Interesting analysis. I think it’s natural so far that only external features are mentioned. She doesn’t know the woman after all. Although I guess she could say that she looks kind. In the second section she does mention that her schoolmate was kind though. I also noticed that we know nothing about the narrator other than through her interactions with other people. I somehow suspect this trend will continue.
I also wondered about this 残念ながら. I got the impression the woman in the purple skirt stood out in a probably negative way (no idea why or how, but everyone seems to treat her as something special and strange), but maybe it isn’t so, at least in the narrator’s eyes. She does say in section 2 that she wants to be her friend (possibly implying that she looks up to her, maybe even wants to be like her?).
My approach this time is thinking about relationships between women since we have the two of them under the skirt together on the cover and in the context of reading it that way I do think it’s significant the way other women are described. Let’s see, though! Excited to keep looking for “clues” in the text and seeing how women are portrayed.
The first two sections actually also remind me of an experience from my own life: there used to be this woman who got on the bus at the same time as me going to work everyday and got off at the same stop. Over time I weirdly started feeling a sense of familiarity? With her even though we never talked before. You just kinda feel like you know someone you don’t even know?! The yellow cardigan and purple skirt women remind me of that?? Haha
The description in my grammar dictionary (Bunkei Jiten) sounds as if they are two separate things (because it says „can be rephrased as“) but maybe it’s just me? Anyways here it is:
We got introduced to more female characters from the narrators past! And one was described as やさしかった！I thought the recounting of them focused on their role or status (famous artist, scary ヤンキー girl in class) and brought in a hierarchy dynamic.
Also she mentioned TWITPS’ シミ again. ひどい。
Sections 3 & 4
I loved how absurd and hilarious both of these sections were, but here were the highlights for me:
She’s recounting TWITPS’ work history and… just keeps going. And going. And going. In detail. About the past year of her life. Weird stalker vibes for sure.
Random poor, tired salary man sits down on TWITPS’ park bench and narrator has to go explain the situation to him, and then he leaves after grasping it. Did he really thought?! Imagine this happened to you.
These sentences at the scene where TWITPS is eating her cream bread:
They’re so unexpected and really mix up the flow of the writing in an awesome way.
Section 5
The unhinged plan to befriend TWITPS is going according to plan and she’s starting work at the hotel, thanks to the free shampoo samples she discovered hanging from her doorknob.
Back to literary stuff, the setting is shifting to a nearly completely female workplace with the only males being the manager and chief. We can see 塚田 showing TWITPS her “place” in the hierarchy with her commenting on her body size and what she should be eating for breakfast. As a woman myself, the dialogue about body size and what to or not to eat feels very familiar. Looking at the story through the lens of female relationships and hierarchical structures, I think TWITPS is at the complete bottom in this new environment as indicated by the reactions and comments from her new colleagues.
Spoilers/details from 3/4/5 below
As a general note, one thing I’m really enjoying about the writing is the juxtaposition of the narrators unhinged stalker stuff and all the banal little inserts about stuff like TV programs asking people about their bread and the fact their uniform is made out of polyester so it dries quickly and is airy. It feels so jarring, in the best way of course, to be reading crazy stuff about leaving shampoo samples at your besties (who doesn’t even know you are besties yet) door to then going to some really どうでもいい stuff.
I read the first 3 sections. I’m likewise intrigued by this mysterious woman and want to know more. I should stop wating til just before bed to read
Grammar (or maybe vocab?) question:
I didn’t quite follow this piece: わたしがすごくしんどかった時、ふらつきながらおつりを受け取ったら、「大丈夫？」といきなり声をかけてきた人。次の日行ったら今度は「まいど」と言った人。 おかげでその次の日からは行けなくなった。I bolded the bit that’s confusing me. So she was tired and got dizzy, was asked if she was ok. 次の日に言ったら == “if I went the next day” 今度は「まいど」と言った人 == it will be the person who said まいど (is this 毎度? I don’t get it) and thanks to that I couldn’t go anymore after the next day.
I know my rough translation there sucks, but hopefully my question makes sense
I have this alllll the time. There is a person who walks in the park near me and there used to be people who took the same train in the morning as me…I just got used to their face!
I didn’t quite get it either. Yes, I believe it’s 毎度, it fits the context perfectly. Maybe she was just embarrassed that she was now recognized as the woman who was extremely tired the day before?
Section 3: Our narrator is quite the stalker. Does she have a room in her house full of photos of the purple skirt woman to go with her meticulous notes? How about pieces of her garbage to go with it? So funny that she says that she’s not watching her constantly, yet she knows exactly when she works and when she doesn’t for the length of about a year. I’m guessing the narrator doesn’t work herself, or she wouldn’t have all this free time to stalk a stranger’s house?
It’s happened to me many times too. You get so used to some people being around, you even start to worry when they don’t show up or look different than usual. All the while they’re perfect strangers and you’ve never exchanged a word. Cities are strange.
This is a little different though. If the narrator is to be trusted, the whole neighbourhood has noticed the purple skirt woman, and many seem to be somehow fascinated by her. Why? It’s driving me crazy.
This is the most casual abbreviation of the standard business greeting 毎度お世話になっております - Thank you for your continued service. I would translate it as something like “When I went there the next day, that person said 毎度.” She is being recognized as a regular, and that’s why she was embarrassed and did not go there any more.
Same Sometimes I get so used to seeing a particular person that I start greeting them because I get this feeling that we know each other while in fact I’m just used to seeing them.
I think it’s just that people are fascinated by eccentrics, I guess? I grew up in the countryside, and there it was perfectly normal that people would know about the weirdo living around the corner and would gossip about them (or basically about everybody fwiw, but weirdos offer much more gossiping potential ).
