence brought by conservative assemblymen, but won the ensuing election with an overwhelming margin. In 2005 he established the New Party Nippon with a handful of reform-minded members of the House of Representatives, and has served in various positions in national and local government since.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 22, 2022
Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/IV632bYPm_Y
February 16, 2020
Somehow, Crystal (translated by Christopher Smith) was originally published in Japanese in 1980, winning the Bungei Prize that same year. However, due to the novel’s rather peculiar structure and the way its story and content differed from most typical novels of the time, many were baffled by this outcome. Alongside the main narrative, the author has inserted a large amount of notes (exactly 442, which, for a 127-page novel is quite an excessive number), which give the text a rather characteristic feel. In the English version, the story can be found on the left page, while the right page contains all the notes.
The story of Somehow, Crystal is quite simple at first glance, as it follows a young university student who also works as a model and cohabitates with her older musician boyfriend. Obsessed with (foreign) brands, listening to (foreign) songs and living a life seemingly without caring too much about the how’s and the why’s appears to be what the ‘crystal’ lifestyle the characters of this book, as well as the young people at the time, seem to have adopted. The novel is full of descriptions of places and specific shops, an exorbitant amount of songs and singers/bands, and of course branded goods, so much so that the reader momentarily gets lost amid all this flood of names and information.
And although this was one of the arguments the critics of this novel held against it, I believe the author simply meant to provide a chaotic portrayal of the inner and outer turmoil the Japanese society of the ’80s was facing. Young people who care only about superficial things and don’t seem to have any goals or pursuits in their lives might be perceived by the older generations as lazy or indifferent, but isn’t that a form of rebellion in itself? A way to show their displeasure with how things currently are and a way for them to discover what resonates with their generation instead of blindly following what the previous generations did?
The brands and the music aren’t the only foreign products that have taken over young people’s lives, as a lot of the words they use in their everyday speech also come from English or other European languages. Of course, the impact of this is much greater in the original Japanese text, which shows a language so distorted that the only way for someone to understand it is by reading the supplementary notes.
Apart from a critique on society and its norms, Tanaka also criticises literature itself and its conventions that have come to define it so far. He achieves this through the peculiar structure of his novel which is inundated by notes that either explain a certain word or expression used in the text, or simply provide an extra comment or insight, often quite cynical and poignant. As Takahashi Gen’ichiro points out in the Introduction, those notes are equally important as the story and they can even be read as a parallel story in themselves.
Somehow, Crystal is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s not a book that is read for its gripping story or its poetic use of language. Rather, it’s a book that helps readers understand that society, literature and the world around us isn’t as much of a set piece as we might think, and that’s perfectly fine.
You can also find my review over at The Literary Sisters.
A copy of this book was very kindly provided to me by the publisher, Kurodahan Press.
The story of Somehow, Crystal is quite simple at first glance, as it follows a young university student who also works as a model and cohabitates with her older musician boyfriend. Obsessed with (foreign) brands, listening to (foreign) songs and living a life seemingly without caring too much about the how’s and the why’s appears to be what the ‘crystal’ lifestyle the characters of this book, as well as the young people at the time, seem to have adopted. The novel is full of descriptions of places and specific shops, an exorbitant amount of songs and singers/bands, and of course branded goods, so much so that the reader momentarily gets lost amid all this flood of names and information.
And although this was one of the arguments the critics of this novel held against it, I believe the author simply meant to provide a chaotic portrayal of the inner and outer turmoil the Japanese society of the ’80s was facing. Young people who care only about superficial things and don’t seem to have any goals or pursuits in their lives might be perceived by the older generations as lazy or indifferent, but isn’t that a form of rebellion in itself? A way to show their displeasure with how things currently are and a way for them to discover what resonates with their generation instead of blindly following what the previous generations did?
The brands and the music aren’t the only foreign products that have taken over young people’s lives, as a lot of the words they use in their everyday speech also come from English or other European languages. Of course, the impact of this is much greater in the original Japanese text, which shows a language so distorted that the only way for someone to understand it is by reading the supplementary notes.
Apart from a critique on society and its norms, Tanaka also criticises literature itself and its conventions that have come to define it so far. He achieves this through the peculiar structure of his novel which is inundated by notes that either explain a certain word or expression used in the text, or simply provide an extra comment or insight, often quite cynical and poignant. As Takahashi Gen’ichiro points out in the Introduction, those notes are equally important as the story and they can even be read as a parallel story in themselves.
