おいしいごはんが食べられますように

by Junko Takase

第167回芥川賞受賞作。

「二谷さん、わたしと一緒に、芦川さんにいじわるしませんか」
心をざわつかせる、仕事＋食べもの＋恋愛小説。

職場でそこそこうまくやっている二谷と、皆が守りたくなる存在で料理上手な芦川と、仕事ができてがんばり屋の押尾。
ままならない人間関係を、食べものを通して描く傑作。

Genres: Fiction, Japan, Contemporary, Japanese Literature, Literary Fiction, Asia, Food

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 24, 2022

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An uneven but inventive examination of office politics presented via the interaction of three people assigned to a small department in a regional offshoot of a large Japanese company. Junko Takase’s award-winning novella revolves around newly-transferred Nitani and his evolving relationships with co-workers Oshio and Ashikawa. Natani’s quietly disgruntled, desperate to evade the bonding rituals fundamental to Japanese corporate culture, particularly the shared meals that serve to enforce unity. His colleague Oshio’s equally dissatisfied. But neither feel able to voice their objections – except to each other.

Takase’s story’s told from Natani’s third-person, and Oshio’s first-person perspectives – although Oshio’s contribution operates more like a critique of Nitani’s. The third member of their awkward triangle is Ashikawa. Unlike them, she’s cheerful and outwardly content. Her managers admire her graceful appearance and adherence to traditional feminine ideals. Their belief in her underlying vulnerability means Ashikawa’s excused from anything deemed potentially overwhelming: from meeting with demanding clients to tasks that might prove too tiring. As a result, Oshio and Nitani find themselves shouldering much of Ashikawa’s workload. Their hours are long, often bleeding over into the weekend, a situation that stirs resentment and increasingly rebellious fantasies.

Ashikawa’s an intriguing creation, an enigmatic figure presented solely from Oshio and Nitani’s points-of-view. But, for all three, their respective attitudes towards food seem key to deciphering their personalities and motivations. For Nitani food is essentially fuel, an imposition which takes up far more time than he’d like, for Oshio food’s simply there to be enjoyed. For Ashikawa, who loves to cook, it’s somehow tied up with gift-giving. She regularly brings in elaborate, homemade cakes and sweets, ostensibly compensating colleagues for tolerating frequent absences and shorter working days. This endears her to numerous managers and fellow staff. On the surface, Nitani and Oshio support this view of Ashikawa as decent and nurturing. But Takase encourages us to read between the lines, and question whether Ashikawa is really what she seems.

Gift-giving is central to Japanese culture but it's usually scripted. However, Ashikawa’s approach’s not strictly bounded by convention despite its ritualistic flavour. Ashikawa insists on gathering everyone together to taste her treats, a process that requires them to praise her skills and, in keeping with social norms, publicly perform pleasure as they eat. Ashikawa may just be thanking colleagues for sacrificing on her behalf but there’s a suspicion she’s actually more intent on manipulation. It seems no coincidence these are calorific, cloying rather than nourishing dishes. Is Ashikawa generous or cleverly gaming the system, trapping coworkers in networks of obligation and displays of gratitude? It’s not as if anyone can refuse to complete Ashikawa’s assignments. And how does she find the time to bake when everyone else in the office is beyond overloaded?

Takase never directly addresses these issues instead she gradually positions Oshio in opposition to Ashikawa. Two very different women, two very different modes of femininity. Ashikawa conforms to male expectations, Oshio struggles against them. Ashikawa presents as cute and in need of protection while Oshio’s viewed as outspoken, aggressive and nonconformist. Oshio complies with the company’s excessive demands even though her labour goes unrewarded and largely unacknowledged. But Ashikawa effectively evades responsibility. Nitani’s caught between the two, mired in internal conflicts – as he is about his entire existence. Through their experiences, Takase deftly shifts focus from workplace dynamics to gender roles in contemporary Japan, inviting us to reflect on the restraints and possibilities shaping working women’s lives. Translated by Morgan Giles.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hutchinson Heinemann for an ARC

Rating: 3.5

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rules of politeness for eating home-made treats: you must talk loudly while eating. You must continually perform gratitude. You must say 'this is so good,' when you take your first bite; once you've eaten half, ask about something you have no interest in, for example, 'wow, how do you make a sauce like this?'; once you've finished, you must declare in a particularly satisfied-sounding voice, 'gosh, that was good! Thank you!'

This is a wry and pointed book about Japanese office culture that takes a particular focus on the freighted act of eating and how it plays out at work. Anyone who has worked in an office will be aware of the politics of lunch: who you have it with, what you have, brought in versus bought. But this novel takes especially interest in the office 'feeder': you know, that woman (I guess it could be a man but I've only ever known women take on this role) who bakes treats and insists on feeding everyone cakes, muffins and cookies.

