The Emissary by Yoko Tawada (New Directions)

Yoko Towada’s satirical novel The Emissary tells the story of what life might be like in Japan “after suffering a massive, irreparable disaster.” Originally published as Kentoshi in the Japanese language in 2014. The English version was translated by Margaret Mitsutani in 2018. We can surmise that Towada is imagining a post-Fukushima Japan with greater disastrous results. In this new world, Japan has isolated itself from the world. People are no longer able to travel freely, the country accepts no immigrants and even domestic travel is strictly regulated. In this dystopian future, “children are born so weak they can barely walk.” Only the elderly thrive. The elderly remain healthy and active, living beyond their hundred years. People in their seventies and eighties are considered the “young elderly” who also continue to work and provide for their children.

Mumei, which means “no name” in Japanese, lives with his great-grandfather Yoshiro who constantly worries over Mumei. Mumei may be “frail and gray-haired, but he is a beacon of hope: full of wit and free of self-pity.”  Yoshiro has his own routine. Every morning he goes for a run along a riverbank for about a half hour with a dog that he rents from Rent-a-Dog place. One of the biggest changes in the new Japan is how the use of foreign words were no longer being used. The change is evident when we are told, “Long ago, this sort of purposeless running was referred to as jogging.” “It was now called loping down.”  The term physical examination was also no longer being used, it is now called a monthly lookover. 

Everyday life continues. Mumei goes to school. People go to work - mostly the elderly. At a bakery, the baker tells Yoshiro the even older man making bread is his uncle. The baker tells Yoshiro that his uncle says, “Anyone over a hundred doesn’t need to rest anymore.” He tells Yoshiro that his uncle scolds him for even suggesting to take a break. The two talk about an odd concept called retirement which they reminisced as a “way of handing jobs over to younger people”. They talked about how many breads used to be called German bread or French bread and don’t they find it strange that “bread originally came from Europe, but for some reason it’s still allowed.”

Yoshiro’s was thinking about the talk with the baker as he was heating soy milk for Mumei. “Mumei’s teeth were so soft he couldn’t eat bread unless it was softened by steeping.”  He was reminded of the time when he had seen Mumei’s baby teeth “drop out one after another like pomegranate pulp, leaving his mouth smeared with pulp.”  Most children were not able to absorb the calcium their bodies need and Yoshiro thought that humankind might evolve into a toothless species. Sensing his great-grandfather’s concern, Mumei says “You manage to eat plenty without teeth, Great-Grandpa, and look how healthy you are.” Mumei doesn’t seem to regard his loss of teeth as a tragedy and still manages to look on the bright side of things.

When Mumei reaches the age of fifteen, he can no longer walk on his own and is confined to a wheelchair. He knew that soon, he would also need a breathing machine to keep him alive. Around this time, Mumei is approached by his elementary school teacher, Mr. Yoshitani. Yoshitani had been keeping an eye on Mumei for years as he saw in Mumei, the potential to become an emissary. He felt that Mumei would be old enough to understand. He explained to Mumei that “to send emissaries abroad was not so forbidden as to be considered a crime.” and the main purpose for sending emissaries to other countries was to let them be able to “thoroughly research the state of Japanese children’s health” in the event that a similar occurrence happens in other countries.

It’s a thought-provoking story to make you wonder what the future will hold if the world could not be bequeathed to a younger generation. The story stays with you long after you have finished reading it. ~Ernie Hoyt