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Keshiki - new voices from Japan #1
Time Differences
Mamoru wakes up at 9am in Berlin, eats breakfast, and then sets off to teach a Japanese language class, carrying a sashimi knife in his bag. At this moment in New York, Manfred lurches from a dream where a fisherman was about to gut him he wakes just in time to make his morning work-out. Meanwhile, Michael is preparing to go to the late-night gym in Tokyo, thinking of a man he met in Berlin only weeks before.
Tawada's story follows the three men Mamoru, Manfred and Michael as they move through their lives on different sides of the globe. Though thousands of miles apart, odd moments of synchronicity form between these characters, the narrative shifting from one perspective to another as the three men's lives momentarily align and diverge. Here, modernity is rendered textual as Tawada explores the strange nature of human connection in a globalized, technologized world, and discovers what this means for contemporary storytelling.
Translated by Jeffrey Angles.
Design by Glen Robinson.
Tawada's story follows the three men Mamoru, Manfred and Michael as they move through their lives on different sides of the globe. Though thousands of miles apart, odd moments of synchronicity form between these characters, the narrative shifting from one perspective to another as the three men's lives momentarily align and diverge. Here, modernity is rendered textual as Tawada explores the strange nature of human connection in a globalized, technologized world, and discovers what this means for contemporary storytelling.
Translated by Jeffrey Angles.
Design by Glen Robinson.
40 pages, Chapbook
Published March 31, 2017
532 people want to read
About the author
Yōko Tawada
119 books983 followersYōko Tawada (多和田葉子 Tawada Yōko, born March 23, 1960) is a Japanese writer currently living in Berlin, Germany. She writes in both Japanese and German.
Tawada was born in Tokyo, received her undergraduate education at Waseda University in 1982 with a major in Russian literature, then studied at Hamburg University where she received a master's degree in contemporary German literature. She received her doctorate in German literature at the University of Zurich. In 1987 she published Nur da wo du bist da ist nichts—Anata no iru tokoro dake nani mo nai (A Void Only Where You Are), a collection of poems in a German and Japanese bilingual edition.
Tawada's Missing Heels received the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 1991, and The Bridegroom Was a Dog received the Akutagawa Prize in 1993. In 1999 she became writer-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for four months. Her Suspect on the Night Train won the Tanizaki Prize and Ito Sei Literary Prize in 2003.
Tawada received the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize in 1996, a German award to foreign writers in recognition of their contribution to German culture, and the Goethe Medal in 2005.
(from Wikipedia)
Tawada was born in Tokyo, received her undergraduate education at Waseda University in 1982 with a major in Russian literature, then studied at Hamburg University where she received a master's degree in contemporary German literature. She received her doctorate in German literature at the University of Zurich. In 1987 she published Nur da wo du bist da ist nichts—Anata no iru tokoro dake nani mo nai (A Void Only Where You Are), a collection of poems in a German and Japanese bilingual edition.
Tawada's Missing Heels received the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 1991, and The Bridegroom Was a Dog received the Akutagawa Prize in 1993. In 1999 she became writer-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for four months. Her Suspect on the Night Train won the Tanizaki Prize and Ito Sei Literary Prize in 2003.
Tawada received the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize in 1996, a German award to foreign writers in recognition of their contribution to German culture, and the Goethe Medal in 2005.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 30, 2020
This is a short story about three young men (Mamoru, Manfred, Michael). I had a hard time following it because they each had first names beginning with the letter M, and they lived in three different countries and I think they slept with each other at different times… It got to the point where about a third of the way through I drew out a family tree-like structure because I was so confused…
So let’s see:
Mamoru lives in Berlin and teaches Japanese at a university and has a knife in his backpack and has had a relationship with Manfred,
and Manfred who teaches German at a university in the United States has had a relationship with Michael,
and Michael who was born in the US and lives in Tokyo and has a part-time job teaching at a company has had a relationship with Mamoru.
And nothing much happened except they think about each other periodically and try to call each other but they are in different time zones and rarely connect (I guess this was before the internet).