As with so much Japanese literature, this feels a tiny bit elusive, almost as if it's glancing at its topic sideways rather than full on. At heart there's a kind of triangle, though nothing as unsubtle as a love triangle. Nitani works with two women: Ashikawa is the archetypal 'good' girl - she feeds everyone, she gushes, she's too fragile to work overtime, and Nitani 'knows' she would make the ideal wife. Then there's Oshio who won't pander to Ashikawa's niceness, she goes drinking with Nitani and doesn't try to control his eating habits which are basically an over-reliance on Pot Noodles.

It all adds up to a subtle commentary on office politics with food as a lens through which to understand personal dynamics - and, at heart, this is about that perennial topic of social conformity vs. following your own track. What gives it its edge is the ending where Oshio is 'encouraged' to resign, at least in part because she doesn't appreciate Ashikawa the way their co-workers and bosses do, and the way she uses that occasion to finally say aloud and in public what she really feels. Yet it's Ashikawa who seems to have won the ostensible battle for Nitani: he may rebel via all those Pot Noodles but the implication is that he will settle for marriage just as he is envisaging working for the same company for the next thirty to forty years.

When novels about food tend to focus on women and the problematics of eating (e.g. Piglet) it's hugely refreshing to see a book which tackles food as a social ritual that binds and potentially bonds a community - here a group of co-workers - but which can also be wielded as a weapon that masquerades as kindness and generosity but which might have a far more Machiavellian edge.

Many thanks to Random House, Cornerstone for an ARC via NetGalley

[Queralt✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

May You Have Delicious Meals is a novella about office culture and social interactions in Japan. Reading this was as fun and exciting as watching paint dry. The novel is plotless and I’m going to get into it in a moment, but I do want to say if you’ve been unlucky enough to take Japanese sociology classes, this is a good book to reflect on wa/和/social harmony.

The novella mainly follows three co-workers: Nitani, Ashikawa, and Oshio. Nitani is a sexist man who hates the idea of cooking and doesn’t care about food. He starts sort of seeing Ashikawa (secretly), a woman who loves to cook and is just scared and insecure about everything. In their company, there is an unspoken rule to not ask Ashikawa to do much work because she can’t take it, and everyone cuts her slack. This means that Oshio, her colleague, has to do everything else and gets screamed at when the team doesn’t perform. Hence, Oshio keeps getting drinks with Nitani to whine about Ashikawa.

That’s pretty much it. We just follow vignettes in which the characters meet and interact and eat food.

I found the story very uninteresting, Oshio and Nitani were unlikable as fuck, and Ashikawa just put me off. She was just so weird. Nitani’s thoughts on women weren’t fun. Oshio was just so annoying, she kept jokingly (?) proposing to bully Ashiwaka and it was disgusting (honestly, I award her the gold medal in the petty Olympics). Ashikawa needed some personality, she was just boring to read about. And lastly, I just couldn’t keep track of the other characters, there was very little introduction when the book started, it felt like coming into the fourth season of a TV show and being bombarded with “Fuji drinks from a bottle,” “Junko wants to eat noodles,” etc.

I understand this has won the prestigious Akutagawa prize in Japan and that’s why it’s been translated to English, but it really didn’t work for me. Even if I do admit that it was interesting to reflect on wa and all the stuff I’ve learnt about sociology in Japan and so forth, this was not entertaining or fun to read at all. I’m not taking anything from this book.

*ARC received for free, this has not impacted my review.

[ツツ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely shouldn't have read this before bed; it made me angry and kept me awake. I hate how relatable 二谷/Nitani is to me. I hate how much 芦川/Ashikawa reminds me of the kind of person my parents wished that I were. Home-cooking has long been discussed as exploitation of women's labor; this book brings out the coercive side of it in the open.

I have food-related trauma that I have trouble addressing. I can't find any literature to help explain and process my experiences. The only kind available is on (body image related) anorexia/bulimia and, occasionally, emotional eating with an anti-fatness undertone--which are just not my case. This book is the first one to reflect my feelings, despite Nitani and i went down different paths--he wants transactional detachment, i seek embodied authorship. We both opt in for low-emotional-footprint food.