Somehow, Crystal is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s not a book that is read for its gripping story or its poetic use of language. Rather, it’s a book that helps readers understand that society, literature and the world around us isn’t as much of a set piece as we might think, and that’s perfectly fine.
You can also find my review over at The Literary Sisters.
A copy of this book was very kindly provided to me by the publisher, Kurodahan Press.
November 24, 2023
3.5-
This book was definitely a wild experience. There are 442 footnotes that accompany the text, and those notes tell a whole interior story on their own. I really liked it for its exploration of narrative form! It was a fascinating novel to wrap up my Japanese Modernism course, as this has so many classic references and an obsession with food, fashion, and an ever shifting definition of romance and sex. It’s an interesting little read for an afternoon.
I think once you look beyond the bizarre way in which the story is told, what you come up with is really a time capsule into a very specific post-modernist moment that really spoke to its contemporary audience. I don’t think that I could ever relate to it in the way that someone from 1980 could, but it was still a thought provoking backwards look.
This book was definitely a wild experience. There are 442 footnotes that accompany the text, and those notes tell a whole interior story on their own. I really liked it for its exploration of narrative form! It was a fascinating novel to wrap up my Japanese Modernism course, as this has so many classic references and an obsession with food, fashion, and an ever shifting definition of romance and sex. It’s an interesting little read for an afternoon.
I think once you look beyond the bizarre way in which the story is told, what you come up with is really a time capsule into a very specific post-modernist moment that really spoke to its contemporary audience. I don’t think that I could ever relate to it in the way that someone from 1980 could, but it was still a thought provoking backwards look.
April 8, 2024
Format works, not quite a pageturner though.
May 2, 2021
A million seller from 1980 which became a social phenomenon, but which is mainly of historical interest today. The translation is of course welcome, but comes in fact 40 years too late, as the novel is more a cultural document than an important work of literature. All the same, "Somehow, Crystal" has been called the first "postmodern" novel in Japan. It was published when the author was still a fourth-year student in the Faculty of Law at Hitotsubashi University. The novel shows us the materialist and consumerist cosmopolitan lifestyle of Tokyo in the economic boom years leading up to the Bubble Economy.
The protagonist, Yuri, who is a university student and part-time model, dresses herself in the latest chic fashions and visits various new cool spots in Tokyo. An unbelievable number of brands, styles, restaurants, clubs, eating manners, and songs are mentioned (Haruki Murakami also likes to drop brand names, but by far not as much as in this book), but here they are all glossed with 442 detailed notes - some containing a satirical comment by Tanaka. The notes give, for example, hundreds of addresses of clothes shops or cafés that the protagonist is visiting, the price of a certain brand of cigarette she is smoking, or the Japanese translation of an English song that the protagonist is listening to - making the novel a sort of "style Bible" for newbies in the metropolis . The notes eventually form a second novel, a critique of the culture of the times - and these notes are what makes the novel "postmodern." At the end of the book Tanaka has also included a report on Japan's falling fertility rate, already foreshadowing the "aging society" and the end of youth-culture.
The theme of the plot-less novel, as expressed in its title, is that the young people in this period have no personality of their own, they are empty and transparent like crystal (due to the novel, the term "crystal generation" became common). They try to forge a fake sort of identity through prestigious brand-name goods as status-symbols, fixated on wealth and vain decadence. In their personal lives they drift from superficial encounter to encounter, while remaining aloof from serious involvement - the middle third of the novel describes in detail the loveless sex Yuri has in a love hotel, just out of boredom.
By the way, the brand mania described in the novel was not only a problem of Japan's youth. Their elders suffered from the same affliction, aiming to study at prestigious universities or work at top-class companies, drive large cars, take holidays at famous hotels and show off foreign articles (the more expensive, the better). Needless to say, the collapse of the Bubble Economy has put an end to all that.
