"Why don't you hate unfairness?" Why does the writer Natsuo Kirino say? June 2, 18:11

"Rain on the face," "OUT," "soft cheeks," "grotesque," ... Natsuo Kirino, a writer who has continued to portray the anguish and "pain" of people who survive the times with unpredictable story development and shocking endings. , 70 years old.

Nowadays, a special feature of her Mr. Kirino is organized mainly in women's magazines, and it is receiving a lot of attention.

I (director) is also one who has been surprised by Mr. Kirino's story and the words spoken.

According to her interview, behind Mr. Kirino's words and works was her belief and determination to resist society with her story.

(Director of "Close-up Gendai" Maho Yamazaki)

An unusual response in a women's magazine ... "Natsuo Kirino is on your side."

This spring, there was a lot of feedback on the special feature on Mr. Kirino's latest work, "Tsubame does not come back," which was published in a fashion magazine.

"I want to say that you are not responsible" (from "SPUR")

In a world where "self-responsibility theory" that the person is responsible for "women's poverty" that is aggravated by the Korona-ka On the other hand, the words that Natsuo Kirino spoke.

The four-page feature, which is hard to see, talks about her worries and "pain" in her present era from her own perspective.

"Since the theory of self-responsibility came out, it became difficult to understand the suffering of the person at the bottom. I want to visualize the person who is in trouble and the person who is suffering now in the story" (" (

From "SPUR")

When Mr. Kirino's special feature was released on the net, he recorded an unusual number of accesses as an article dealing with social issues.

It is said that they usually dig into the top of the SNS ranking of the number of views occupied by fashion and entertainment topics.

After the article was published, words of sympathy were sent one after another on SNS.

"I almost cried when I read it. Natsuo Kirino is on my side."

"I'm crying about how vulnerable I was."

Many of them said "pain" that I didn't even notice. It was said that he was noticed and saved through.

It is said that the editorial department was surprised at the magnitude of the reaction.

Anna Osada, the writer who wrote the project,

"I wondered if there are many people who are looking for words. Where society is pretending not to see, the voice pretending to be inaudible, that is absolute. People who are focused on, have not reached their voice, have overlooked their absurdity, and are in the midst of giving up have hope. The voice that the person is swallowing is properly presented as "You don't have to drink it, you are not bad". I think that it sounds great because many people are swallowing it. "

Carefully draw worries and pain

I first met Mr. Kirino's work when I was in high school.

It was "Tokyo Island (2008)" with the motif of an actual incident.

I remember being caught up in the madness of the characters and finishing reading all at once with my head fluttering.

Mr. Kirino has produced many works for nearly 40 years.

A masterpiece "OUT" that has sold 1.3 million copies in total and has been made into a movie and drama, "A Tender Place" that won the Naoki Prize, and "Going to the Valley of the Night" that depicts the woman who was the perpetrator of the United Red Army case from a unique perspective. 』… Many works that carefully depict the worries and pains that each person faces are highly evaluated both at home and abroad.

Why do you sting?

Mr. Kirino's words

Why can Mr. Kirino spin the words that stick to the present age?

"I'm not good at TV," says Kirino, who has rarely appeared on TV.

This time, he responded to our interview.

Frankly, I asked him why he thinks Mr. Kirino's words resonate with so many people.

Natsuo Kirino:

When you were young, you might be worried about things like "I'm immature" or "I don't have enough effort", but just because I'm worried about it doesn't mean that I'm completely rewarded. When I think about it, I think that there are quite a few people who are suffering from unfairness, such as being completely repelled by social systems and systems. Isn't it strange? "

(Is that the complaint of Mr. Kirino?)

Mr. Natsuo Kirino

" The complaint, I hate unfairness. "

Unfairness questioned even in the latest work

Unfairness (= unfairness), a word that Mr. Kirino repeatedly spoke in the interview.

When she heard that word, she remembered the "figure of each woman" that Mr. Kirino consistently wrote.

Her latest work, Tsubame Never Comes Back, also depicts a woman in an unfair position.

This work on the theme of women's poverty and the assisted reproductive technology business.

It is a story about a surrogate mother business that is not legalized in Japan.

The main character is Riki, a 29-year-old woman who came to Tokyo from a rural area and works in non-regular employment.

Her monthly income is 140,000 yen.

"I want money and peace of mind from the bottom of her belly," she chooses to become a "surrogate mother" for 10 million yen to get out of her current life.

In the case of Riki, there is also a relentless situation in which the value of the woman's body itself is ranked by academic background and age, using the method of artificial insemination (surrogacy) using the egg of the woman who gives birth on her behalf. Will be drawn.

Her surrogacy client is Yuko, 44, who gave up giving birth due to aging and recurrent pregnancy loss of her eggs.

She is coveted by her husband and her mother-in-law, who are ballet dancers, to "leave the gene" and agrees to ask a healthy, young Riki to give birth on her behalf.

In return for her big money, Riki is restricted in her actions and freedoms by Yuko's husband, saying that "her mother's health is first".

She gradually doubts that her will and dignity are being deprived, and she says:

"I think it's because it's a business."

"But I feel something unfair."

(From "Tsubame doesn't come back.")

"Because this is a novel ..." The story of Mr. Kirino.

In the case of this work, Riki is overwhelmingly vulnerable, but because Yuko's feelings of requesting her surrogacy are clearly depicted, she asks us questions that cannot be divided by the truth alone. increase.

Natsuo Kirino

"Human feelings are various. There are ugly aspects and discriminatory feelings. It's not all beautiful things. So I'm thinking of writing the negative part. My novel is It's said that there aren't many good people out there. After all, I think I have to write something like an ugly human figure, and I think I'll draw it in the book with fairness. "

"I want to know the actual situation of my worries and write"

Not limited to "Tsubame does not come back", Mr. Kirino's work depicts the protagonists who have pains, worries, and sufferings that are difficult for society to see.