Why must internal experiences, like "deliciousness," be expressed for the ears of others? The idea that "it didn’t happen if it’s not on social" seems to be an escalation of this same mindset. Nitani intuitively recognises the manipulative tone and evacuated meaning in performative praises. However, such insights can never be expressed because he knows as well as i do that most people don’t hesitate to make remarks about “it’s just some words you say (such small effort compared to the cooking).”as if there’s no weight behind the words, as if everyone should repeat language without inhabiting it, as if semantic integrity and semantic autonomy are trivial matters, as if it’s expected to let your affact be hijacked and distorted into social currency. Those semantic zombies have outsourced their meaning-making to the social algorithms and scripts, and the rest of us in the minority are shamed guilted pressured into mimicking zombie behaviours just to survive.

Nitani sees (home-cooked) food as a means of control, a loss of autonomy, and a further alienation of his already alienated existence, on top of common sentiments like finding cooking troublesome. Being forced (by social expectation, but nonetheless) to eat food he does not want triggers a feeling of lost agency and is the kind of experience that bodies register as a violation. there's no information on his early experiences with food, but in the end we learned he has internalized the message of stuffing himself with unwanted food from the maternal figures' expectations for a boy. Nitani's POV is written in the third person, compared with Oshio's POV written in the first person; it might be another clue for Nitani's alienation from his own body. This serves as a case study for why men should support feminism.

My mother wanted me to be a foodie; she wanted me to be excited for food, she hoped that food can bring me happiness, but ultimately it just meant she wanted me to be someone I'm not. (If looked at even harder, it was about eliciting curated reactions to support her narrative of being a Good Mother™, and encouraging me to perform a scripted self that is femininely nonthreatening and aesthetically manageable—which also meant to reflect back that she’s not only a “good mother,” but the kind who raises the “right”kind of child.) My grandmother always asked me if the food (she cooked) was delicious; I was never at ease with this inquiry, because since early on I knew that "it's delicious" was the only acceptable answer. (apparently I can't read the room/air, from this book I learned the right thing to do is to exclaim the deliciousness as soon as it hits your tongue and my grandmother shouldn’t have needed to ask in the first place.) No one cared that soggy floury food and soft floury things that can get compacted between your teeth are huge texture clashes for me. Or maybe they just never noticed because I usually try not to get to the point of gagging. What they did notice is my refusal to eat such food items, and they tried to manipulate me to eat them.

I initially thought this story involved bullying. However, putting desserts in a plastic bag on Ashikawa's desk seems mild, private, and an understandable way to express that this force-feeding is not appreciated while avoiding interactions and conflict. Does Ashikawa have to give out desserts to everyone at the same time and making it no escape for anyone who doesn’t want to partake? Isn’t it common to just leave food with a tag like “free”/“help yourself”/“for everyone”? Maybe she craves attention? or sincerely believes that “food tastes better when ate with others.”?

Ashikawa as a character is just sooo flat; any interpretation may not be viable anyway because she functions solely as a strawman. Despite the flatness, she still reminds me of the kind of cishet normie who’s just satisfied enough, distracted enough, lucky enough, blunt enough to avoid thinking a single feminist thought. also, Ashikawa and her dynamic with Nitani sounds almost exactly the same with the main pov from Motherhood, which makes it structurally a perfect sequel to this book even with different characters and explores different themes.

Sure, as the middle-aged boss man suggested, 押尾/Oshio could simply communicate that she (and Nitani and at least one mysterious other who also throws away the desserts) doesn't like/want sweets. however, on top of the pressure to stay in sync with the flock, anyone who has been in a similar situation understands how difficult it becomes if you don’t say something right away when it first happens (which almost never occurs because “What if it’s a one-time thing? I don’t want to seem unappreciative, oversensitive, or a bad sport over something that has already happened and may not happen again”). As time passes, addressing it only gets harder. It raises so many said and unsaid questions, like "why are you telling me now?" “so you were just enduring it this whole time?” It’s shame-inducing for both parties, and since you’re the one who brought it up, you are responsible for all of it.

Nitani can only relax with Oshio. He even stops emotional eating. I appreciate how the potential sexual tension (just because they are of “the opposite sex”) is addressed and dismissed early in the story, allowing them to form a bond that is neither romantic nor sexual, but based on their shared mentality; the way people were supposed to relate to each other, regardless of how their gender was perceived. Oshio sees through Nitani’s mask and, in turn, affirms his existence. Honestly, what more do we want from one another as human beings than to accept and be accepted for our authentic selves?
I was moved by Oshio's attempt to be open and unflinching in the end; it takes a lot of courage and nonconformity.


book 5 of 2025, (3 /February)

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into May You Have Delicious Meals with only a vague idea of what it would be about (what can i say, i am a sucker for catchy titles & covers). Still, the first few pages seemed to hint at a tense, stifling read about a woman’s growing obsession with her colleague. Sadly, the novel never delivers on this, and despite its short length, I was bored by the uneven pacing and lack of tension.