The novel won the 17th Bungei Prize in 1980 and was nominated for the 84th Akutagawa Prize in 1981. Tanaka Yasuo (b. 1956) later also became known as a - for Japan radical - independent politician who opposed large-scale infrastructure projects. He was Governor of Nagano Prefecture from 2000 to 2006 and Member of the House of Lords from 2007 to 2009 and of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2012. From 2005 he led the New Japan Party. Tanaka wrote four more novels and he also published his experiences as a volunteer at the Kobe earthquake and as governor in essay form.
The protagonist, Yuri, who is a university student and part-time model, dresses herself in the latest chic fashions and visits various new cool spots in Tokyo. An unbelievable number of brands, styles, restaurants, clubs, eating manners, and songs are mentioned (Haruki Murakami also likes to drop brand names, but by far not as much as in this book), but here they are all glossed with 442 detailed notes - some containing a satirical comment by Tanaka. The notes give, for example, hundreds of addresses of clothes shops or cafés that the protagonist is visiting, the price of a certain brand of cigarette she is smoking, or the Japanese translation of an English song that the protagonist is listening to - making the novel a sort of "style Bible" for newbies in the metropolis . The notes eventually form a second novel, a critique of the culture of the times - and these notes are what makes the novel "postmodern." At the end of the book Tanaka has also included a report on Japan's falling fertility rate, already foreshadowing the "aging society" and the end of youth-culture.
The theme of the plot-less novel, as expressed in its title, is that the young people in this period have no personality of their own, they are empty and transparent like crystal (due to the novel, the term "crystal generation" became common). They try to forge a fake sort of identity through prestigious brand-name goods as status-symbols, fixated on wealth and vain decadence. In their personal lives they drift from superficial encounter to encounter, while remaining aloof from serious involvement - the middle third of the novel describes in detail the loveless sex Yuri has in a love hotel, just out of boredom.
By the way, the brand mania described in the novel was not only a problem of Japan's youth. Their elders suffered from the same affliction, aiming to study at prestigious universities or work at top-class companies, drive large cars, take holidays at famous hotels and show off foreign articles (the more expensive, the better). Needless to say, the collapse of the Bubble Economy has put an end to all that.
The novel won the 17th Bungei Prize in 1980 and was nominated for the 84th Akutagawa Prize in 1981. Tanaka Yasuo (b. 1956) later also became known as a - for Japan radical - independent politician who opposed large-scale infrastructure projects. He was Governor of Nagano Prefecture from 2000 to 2006 and Member of the House of Lords from 2007 to 2009 and of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2012. From 2005 he led the New Japan Party. Tanaka wrote four more novels and he also published his experiences as a volunteer at the Kobe earthquake and as governor in essay form.
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March 26, 2024I can´t recall where I found out about “Kristal Kids”, but I am glad that this short novel did find its way on my bookshelf! This wild and short portrait of the youth in Japan during the 80s that has a kind of Tiktoky type of structure holds unexpected parallels to today’s society.
KK is about Yuri, who studies English, lives financially independent in Tōkyō with her boyfriend and is very much engaged (or occupied) with the question of what brand to wear, where to eat and what songs to listen to. Every choice makes or breaks the aesthetic of not only her but everyone’s lives.
The most unusual (not so innovative, cf. Arno Schmidt) part of this novel is the usage of annotations by the narrator. Every brand (clothing, perfume, make-up, cars, etc.), every store name, every movie, singer, band, every street-name and so on and so forth is annotated. There is a short definition and the narrator’s opinion about it.
It really works like Reels/TikToks nowadays in terms of the influence. Because Tanaka describes a society that is preoccupied with brands his main character stands there analogous to Influencers nowadays. The book was a million-copies sold hit when it was first published, and it seems that exactly those recommendations where a part of its popularity. Especially, for people living on the countryside it must have been a good guide for Tōkyō. You can see it even today in movies like “Your name”, where the association of freedom and endless opportunities in Tōkyō are being evoked. (But that’s just my interpretation.)
What I liked about this book is that it gives you an idea of the society and especially about the West-Trend during its time. Tanaka doesn’t criticise his characters for being shallow, capitalistic, etc. He observes his generation (he wrote the text when he was 24!) and also provides some arguments for their way of living. You can decide for yourself where you want to stand opinion-wise.