Women who have problems in their homes while being called "ordinary housewives" in "OUT".

A boy who is abused in "Dog Buried in the Sand" ... Their voice is unfair and absurd, but no one notices it.

I thought that Mr. Kirino was surely trying to appeal to society through her works and characters.

However, when I asked that, Mr. Kirino gave me an unexpected answer.

Natsuo Kirino

"It's not about sending it with a message. I write" people who are worried "in my novel, but I'm writing because I want to know the actual situation of the worries rather than snuggling up. What kind of pain does the person have and what do they think about it? I'm close to the character, but I haven't given an answer. You might think, but it's not assimilation. You can't put any message in it. It's not like a novel. It's not about sending it with a message, it's about to appear. Since it depicts the entire world with people, I am presenting "Please enjoy by reading in that world."

Pain was "worded"

Mr. Kirino tries to visualize each "pain" by thoroughly drawing out the circumstances and worries of the characters and their details, rather than putting a message to society in the work.

Some people felt that she would "fight together" from the words she spun.

Yumeno Nito is working to support teenage women who have lost their place.

Mr. Nito said that when she was a high school student, she lost her place at home and school and was wandering around the city of Shibuya, Tokyo.

She was interviewed by Mr. Kirino for a work and told the reality of this city.

"X on the street" -The

story of high school girls who are drawn into "JK business" in the city of Shibuya.

It is a clear picture of what kind of pain these girls, who are often referred to as "misconduct girls" by the world, are living.

In the work, the protagonists talk about the "pain" they carry one after another.

"The guys who buy high school girls despise high school girls because they want money to play, so they are willing to sell themselves." "There was no consciousness of buying with money. Rather," God helps Riona. There was even a clause that I thought it was. "(From" X on the street ")

Mr. Nito said that the girls expressed the feelings and pain that they couldn't express at that time, and that was the story of Mr. Kirino. He said he felt reassured by his existence.

Yumeno Nito

"Reading" X on the Street ", it's really our story. At that time, I didn't like it, it was annoying, I felt painful, and I thought I should stop, Mr. Kirino said. I think he's really saying, "That's what my pain was." It's strange, isn't it? It's the power to change the status quo. I think. "

Mr. Nito is now putting Mr. Kirino's book in the space where the supporting girls come and go.

Yumeno Nito

"It makes me realize that I couldn't see myself. I think Mr. Kirino's story has that kind of power. What kind of damage do I have when I'm in sexual exploitation? I don't even know if it's a damage or not. While I'm giving up, there are girls fighting not only in us but also in this novel, and Mr. Kirino who wrote this novel is also with me. They are raising their voices, and some people understand this. "

Easy "labeling" at the root of pain

Now that many people have "pain" that is difficult to see from the outside, how can we make it easier to live?

Mr. Kirino feels that the root of "pain" is the tendency to "label" people and things together.

Natsuo Kirino

"It looks easy when labeled, but I think it's hard for me to fit into a new frame. I'm trying to resist easy labeling as much as possible. I'm working for that. I think that "Tsubame doesn't come back", but after all, "poor woman" and "assisted reproductive technology" are often squeezed. I think it's a pretty interesting story. I was wondering, but if I do that, I think that "Kukuri" will walk alone next time, so I think "it's not the only thing". "

The "labeling" pointed out by Mr. Kirino was a painful story for us human beings working in the media.

By fitting complex problems into easy-to-understand frames in order to convey information in an easy-to-understand manner, the problems are diminished-it has been a problem that I myself have faced many times while making programs. did.

By repeating such "labeling", "pain" without voice is born again.

That is why I felt that Mr. Kirino might have drawn in detail all the figures in which each hero sways in good and evil in a fair manner.

Natsuo Kirino

"Because it's a story, what kind of person is that person, what kind of person thinks, what kind of reaction when he meets such a person, what kind of food he likes, what is his hobby ..." I don't know if I can sympathize with "there are people like this", but I think that if you don't draw "individuals", you won't be able to make a novel. That's what labeling is. "This person is. As a result of something like "a person like this", the labeling will be appropriate. That's why drawing an "individual" is a "resistance" to labeling. "

(Specifically, how do you resist it?)

Natsuo Kirino "Writing a hero who doesn't want to do that kind of thing

.

If you write people who" cross the line ", it will be a resistance. Isn't it scary to cross the line? Everyone has something that can't be crossed, ethically and morally, or something socially common. You think it's interesting to go, right in me. "

Imagination makes society tolerant

Becoming a surrogate mother to get out of the current plight, a mediocre housewife decides to murder in pieces ... Can the main characters of Kirino's work cross the line = jump out of their own "frame" and imagine until then? We will step into a new world that did not exist.

What do we need in a world full of “labeling”? When asked

at the end of the interview, Mr. Kirino's answer came back.

Natsuo Kirino

"I always say that reading a novel cultivates imagination, but is it kindness to people? What do people think, and then," This person is I think it means that you can think about various things for others, such as "Isn't this kind of person?" I think it's going to be. I think it's more forgiving, or more imaginative, to live more interestingly. "

Maho Yamazaki ,

Director of the Social Program Department

Produced a special program by Noriko Ibaragi, a poet who joined the station

in 2015 .

When I read Mr. Kirino's book, I can't get rid of the lingering sound for several days.

You may be dreamed of being so real ...

Program information Broadcast on June 1, 2022 (Wednesday) Close-up Gendai "Hugging that" pain "? A question from writer Natsuo Kirino?"

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