May You Have Delicious Meals revolves around three colleagues: Ashikawa, a young woman who appears subservient, sweet, and sensitive—seemingly the embodiment of a more conservative idea of femininity; Nitani, the man secretly dating Ashikawa while badmouthing her; and Oshio, a woman who despises Ashikawa, seeing her as weak and insipid. The novel does explore the push and pull of Nitani’s attraction and aversion toward Ashikawa (which kind of reminded me of elsa morante's arturo—not a good thing) and Oshio’s dislike of Ashikawa, which is perhaps exacerbated by jealousy or envy.

A large part of the narrative revolves around food—Ashikawa bakes treats for her colleagues as a way of ‘making up’ for frequently leaving work early due to not feeling well or struggling with more demanding tasks. To a certain extent, food is only seen as reflective of someone's character, and the novel contrasts Ashikawa's homemade meals with Nitani and Oshio's preference for easy/ready meals. I wouldn’t have minded a story that lingers on mundane workplace conversations or drawn-out small talk (i’m really enjoying hot spot, which does this well), but here, the dialogue felt flat—probably because the characters themselves are uninteresting & one-dimensional. The juxtaposition between Ashikawa and Oshio also felt predictable, the kind of dichotomy I’ve come to expect from more old-school and/or male authors (a 21st cent. take iteration of the good ol' madonna/whore). Takase's exploration of femininity and respectability within a conservative society comes across as very surface-level. I also found the novel’s discussion of workplace bullying and burnout somewhat...shall we say, limited. It seemed to suggest that superiors or colleagues accused of bullying are often unfairly punished or turned into scapegoats—an idea I don’t really agree with, given that, in my experience, workplace bullies/harassers rarely face any real consequences.

The shifts in POV also felt unnecessary and jarring, with Nitani’s sections in third-person abruptly switching to Oshio’s first-person narration. Neither character comes across as particularly nuanced, and I wish Ashikawa had been given more space—she functions more as a plot device than a fully realized person. Maybe this could have worked if the novel had leaned into a feverish, psychological take on obsession, desire, and jealousy, but instead, it remains in fairly vanilla realms.

I kept wishing for something more subversive, something quietly unnerving. Even the novel’s attempts to explore modern work culture lacked the nuance and immediacy I was hoping for. That said, if this one’s on your radar, I’d recommend checking out some more positive reviews.

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witty, toxic and wildly entertaining!

If you have ever worked in a corporate, toxic environment, this book will definitely get you going. I thorough enjoyed how deeply relevant this book is.

[farahxreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of ironic that the “weak,” “demure,” and “incompetent” Ashikawa is the only person who refuses to conform to workplace culture, completely unmoved by pressure or expectations moulded by the capitalist machine

The tone is quite understated that it wasn’t until halfway through that I started to grasp what the story was trying to convey

Full review coming

3.5/5

[Alison Fincher]

"At first glance, the premise of Junko Takase’s Akutagawa-Prize-winning novel May You Have Delicious Meals seems like the set-up for a romantic comedy. Nitani, Ashikawa, and Oshio work together in the sales division of a company. Nitani normally dates timid, feminine women like Ashikawa. Nitani and Ashikawa start a relationship. Sometimes Nitani spends his evenings at his apartment with Ashikawa, where she makes him nutritious, homemade meals. He spends other evenings at dive bars with his more brusque and professionally competent female colleague, Oshio.

But a romance novel it is not. Nor is it a reasonably-straightforward critique of these Japanese office workers’ work culture a la Kikuko Tsumura’s There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job . Instead, it’s a more open-ended study of human nature that plays with some of the norms of contemporary Japanese fiction in ways a reader might not expect...

...From an outsider’s perspective, it’s clear that the real problem is the company’s—Japan’s… perhaps the capitalist world’s—unrealistic expectations of its workforce. When Nitani resents staying late, it’s because he could have left at seven. When a project deadline approaches, the staff works until eleven, then gives up their Saturdays, then their entire weekends. The company apparently transfers workers without consulting them or asking for their consent. One worker is transferred to an office two and a half hours away—“it [is] annoying, but he [has] no choice but to move again,” the narrator notes, because the character never considers another option..."

Full review in the Asian Review of Books, 2/15/2025:
https://asianreviewofbooks.com/may-yo...

