A Woman's Nails (47 page)

“It’
s a nice cus
tom,”
I say as we cross th
e r
iver.

When Mie’
s cab stops In front of her condominium, I tell the driver to pull ove
r. He does, stopping the meter.

“I’
m not getting out, just yet
,” I say. “Wait here a moment.”

I watch Mie through the rear window of her cab; watch her as she pays the driver. The door ope
ns and she steps out. She doesn’
t have the posture she had only hours ago, there is a hint of defeat weighing down on her shoulders. She looks tired.

Mie steps towards the entrance of the condo, pauses a moment to foost through her bag for the keys. Finding them, she steps into the building
,
and
I know that is this is the very
last time I will ever see her.

I wi
ll always love you, Mie. Thank you.

With tears flowing down my face, I tell the driver
to take me back to O
yafuk
ô
.

About the Author

The eleventh of thirteen children (bloody Catholics!) Aonghas* Crowe is an author, freelance writer and translator, and blogger. Originally from Portland, Oregon, he currently splits his time between Japan and Lebanon. His other novel,
Rokuban—N
o.6
, is also available on Amazon’s Kindle. You can follow Crowe on Twitter at
@AonghasCrowe
or at his blog
http://www.aonghascrowe.com
.

*Pronounced “Ennis”

[1]
Many foreigners who have any experience in Japan will be struck by the oddness of the name, Abazuré. It is not an actual surname, but rather a somewhat obsolete Japanese word that means “a real bitch” or “a wicked woman”. I have taken quite a lot of license in creating Japanese names for this novel, such that many of them have a hidden meaning.

Incidentally, I have also added accents to some Japanese words so that those who are not familiar with the language will be able to pronounce the words correctly. Rice wine, for example, is written
saké
, rather than
sake.

[2]
An
eikawa
is a private school at which “English conversation” is taught as opposed to the grammar-heavy textbook English taught in most junior and senior high schools. Until about the mid 90s many teachers of English couldn’t actually speak English. With the introduction of ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers
from English-speaking countries) at most schools throughout Japan and changes to the curriculum, the ability of both teachers and students has improved remarkably.

[3]
Where mailboxes were once chock-full of these “pink flyers” or “pink handbills”, they are fairly uncommon today. The Japanese used to be much more tolerant of—or, rather, Japanese women were expected to put up with considerably more—nudity and sexism in the past. There is very little nudity on TV anymore and postcards featuring pictures of naked women in sexually explicit poses no longer litter public phone booths and restrooms the way they once did.

[4]
Chu-hi
is a high ball made with shôchû mixed with juice or a sweet soda. Unlike
kô-rui shôchû
(“Grade A”), such as
imo shôchû
(made from sweet potatoes) or
mugi shôchû
(made from barley), which can have a strong flavor and smell, the shôchû used in these
chu-hi
drinks, known as otsu-rui (“Grade B”), has been distilled multiple times removing most of the flavor and smell.

[5]
A
kôan
(pronounced “koh-an”, not like “Cohen”) is, according to
The New Oxford American Dictionary
“
a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment.
” One of the more famous
kôan
s is “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

[6]
Literally, “sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry . . .”

[7]
Barker is another one of those unfortunate names foreigners can have. Barker is pronounced in Japanese as
Bahkah
or
Baka
, which means “idiot” or “fool”. I once had a Chinese teacher whose husband’s name was pronounced in Japanese as
Chiketsu
which sounds like “bloody arsehole”.

[8]
Kaisha
means company.

[9]
Literally, Martial Arts Hall. This is not the same Budôkan made famous by Cheap Trick’s live album.

[10]
An
o-jô-sa
n
is a girl from a “good” family.

[11]
Tabi
are Japanese socks that have the big toes separate from the other toes, like mittens for your feet.

[12]
A
yokozuna
is the highest rank in
sumô
, and generally occupied by a wrestler who has won two consecutive tournaments.

[13]
All of these are, or were at one time or another, the real names of products available at convenience stores and supermarkets in Japan.

[14]
Adaruto Bideo
is Japanese for an “adult video”, i.e. pornography.

[15]
Yukata
are unlined cotton
kimono
used for lounging and sleeping. In summertime, Japanese men and women sometimes wear more elaborate and colorful versions of the
yukata
to summer festivals and fireworks displays.
Geta
are the wooden sandals that are usually worn with
yukata
.

[16]
Jinbei
are a traditional, loosely woven cotton garment that is worn by men and children, and increasingly young women, in the summer.

[17]
The Daiei Hawks was Fukuoka’s professional baseball team from 1988 to 2004. Financial pressure, however, forced the supermarket chain to sell the team to the Japanese telecommunication and internet corporation SoftBank. Today the team is called Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

[18]
The Edo Period lasted from 1603 to 1867.

[19]
Literally, “Mercy on me, Buddha of the Infinite Light.” This is a common chant from the
Pure Land
sect (
Jôdo
shû
) of Buddhism.