Fiona’s Reviews > Grotesque > Status Update

An illegal alien in Japan. I lived like a stray cat, dodging here and there, constantly afraid of inviting the attention of others. Chinese people are accustomed to close-knit communities, never living far from home and depending on the support and guidance of family members. But here I was many miles from home and family. I had no one to help me find a job or a place to live; I had to do that all by myself.

Hirata’s body was discovered ten days after the crime on June 15 when the occupant in the neighbouring apartment, a Korean national, reported an offensive odour to the building owner. The owner went to the apartment to investigate and found the door unlocked. When he entered the apartment he found Hirata’s corpse. She was clad only in a T-shirt, a light blanket covering her head.

It is quite clear to me now. When I was a girl I was abundantly endowed with that certain something that attracts older men. I had the power to arouse a man’s so-called Lolita complex. As fate would have it, though, the older I’ve become the harder it is to retain this charm. It didn’t abandon me all at once. I was still able to turn it on to a certain degree while in my twenties.

This was the first time I’d ever been so clearly rebuffed by an adult. He might as well have said. You’re worthless. It shocked me.
My own father had of course wielded paternal authority within the home. But because he was a minority in Japan, he had never really been able to communicate that authority to the outside world. My grandfather was a timid convict who did whatever I told him to do.

The reason my mother chose to end her life was not because she couldn’t deal with her loneliness, and it wasn’t because my father was cheating on her. Wasn’t it because of Yuriko? Because of her very existence? When I heard Yuriko was coming back to Japan, an inexplainable anger began to build in my head. I resented my mother for killing herself and I hated my father for his infidelity;

P Ward is in the scruffier part of downtown Tokyo, in the so-called Low City. It’s mostly flat there, with hardly any tall buildings. A number of large rivers run through the ward, sluicing it into smaller sections. The large levees along the rivers obstruct one’s line of vision. The surrounding buildings are not very high but, because of the levees, they look oppressive. It is in fact a very peculiar area.

“Mother, Yuriko’s face is creepy!”
I had suddenly noticed what it was: Yuriko’s eyes gave off no light. Even a doll’s eyes will have a white dot painted in the center to suggest light won’t they? As a result, a doll’s face is sweet and charming, yet Yuriko’s eyes were dark ponds. The reason she had looked so beautiful floating in the bath was because the light from the stars had been reflected in her