One thing that was rather funny was Tanakas description of Yuris sex scenes (or her sexuality in general). You can tell that she – in this regard especially – is a (fantasy-)figure formed by a man. She doesn’t move in the bedroom and arrives at the highest forms of lust because of the man’s doing(?) And the “technique” that the other dude uses… Yes, it sounded like he went to the library and searched for the keywords: woman, sex, pleasure, how to, … And on another occasion he lets her say: “There is nothing that makes me happier than to see my man eat the food I made.” Okay, of course. XD
In the German edition there is an excellent interview with the translators, where they reflect on this specifically, on the difficulty of translating insiders (things only people who live in Tokyo would understand) and their personal experiences with Kristal Kids. If you speak German, I definitely recommend (!) reading the interview because they have a way of criticising inappropriate things but not cancelling anything. You can tell that they are still (actually, not superficially) respectful, they take what is good, mention what can be improved and have a very likable and humorous way of doing so.
Last but not least, try visiting Tōkyō before reading KK. It makes you go: “Ah, it is still like that today!” or “Wow, this restaurant is still there.” And so on. :D
KK is about Yuri, who studies English, lives financially independent in Tōkyō with her boyfriend and is very much engaged (or occupied) with the question of what brand to wear, where to eat and what songs to listen to. Every choice makes or breaks the aesthetic of not only her but everyone’s lives.
The most unusual (not so innovative, cf. Arno Schmidt) part of this novel is the usage of annotations by the narrator. Every brand (clothing, perfume, make-up, cars, etc.), every store name, every movie, singer, band, every street-name and so on and so forth is annotated. There is a short definition and the narrator’s opinion about it.
It really works like Reels/TikToks nowadays in terms of the influence. Because Tanaka describes a society that is preoccupied with brands his main character stands there analogous to Influencers nowadays. The book was a million-copies sold hit when it was first published, and it seems that exactly those recommendations where a part of its popularity. Especially, for people living on the countryside it must have been a good guide for Tōkyō. You can see it even today in movies like “Your name”, where the association of freedom and endless opportunities in Tōkyō are being evoked. (But that’s just my interpretation.)
What I liked about this book is that it gives you an idea of the society and especially about the West-Trend during its time. Tanaka doesn’t criticise his characters for being shallow, capitalistic, etc. He observes his generation (he wrote the text when he was 24!) and also provides some arguments for their way of living. You can decide for yourself where you want to stand opinion-wise.
One thing that was rather funny was Tanakas description of Yuris sex scenes (or her sexuality in general). You can tell that she – in this regard especially – is a (fantasy-)figure formed by a man. She doesn’t move in the bedroom and arrives at the highest forms of lust because of the man’s doing(?) And the “technique” that the other dude uses… Yes, it sounded like he went to the library and searched for the keywords: woman, sex, pleasure, how to, … And on another occasion he lets her say: “There is nothing that makes me happier than to see my man eat the food I made.” Okay, of course. XD
In the German edition there is an excellent interview with the translators, where they reflect on this specifically, on the difficulty of translating insiders (things only people who live in Tokyo would understand) and their personal experiences with Kristal Kids. If you speak German, I definitely recommend (!) reading the interview because they have a way of criticising inappropriate things but not cancelling anything. You can tell that they are still (actually, not superficially) respectful, they take what is good, mention what can be improved and have a very likable and humorous way of doing so.
Last but not least, try visiting Tōkyō before reading KK. It makes you go: “Ah, it is still like that today!” or “Wow, this restaurant is still there.” And so on. :D
September 23, 2024
"Somehow, Crystal" is a book that anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and shopaholics might appreciate - but to the average reader, it could feel like a vapid mess. The story is a fairly plotless character study of a college student (and part-time model) named Yuri who flits around 1980 Tokyo with her friends and lovers, namedropping the trendiest brands, places, fads, slang, and music that provide her with a "somehow feeling," an atmosphere, an identity she can evoke through consumerism, what the kids today might call a "vibe." ;) Parallel to each page of the story is a page of extensive footnotes (442 of them!) that supplement and supplant Yuri's rambling list of the luxuries she uses to define herself and others. So on one side you have the narrator (Yuri), and on the other side you have another narrator (the footnotes), both coming together to capture a specific type of person in a specific generation in a specific moment in time. She might be what Bridget Fonda in the movie "Singles" or Alicia Silverstone in "Clueless" is to a certain GenX or Millennial set, respectively. Time has marched on since this book won prizes and sold a zillion copies in Japan. Where would Yuri be these days? Where would Bridget or Alicia be? The story in this inventive novel isn't anything great, but it seems to me the point of the book is the atmosphere it paints - the "somehow feeling" Yuri (or any 20 year old for that matter) longs to maintain. Don't read it for the story, read it for the vibe.
