I suspect that the book is going to be more of a chronological run through of aspects of reading culture and working culture and where they intersect, rather than a piece of persuasive argumentation aimed at answering the question in the title. If you wanted to write the latter then I don’t think you’d structure it like this with each chapter moving forward through time. (Also AIUI Japanese essays tend not to have the same kind of “statement of intention; argument; conclusion” that is the norm in the western tradition, and are more likely to meander through the territory pointing out interesting features for the reader to meditate on before offering some kind of tying-together at the end.)
Anyway, this chapter’s main points as I see them:
The Meiji era saw the introduction of industrialization and factory work from the West; the tearing hurry to “catch up” with western countries before they invaded or colonized Japan meant long hours and poor working conditions
Meiji was also when the idea of reading books for yourself really spread: modern mass publishing, libraries, etc
The Meiji “we must modernize” cultural currents also appear in the idea that people (and more specifically men) should strive to become personally successful and that this would push the country forward
These things come together in the observation that what many people chose to do with their new freedom to read the books they wanted was to buy and read “self-help” books and “business” magazines that offered the promise that regardless of your current status, if you were willing to put in the effort you too could become successful and renowned
But these genres were mostly popular with those people who were working long hours and hoping to improve their lives; the more “elite” university educated class rather looked down on them; so something of a class based split develops in reading culture
Thanks for the summary. I’ll probably start noting down the main points while reading from now on so I don’t have to go back and try to remember what the week was about.
That should also help as an overview at the end of the book, of all that was talked about.
I felt that having read 痴人の愛 definitely made this chapter more enjoyable for me. Not that you need to have read it – the author explains the context and quotes the parts she wants to refer to – but it was satisfying to read along and think “yes, I’ve read that, I know what she’s talking about and can fit these ideas into some of my existing knowledge”.
Just joining now. Vacation has wrecked havoc on my reading and I am behind on everything, but the title immediately reminded me of a time in university where a lecturer was shocked that none of us was reading for pleasure or maybe a couple of books a year - despite being language students and all interested in language. Once we told him how much we had to read for university every week, he understood that even if we had time, there was very little will left to read. Working actually gave me back time and energy to read.
I got busy during this week so the reading shifted to the weekend.
Anyway here are the notes that I had from this week:
dark themed books were selling due to financial stress
宗教的+人生修養的 +社会主義 were the main ones.
During times of economical downturn salarymen relied on novels as a mean of escapism (痴人の愛)
reading was popular among working class young people with the idea of reading raising 品格
A divide between the elite class reading 教養 magazines/books with the working class reading 修養
now my question about the practical difference between 教養 and 修養
They are defined in the book as 行為を重視する修養と知識を重視する教養。
But how does that actually change the style of writing or what is required of it?
I think 教養 is just there to improve your personality and to pretend to be smarter than other people, while 修養 does include that element but it also has community ideals and a sense of responsibility(?) and is mainly focused on making money which the elite class doesn’t care for.
I wonder if that definition is accurate/ if anyone has something to add.
I added the book quoted in this week’s chapter – 英語屋さん | L30?? – to my wishlist. It won the Naoki prize and was a bestseller at the time, it can’t be too bad…
I was also amused by the recommendation to read in a foreign language so that it wouldn’t be so much of a problem that it’s awkward to turn the pages of your book on a crush loaded commuter train.
So, 80s and 90s (chapters 6 and 7): the bestselling 80s authors and books included a lot that I recognised or had read, like キッチン and ノルウェーの森. I thought this might have been because we were getting closer to the present, but then the 90s books were not ones I’ve read. Though I suppose I had heard of Sophie’s World in English and the title of パラサイト・イブ vaguely rings a bell.
The author put a bit more of her argument about the question in the book’s title into this chapter: that the problem is not so much long working hours (which have always been a thing in Japan) but the increased uncertainty post-Bubble. The work environment is very uncertain (no more guaranteed job for life for all salarymen), so people seek refuge in constrained environments where they have control (mobile games, their own homes carefully KonMari-style curated) and read self help books that promise an improved life through actions they control (like brain training or positive thoughts). Novels, the argument runs, are narratives not under the reader’s control which are full of surprises and a source of “noise”, so people don’t like them.
This argument doesn’t really seem to me to hold up. In particular, lots of people spend a lot of non work time on social media, which is clearly not a curated under-control environment and definitely a big source of “noise”. And TV and movies are just as much of a source of plot surprises as novels are. It seems to me more that people who are exhausted from work default to “easy” sources of entertainment that don’t need much thought, and the number of options there has steadily increased over time (notably TV and now all the ways you can waste time on the internet). So the market for serious books has just gradually shrunk…
Working actually gave me back time and energy to read. 