[Bella Azam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short novella on office politic drama with scrumptious descriptions of foods & desserts. With undertones of critiques on working cultures through three characters, Junko Takase's story is a satire on societal expectations of conforming, workplace' hierarchy & food as essence of living or pleasure. One eats to live, another simply enjoy foods to be eaten while another person cooked or baked with intentions either to get appreciation or just love to do so. Its a short read with mostly monotonous plot, nothing much happened throughout. But there is a sense of oppressiveness in this, the underlying criticism to be gleaned once you read. It was a fast paced read but left you wanting more from it. An unconventional, plotless story which can be read in one sitting.

Narrated through 3rd POV from Nitani's perspective, a young man working in a firm after being transferred from another branch. He is a cynical person with a mind of work is done for money, not bothered about making food for himself, found cooking a hassle & only lives through convenience of pre packed foods & instant noodles. They are cheap, less time consuming. He found it bothersome that humans need to eat to live, to have energy from eating & his bleak & dislike towards homemade food as a sort of cheap appreciation & need to compliment others on their cooking. On other hand, we have Oshio's first POV as we get to see her thoughts & honest feelings on her surroundings. Oshio is Nitani's female colleague & also drinking buddy that doesnt fit into a typical feminine charms like their colleague, Ashikawa. She is bold, worked hard but still fell under the pressure of societal expexctations to follow the superior, working overtime to catch deadline, hustling for works, unable to take time off for fear of burdening others. While Ashikawa, the person they deemed as weak, coward, incompetent used her charms & fraility as excuses to finish work early, take time off when she doesnt feel slightly well, cancelling last minute plans that require extra effort which definitely makes her an unreliable worker but with her personality & feminine charm, her higher ups felt pity on her. While she tried to make up for her lacking, she baked homemade desserts & cookies as a means of apology or I want to say a very clever trick of manipulation to satisfy others. Whats a great way to please others if not by making their stomachs full, something light and sweets like snacks that can be taken anytime of the day

This book doesn't have a plot, its mostly a stagnant story of the office drama. It can be gleaned from the hierarchy of workplace as the boss forced everyone to have lunch together can be seen as a collective people need to do things together. There are misogyny that can be seen through Nitani's perception on Ashikawa as he felt she is weak & easy to be controlled. It does get a bit uncomfortable reading such thoughts. A grappling examination of corporate culture, through the lens of modernity, tied between foods & the significance of the treats. Although, the book does lack in terms of depth that made me feel unsatisfied by the end.



Review copy by @definitelybooks

[hans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A subtly satirical workplace drama and culture told and approached through a theme of power dynamics and one’s personal relationship with food. Not as much thrilling or that engagingly plotted to me, bit dry on the writing tone as well too flat on the characterization part but frankly enthralled me for its way in portraying a scene in a modern office backdrop where it is mandatory to have lunches with the boss or winning colleagues’ affection by giving treats rather than hardwork.

I followed three characters in their complexities of thoughts and roles; Ashikawa who loves to bake and do homecooking, and would always go making food for her colleagues as a way to maintain harmony, Nitani who resented the act of having a proper homecooked meals and chose to stay with his daily fav convenience-store instant noodles and Oshio who is much bolder, always overworked but loves to find solace in after-work drinking.

It was too vexing to follow their POVs esp Oshio with her rants and dissatisfaction towards Ashikawa’s way of gaining favors. Nitani too getting on my nerves at times for his passive character and though I loved the luscious list of food Ashikawa prepared thoughout the premise, nothing about her attitude fancied me much. Those tensions and conflict of preferences coupled with their behavioural issues in both work and personal relations can be quite unsettling yet giving that reality check towards modern-day working culture; of one’s judgement and favouritism, on societal norms and the hassle to be a well-liked person while working in a team.

Nothing piqued me for the ending as it goes quite monotonous on the execution. Expected perspective for Nitani and how it’ll go for Oshio— felt bad for her but as I did not feel that much attachment to her emotional state so I was unbothered. An average read overall, would recommend only if you appreciate subtle satire or observational narrative on workplace and societal dynamics with food as an arc. 2.8/5*

(review copy courtesy of Pansing Distribution)

[Linda Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting. Made me think about my relationship with food/today's culture around food. I always took for granted the idea of "food is more delicious when you're eating it with people" or that homecooked things are delicious because the secret ingredient is love etc. etc. And it's not that the book made me think differently, but it certainly points out the fact that those ideas are societal constructs that I have been taught because of the environment I grew up in. So, the book acts for me like a springboard into questioning under what conditions food actually tastes delicious to me and under what conditions it becomes a chore.

The relationships between the three main characters is interesting in a very recent Japanese literature kind of way, which is to say, a little odd, discomfiting, and slightly exaggerative.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting view on Japanese office culture and food. It didn’t grip me as much as I had hoped though.
Thank you Penguin UK and Netgalley UK for the ARC.