November 26, 2020
I was put onto this book by an essay on a blog https://neojaponisme.com/2007/12/03/m... . I thought I could get some cool Japan vibes from this but unfortunately that essay is a better read (they should have put it at the front of this book) and the salient point I can see now is "not a literary treasure by any stretch of the imagination."
The title of the book is the extent of not just the character's but the author's penetration into the subject (it's a character study).
Most of the book is concerned with sex and cheating and the author's point is that stable sexual relationships are based on the woman being controlled by the man because only he can make her orgasm. That's er... Freudian...
The other thing about this book is the footnotes. They're either mundane, obscure or satirical, and when satire dosen't actually challenge the status quo its just halfhearted and incoherent.
The title of the book is the extent of not just the character's but the author's penetration into the subject (it's a character study).
Most of the book is concerned with sex and cheating and the author's point is that stable sexual relationships are based on the woman being controlled by the man because only he can make her orgasm. That's er... Freudian...
The other thing about this book is the footnotes. They're either mundane, obscure or satirical, and when satire dosen't actually challenge the status quo its just halfhearted and incoherent.
June 2, 2025
Physically exhausting to read, ping pong-ing your eyes back and forth to take in every foot note. It also was a bit slower at the start, as not much happens. Definitely not for everyone, but it has a lot of interesting ideas that make it worth a read (plus, it's short).
The foreword suggests that the novel can be experienced in two ways: reading footnotes as they appear, or reading one page of the main text uninterrupted, followed by that page's corresponding footnotes. These are two very different experiences, but interruption is crucial to both (it was compared to Tanpopo by my Japanese professor in the way that the primary storyline is interrupted).
At times, I heavily related to the main character and in other ways (probably most of the time) found her irritating, obviously pompous, and illogical. My lasting impression is one of deep surprise. I think this is one of the most interesting novels I have ever read.
The foreword suggests that the novel can be experienced in two ways: reading footnotes as they appear, or reading one page of the main text uninterrupted, followed by that page's corresponding footnotes. These are two very different experiences, but interruption is crucial to both (it was compared to Tanpopo by my Japanese professor in the way that the primary storyline is interrupted).
At times, I heavily related to the main character and in other ways (probably most of the time) found her irritating, obviously pompous, and illogical. My lasting impression is one of deep surprise. I think this is one of the most interesting novels I have ever read.
September 27, 2023
I hesitate to categorize a book as "vapid" but Tanaka's writing (specifically footnotes which often had no relevance or contribution to the story) felt shallow and obviously sexist. Though Yuri had moments of interesting clarity that I'd prefer to investigate, the plot drifted along too slowly (at varying, unpredictable paces) to engage my attention. I found it impossible to invest myself in any of the characters or sympathize with this male writer's perspective of women in Japanese society. By the end of the book, it seemed as though there was extremely little thought put into its birth and execution.
April 6, 2024
A very short and easy read. It's fairly unique as there are annotations on the side explaining something to the readers. And the annotator has some personality, too, as some comments they make are hilarious!
It is very interesting how both the author and the translator are men, so I can't say how accurate things are from the women's perspective of the time, but it was a fun read nonetheless.
Overall, 4/5 stars
It is very interesting how both the author and the translator are men, so I can't say how accurate things are from the women's perspective of the time, but it was a fun read nonetheless.
Overall, 4/5 stars
January 15, 2024
carjno, ma nulla di che
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September 10, 2024Very interesting structure with all the notes. Was mentioned in Filterworld, which led me to it
December 2, 2025
So confused. No plot but that’s the point. Some notes were hilarious. Will re-read probably
October 23, 2019
I had wanted to read this book ever since I read about it in Japan: A Modern History almost 20 years ago. Now that it's finally been translated, I've finally read it and it lived up to my expectations. If you're looking for a plot-based story, where something happens, this is not the book for you. But if you're in the mood for a detailed, evocative study of a particular person in a particular time and place, pick up this book.
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