Isn’t it her skirt, her special walking skillz, the fact that she eats cream bread on the same park bench everyday, stuff like that? A lot of this action is taking place inside the 商店街 and the park; it’s as if those spaces are their own world where everyone is known (similar to life in a small village or something like that).
Other than her skirt, which if it never changes would probably stand out after a while, I’m sure the rest is only noticeable only after you’ve singled out someone as odd and start observing them more closely. Surely everyone has established routines in their lives, always follow a specific route, have a favourite piece of clothing they often wear (the narrator has her cardigan after all), eat a specific treat from a specific bakery, and so on. We don’t usually notice, and if we do it’s because our routines somehow coincide, like seeing someone on the bus every day. But for a whole neighbourhood to single out someone like that, surely there must be something more?
Especially the walking skills is crazy to me. It’s nothing anyone would ever notice unless you start paying excessive attention to someone and start to deliberately try and bump into them. And for the kids to challenge each other to speak to her or touch her, surely there’s something more that we’re not told about? But the fact that you’ve read the book but don’t seem to think so tells me that it will never be explained. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
My take is that this story isn’t meant to be the most realistic one. The narrator goes to great lengths to get her hired by giving her shampoo and job advertisements, stalks her with the purpose of becoming her friend, and then there’s the imagery of purple skirt just kind of twirling around to get out of people’s way (and our narrator who runs into a meat case trying to make contact with her and ends up in debt ). It’s not fantasy or magical realism, but it’s still a liiiittle bit weird and has a dash of absurdity. Within that, the world of the story revolves around purple skirt.
Section 4.
Okay, I think I’m starting to get it. Purple Skirt is in constant financial difficulties (as if her apartment wasn’t indication enough), and her appearance is unkempt. I thought the initial comment about her hair was just a casual remark on general beauty, but apparently she doesn’t really wash her hair (properly) at all. It’s starting to make sense why people are singling her out.
Meanwhile, our narrator is in no better situation apparently, and she isn’t even looking for a job (she can’t already have one, not with all that free time to do crazy stuff). She’s going to all the trouble of finding job ads for Murasaki Skirt and giving out shampoo in the hopes she also gets some (seriously, just say hello and start a conversation about the weather!), but all she seems to be doing about herself is selling small stuff in bazaars and locking her valuables in coin lockers so they’re not taken in place of rent?
Poor salary man! Imagine sitting down on a public bench and some random person comes and tells you that this is an exclusive-use bench, so please move elsewhere asap.
Section 5. Murasaki (we now have a name, but she will always be Murasaki to me) starts her new job at a hotel. Where exactly is the narrator? She went along for the bus ride (how did she even know when she would be starting?), and seems to have heard and observed every little detail, even things those standing right next to Murasaki couldn’t hear. How? Is she also hired? It can’t be, or she would know whether it was the kind of job where you’re just accepted without questions just for showing up or not, right?
At this point, I’m way more curious about the narrator than I am about the woman in the purple skirt.
Ah! That makes perfect sense, yes. All I could think of was that somehow she was being shamed and accused of fainting/getting dizzy every time and that really didn’t make sense
By the way I noticed that my book contains an essay after the main story (it is titled 芥川賞受賞記念エッセイ) which bumps the book to 216 pages I wanted to read more essays anyways so yay
It seems that the two different editions have different covers: On the cover of the edition that just contains the titular story - as e.g. sold by Amazon - the title is in one column while on the cover of the edition with the extra essay - as e.g. sold by Bookwalker - the title is in two columns…
Section 3:
It’s interesting that our narrator takes such meticulous notes of when the purple skirt woman is working, and she also knows her employers. I wonder how she found out the latter bit?
I liked the thought experiment of “How can I become friends with somebody?” I think this is an unanswered question for many people…
That was my feeling as well. Also, I think she said she had to take a part-time job to be able to pay back the damage she caused to the shop with her rampant walking experiment (Or maybe that was while she was still at school? I don’t remember exactly…)
Section 4:
Wooow, she is quite the stalker here! Checking whether she has access to electricity and gas, and even reflecting on her brushing her teeth and casually walking up to her apartment door numerous times. What if the purple skirt woman suddenly opens the door and sees her standing there?
Anyways I think her motives are really nice - after all she is only trying to help the purple skirt woman. But she tries this by doing the weirdest stuff, without even checking back with her whether that’s okay or probably without even considering that it might not be okay for her
Giving away all her shampoo in the hope that she might receive some as well is really a stretch - and what with her having monetary issues all the while…
By now I believe that this book is rather about our narrator and her life, and she is just unconsciously using the purple skirt woman to reflect her own situation, so that she can figure out ways for herself to improve her life in the end. Really curious to see how this continues!
I thought she said only that she had considered doing that: 今のうちから貴重品の類だけは駅のコインロッカーに移しておくことを検討している。Or am I misunderstanding that expression here?
What a little stalker! But with…sweet intentions? Definitely getting more concerned for this lady. I suspect her appearance is quite disheveled in a way that hasn’t really been made clear. That would explain people all knowing her, and the children making her the focus of games. It’s kind of sad if I try to think about realistically. But if I just relax into the mood of the writing it seems silly and absurd still. I too am quite interested in the narrator.
Anyways here it is:
ひどい。 
Looking at the story through the lens of female relationships and hierarchical structures, I think TWITPS is at the complete bottom in this new environment as indicated by the reactions and comments from her new colleagues.
Sometimes I get so used to seeing a particular person that I start greeting them because I get this feeling that we know each other 
and casually walking up to her apartment door numerous times. What if the purple skirt woman suddenly opens the door and sees her standing there? 