You can see why I had to sketch this out via a diagram, right? After I did that I felt no more enlightened than when I began. ☹
I did like the cover! It is part of Keshiki Project, consisting of “a series of chapbooks showcasing the work of some of the most exciting writers working in Japan today, published by Strangers Press, part of the UEA Publishing Project. Each story is beautifully translated and presented as an individual chapbook, with a design inspired by the text.” This was #1. I have #4 Mariko/Mariquita by Natsuki Ikezawa (meh), #5 The Girl Who is Getting Married by Aoka Matsuda (very good), and #7, Mikumari by Misumi Kubo (meh).
So let’s see:
Mamoru lives in Berlin and teaches Japanese at a university and has a knife in his backpack and has had a relationship with Manfred,
and Manfred who teaches German at a university in the United States has had a relationship with Michael,
and Michael who was born in the US and lives in Tokyo and has a part-time job teaching at a company has had a relationship with Mamoru.
And nothing much happened except they think about each other periodically and try to call each other but they are in different time zones and rarely connect (I guess this was before the internet).
You can see why I had to sketch this out via a diagram, right? After I did that I felt no more enlightened than when I began. ☹
I did like the cover! It is part of Keshiki Project, consisting of “a series of chapbooks showcasing the work of some of the most exciting writers working in Japan today, published by Strangers Press, part of the UEA Publishing Project. Each story is beautifully translated and presented as an individual chapbook, with a design inspired by the text.” This was #1. I have #4 Mariko/Mariquita by Natsuki Ikezawa (meh), #5 The Girl Who is Getting Married by Aoka Matsuda (very good), and #7, Mikumari by Misumi Kubo (meh).
June 29, 2019
Den spændende udgivelsesserie Keshiki, der præsenterer et udvalg af nyere japanske forfattere i engelsk oversættelse, lægger udmærket fra land med et fint fortalt og utraditionelt trekantsdrama mellem tre mænd på hvert sit kontinent og i hver sin tidszone.
Læs min anmeldelse på K's bognoter: https://bognoter.dk/2019/06/29/yoko-t...
Læs min anmeldelse på K's bognoter: https://bognoter.dk/2019/06/29/yoko-t...
January 27, 2023
i love how small world this is, yoko tawada never fails to write the coolest intl. stories
April 14, 2017
I really liked the symmetry of this. It follows three young men, whose lives are connected by love or sex and place as each is living in the next one's country. If a story could be a geometric shape, then this is an equilateral triangle.
August 19, 2018
Now THIS is a love triangle!
January 26, 2025
3.5 stars
My first foray into the Keshiki series from Strangers Press. Keshiki translates to "landscape" or "scenery", and in Time Differences, it's a landscape of connection, as we follow three men in three parts of the world.
Shallow revelation, if I'm being honest, I read this twice because all three of these dudes have names starting with 'M' and I couldn't keep them all straight. Second read helped distinguish them better and see between the somewhat bland prose. Mamoru, Manfred, and Michael live in Berlin, New York, and Tokyo, respectively, spread apart by geography and time. Thus, they spend a lot more time thinking about each other than actually spending time together, and their closeness with each other includes parallel activities, like two of them going to different gyms at the same time.
It's a commentary on connection in the modern world. We're very geographically spread out from each other more than ever, but technology has helped us find ways to connect (streaming a movie together from separate locations, for example). A common critique of modern relationships is that tech has driven us farther apart; here, Tawada shows there's actually an intimacy to this trio of men, that intimacy isn't limited to physical closeness, and that it can be experienced in isolation or the sort of structured isolation of our busy lives. I mean, one could definitely argue there's nothing more intimate than someone being on your mind constantly.
And so you could see the title multiple ways, the characters are literally in different time zones. And, given the underlying suggestion that societally, much of the modern world is forced into isolation rather than community life, maybe there's a notion these men could have more physical closeness, were they living in a different time. We live in "different times", as older generations like to say. Nonetheless, Tawada proves that closeness can still exist under a capitalistic isolationism.
My first foray into the Keshiki series from Strangers Press. Keshiki translates to "landscape" or "scenery", and in Time Differences, it's a landscape of connection, as we follow three men in three parts of the world.
Shallow revelation, if I'm being honest, I read this twice because all three of these dudes have names starting with 'M' and I couldn't keep them all straight. Second read helped distinguish them better and see between the somewhat bland prose. Mamoru, Manfred, and Michael live in Berlin, New York, and Tokyo, respectively, spread apart by geography and time. Thus, they spend a lot more time thinking about each other than actually spending time together, and their closeness with each other includes parallel activities, like two of them going to different gyms at the same time.