[Daniella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just kind of felt like a nothing book :/

It kind of explored how modern conveniences and work expectations are impacting our relationship with food, but I don't think there was enough here to really say much about it. There was also a little bit about being a young woman in an office, and the expectation to work overtime etc. but how she made up for it by the domestic act of cooking everyone treats - but again not really much there.

*shrug emoji*

[Daria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, it was so good! A deliciously accurate glimpse into the passive aggressiveness of the (Japanese) office environment and average office worker lifestyle.

[Jess Esa · Rating 3 out of 5]

May You Have Delicious Meals dives into the murky waters of office politics as it pertains to food, particularly how food can be used as a means of social control and surveillance within a capitalist system. The characters and story didn't make a huge impression on me, but I did find some of the ideas raised in this novella interesting.

[Teguh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could eat pot noodles three meals a day and still meet all the dietary requirements for a healthy life. Or that there was a pill you could take once a day that had all the nutrients and calories you needed.(p.3)

Dari blurb aku mengira novel ini akan “hanya” berkisah Nitani yang sangat obses dengan mi instan, sampai-sampai adegan pembuka novel ini makan siang di kantor dan NItani merasa “wajib” ikut bosnya makan siang bareng sebab itu aturan kantor. Dan dia merasa kenyang itu ditentukan oleh mi instan. Kupikir akan freak dan aneh dalam karakter buildingnya. Ternyata ini lebih, bahkan menurutku isu utama adalah “crowning” perempuan dengan atribusi dia cantik, gemas, manja, kawaii, dan tentu pinter masak. Ada alegori yang sangat menarik dari karakter Ashikawa dna Oishi, dua perempuan utama dalam novel ini.

Jadi novel ini memang berpusat pada dunia kantor packaging, ada Nitani, Oishi, dan Aishikawa. Tiga karakter utamanya. Aishikawa perempuan yang sangat manja dan sering banget pulang duluan, tidak pernah lembur, dan ujug-ujug pulang kalau kena bentak klien. Dalam gosip kantor, Aishikawa ini termasuk yang tidak kompeten tapi seolah dimanjakan (tenang tidak ada hubungan gelap dengan para bos). Sebaliknya Oishi ini perempuan pekerja yang satsetsatset, sekaligus teman minum-minum bir NItani. Nitani sendiri dibesarkan oleh lingkungan patriarki yang memandang perempuan itu yang masak dan melayani, maka dia yang masih melajang dan berburu kepraktisan memandang mi instan dan makanan di supermarket adalah jalan ninja. Tapi dia diam-diam mendambakan “dipersuami” oleh Aishikawa yang pandai betul memasak. Oiyaaa Aishikawa ini jago banget home cooking, baking, dll. Tipe perempuan dalam sosial kitalaaaah.

Tapi mau tidak mau, Nitani juga menggosipkan Aishikawa dengan Oishi. Ya gimana ya seperti ini pasti akan muncul. Maka, novel ini juga menyinggung bagaimana politik kantor kadang menyebalkan.

If everyone just went about life choosing to do what they wanted, what they could do easily, what they were comfortable with, then nothing would ever happen. If someone doesn’t do the stuff no one wants to do, even though it’s hard, then the work won’t get done. And if the work doesn’t get done then the company will go bust.(p.57)

Spirit seperti ini menurutku wajar mengapa agama orang-orang Jepang itu bekerja.

Aishikawa jelas produk sosial yang menempatkan perempuan itu wajib ain mahir di dapur dan cantik dan kawaii. Ada komentar dari klien ketika Aishikawa dan Oishi abis meeting: “Perempuan secantik kalian seharusnya tidak perlu bekerja.”

Woooow. Puncak adegan dalam novel ialah ketika kantor meledak setelah beberapa kali Aishikawa kerap membawa keik-keik buatannya dan dibagi-bagikan sebagai ucapan maaf sebab hanya dia yang tidak lembur, ketika yang lain lembur. Dan tentu Oishi yang sudah eneg sekaligus Nitani yang diam-diam tidak menyukai makanan “home cooking” Aishikawa, tidak memakan bahkan membuang ketika pulang. 


Aaaaah endingnya sangat “politik kantor”. Kubenci politik kantor sekaligus menyenangi obrolan makanan dalam novel ini bisa begitu filosofis.

[Kayak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book おいしいごはんが食べられますように (Let we be able to eat delicious food) is my first read book by Junko Takase, a Japanese author writing in the «pure literature» genre.
The story has left a confusing aftertaste, which was probably the author’s intention. Despite the novel’s name, food is not so much at the center of the story.
The language (as far as a non-native reader can judge) is good; it is pretty easy to read. The plot has dynamics that allow finishing the book very fast.


The story is built around three main characters working in the same office (a male character Nitani, and two female characters, Oshio and Ashikawa).
Nitani lives not by his own will but by following social standards: he studied management at the university instead of literature because it is more appropriate for a man; he is looking for a spouse because his grandmother wants grandchildren.
Oshio is a strong-willed woman who wants to do her job correctly and does not want to look weak.
Ashikawa is weak; the office head allows her to leave the worker earlier than others. In turn, Ashikawa cooks delicatessen for all the workers who have to do her share of work.
Nitani dates Ashikawa; still, he enjoys the attention of Oshio. Despite Nitani and Ashikawa’s relations, the linkage between Nitani and Oshio looks stronger. Oshio declares that she hates Ashikawa and, during one of their drinking evenings with Nitani, suggests bullying Ashikawa together. This fact makes readers look at Nitani and Oshio with some disgust. However, this feeling later gives its place to some general regret of the people’s blindness. Nitani and Oshio are not disgusting; however, they are lost in life. Nitani develops a strong hater against the cooking hobby of his partner Ashikawa. He secretly destroys and throws away handmade sweets cooked by Ashikawa for all office members, still saving his face in public. Oshio notices thrown away cookies and leaves them on Ashikawa’s working table to bully her. Such a situation continues for half a year when the situation becomes evident to other office workers. The office head presses Oshio to leave her position. Surprisingly, Oshio looks freed by such a resolution; she seems to progress to a new stage as a person. Nitani, despite all his disgust for Ashikawa’s cooking hobby, proposes to her. Nitani appears to make the wrong choice; the choice between Oshio and Ashikawa looks the same as between the literature and management. He again chooses against his will.
Ashikawa is an important character. Still, she has zero characteristics. She is an unanimated symbol of something socially accepted and supported that should counterbalance Oshio. Oshio, on the other hand, is a nominal leading character, as some parts of the book are written from her point of view.


Good book, highly recommended.

[BattlecatReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I HATED Ashikawa. #teamoshio
Edited to add:
Nitani is a salaryman in Saitama and works in an office with Ashikawa, a sweet but overall not very helpful in the office woman and Oshio, another female colleague who has to pick up the slack. Through food connections are forged (and denied).

Bad summary but there really is very little plot. And I hated these people, Oshio least, Nitani and Ashikawa about the same. It is basically just a lot of office moaning, but with food. Nitani and Oshio hate Ashikawa because she is useless but so sweet and so fragile and tiny and nobody can make her do anything because surely she will break if not handled with kid gloves? YES, I’d hate her too! Deciding to “bully” her is not cool but in the end all they did was not eat the sweets she brought to bribe the other co-workers into letting her get away with… doing nothing. She also made everyone gather and praise her for her sweets and… just ew.
In the end this book just showed me how Japanese offices are very often very toxic, weird environments, that food culture is a big thing there and that societal expectations in Japan put weird pressure on people (societal harmony, Wa (和) and whatnot).
I hated that Nitani kept seeing Ashikawa while still basically hating her AND her food, I hated that Oshio took the fall in the end… Did not like this book much. It felt very… bloodless. No one had a spine, no one had a story, everybody was very beige and I felt like I had just eaten candy with the taste of water afterwards. It was a book alright but it gave me very little to chew on.

[Rachel]

May You Have Delicious Meals was such an unusual and interesting book. I loved reading its depiction of the politics of food and eating at work. It’s something that I’ve noticed and grated against for a long time, and I’ve never seen it described elsewhere so well.

While food and eating at work comes up in different ways in the book, a big part of of the story is about the fate of the homemade treats brought in by Ashikawa, as a kind of atonement for her shorter hours and lesser workload. I was really struck by the way the whole office is expected to make a big deal of the gift, even if it’s not something they actually enjoy.

I think many people have had cake and sweets, particularly homemade ones, pushed on them at work. I have, and I don’t like it. I pretty much always don’t want to eat them! If I choose to eat cakes and sweets, I’ll eat them on my own time and in my own way.

But there are politics at play, and I’ve definitely encountered people who get really offended if you don’t eat the treats they bring in. It can be awkward to stand there, trying to chat with people and be polite, while declining all the foods you don’t want to eat but insistently offered to you again and again.

So I liked reading about the main characters’ anger at the persistent insistence of eating food together in an office. It’s quite a short, and packs a lot in.

[Diana Ramayee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a small book which I initially overlooked as a quick and simple read but was pleasantly surprised to find it really packs a punch - cleverly shedding light on Japan's mysoginistic unforgiving corporate culture. I wasn't a fan of the monotonous writing style and uneventful plotline but that might just be personal preference.

[Sara Kelemit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Att vara totalt ointresserad av god mat. Fascinerande faktiskt. Men det blir bara en trea ändå.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

妈呀，真的好好好一般，居然还是得奖作品，刚开始还很期待，引发一点点关于职场人际的共鸣，芦川不就是伪善的绿茶么，很像大家职场碰到的那类同事，爱请假把工作留给岬尾做，被大家默认能力不行啦所以多多包容她吧，（工作能力差的人、工作都靠同事做的人，怎麼能擺出一副被害人嘴臉？）嘴甜又会称赞夸奖人，明明尝到一般的东西却做出夸张的表情，实则不真诚实在。
(雖說身體不舒服就該回家休息，讓狀況好的人來做事就行了，但應該次數要有限制，是以互惠為前提才能接受的規則。結果世界是靠著忍耐的人、能夠忍耐的人在運轉。世界，這個世界，我生活觸及範圍內的世界。)
反正我觉得写的不深刻的，最后的蛋糕恶作剧事件辞职也挺小儿科，真正的职场复杂打击手段多的多，无法理解共情这个情节，不理解为什么岬尾就这个辞职了。

[Daria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting exploration of office and food culture as well as gender expectations in Japan that I generally liked.

The pov and relationships between the characters, however, were either confusing or unfulfilling in relation to the development of the story, and by the end I was asking myself what the point of this book is.

Cool cover.

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only in Asian literature could a story centre around the urge to eat pot noodles all the time… the office politics where very amusing and highly relatable.

[Perbrisis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livet kretsar ju så otroligt mycket kring mat, vilket belyses i boken, men här från synvinkeln hos en person som är mer eller mindre ointresserad av just mat. Det gjorde hela boken, enligt mig! En rätt svag/inte helt genomarbetad intrig i japansk kontorsmiljö, men som ”no plot, just vibes”-läsning var den riktigt bra.

[Steph Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read novella with a focus on highlighting office culture and shared experience. Enjoyable.

[Cintia Andrade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bacana. Explora algumas questões interessantes relacionadas às dinâmicas que se estabelecem entre pessoas em trabalhos corporativos.

[Ordligare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jag ogillar och gillar alla karaktärer på samma gång.
Det är en tät liten novella och dramat ligger och guppar precis under ytan, nära nog för att man ska kunna känna det som utbuktningar ur sidorna genom hela läsningen. Vissa recensioner vill gärna sätta den japanska arbetsmoralen mot det svenska men jag vet inte, även i Sverige finns det gott om företag vars formella och informella regler tvingar sina arbetare att köra på långt över rimlighetens gränser. Då tycker jag det är mer intressant att prata om matens sociala roll, som här gestaltas med en så säker hand att det känns dokumentärt snarare än fiktivt. Måste man äta bara för att man blivit bjuden? Hur mycket kan man köpa sig fri ifrån med hjälp av hembakat? Och hur mycket av våra sociala stadgar vilar på måltiderna?

Väl läsvärd bok. Suktar direkt efter något lika drastiskt och fint ihopknutet. En läsupplevelse paketerad som en liten muffins prydligt inslagen i cellofan. Men sådana här böcker görs det ju tyvärr inte tillräckligt många av.

[Violet · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down.

I wasn't sure I'd like this one as the reviews were quite mixed but I found it quite dreamy, in a depressing way. We follow three coworkers, Nitani, a young man who survives on instant food and pot noodles, Oshio, a young woman, and Ashikawa, another young woman and a talented baker who enjoys baking for the office.

Nitani and Oshio often go for drinks together, and Oshio complains about Akishawa, who leaves work early or calls in sick regularly, feeling unwell, tired, having a migraine or something. Nitani and Oshio stay in the office later and later to pick up the pieces, and Akishawa turns up the following day with what she has had time to bake the previous evening: lemon madeleines, muffins, grape tartelettes...

There's a lot about the drudgery of work and how soul crushing it is to come in day after day to socialise with people you haven't chosen, staying late, Nitani not wanting to spend any time cooking and cleaning up when he leaves the office after 11pm. The plot wasn't much but I enjoyed the boredom and quiet sadness of it.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.

[Sian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpectedly brilliant
I'll be honest I mostly got this one just because I was so pleased to see Japanese translated fiction that didn't have a bloody cat on the cover.
It was a fantastic exploration of work and food culture in Japan as well looking at ideas of gender, reciprocity and personhood. Really sharp, never heavy handed and it felt so real- a lot to accomplishh in fewer than 200 pages.