It's a commentary on connection in the modern world. We're very geographically spread out from each other more than ever, but technology has helped us find ways to connect (streaming a movie together from separate locations, for example). A common critique of modern relationships is that tech has driven us farther apart; here, Tawada shows there's actually an intimacy to this trio of men, that intimacy isn't limited to physical closeness, and that it can be experienced in isolation or the sort of structured isolation of our busy lives. I mean, one could definitely argue there's nothing more intimate than someone being on your mind constantly.
And so you could see the title multiple ways, the characters are literally in different time zones. And, given the underlying suggestion that societally, much of the modern world is forced into isolation rather than community life, maybe there's a notion these men could have more physical closeness, were they living in a different time. We live in "different times", as older generations like to say. Nonetheless, Tawada proves that closeness can still exist under a capitalistic isolationism.
January 25, 2023
Simply put, Time Difference is a short (understatement as it’s literally only 40 pages) follows the lives of three different men; Mamoru, Michael and Manfred -each spread out across three different countries; Japan, Germany and America, whose lives somehow almost always interconnect -despite never physically aligning.
Exploring themes of dislocation -whether through place, time or human connection (or lack there of), Tawda has crafted an interestingly written (and structured) subject -I just wish it were longer!
2.5/3 stars
Exploring themes of dislocation -whether through place, time or human connection (or lack there of), Tawda has crafted an interestingly written (and structured) subject -I just wish it were longer!
2.5/3 stars
January 3, 2023
actual rating 3.5. i love the concept, i just wish it was elaborated on a bit more. i like that the narration was fluid in switching over from one narrator to another, i just wish it was a bit less fluid in some places, and that we got to learn more about the connections between the three. but overall fun
August 8, 2022
2.5⭐️
A love triangle or threesome. 😹
The writing was okay but the story just ain’t it.
The cover so so pretty, loved it!
A love triangle or threesome. 😹
The writing was okay but the story just ain’t it.
The cover so so pretty, loved it!
December 28, 2019
Complicated relations are sometimes exactly what you want to read about, maybe because you’re then either happy yours isn’t or perhaps because then you’re not the only one.
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#theguywiththebookreview presents Time Differences by Yoko Tawada
.
I restarted this book 3 times, I thought a 40 page chap book wouldn’t be as deep as it actually got and I’d started it very casually. I didn’t think I’d be reviewing it either since what can be conveyed in a 40 page book worth writing about?
.
Pleasantly mistaken and genuinely surprised at the intricacies of this little work of art. We have 3 characters, all with names that start with M. Each one in a different country and each in a confusing triangle of feelings.
.
This short story will make you ponder about the weird ways people want to connect to each other. The most curious of which was one of the characters who wants his partner to go to the gym at the same time as he does so that although separated by the time difference, they would both be working out together! How odd, yet understandable?
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There are a total of 8 books in this collection called Keshiki by @strangers_press I’ve read two and will be picking another one next week. These are all Japanese works translated to English and I’m banging my head for not having picked up this unique and inimitable set of voices which only Japan can produce.
.
#theguywiththebookreview presents Time Differences by Yoko Tawada
.
I restarted this book 3 times, I thought a 40 page chap book wouldn’t be as deep as it actually got and I’d started it very casually. I didn’t think I’d be reviewing it either since what can be conveyed in a 40 page book worth writing about?
.
Pleasantly mistaken and genuinely surprised at the intricacies of this little work of art. We have 3 characters, all with names that start with M. Each one in a different country and each in a confusing triangle of feelings.
.
This short story will make you ponder about the weird ways people want to connect to each other. The most curious of which was one of the characters who wants his partner to go to the gym at the same time as he does so that although separated by the time difference, they would both be working out together! How odd, yet understandable?
.
There are a total of 8 books in this collection called Keshiki by @strangers_press I’ve read two and will be picking another one next week. These are all Japanese works translated to English and I’m banging my head for not having picked up this unique and inimitable set of voices which only Japan can produce.
February 5, 2018
Premise: Mamoru, Japanese, lives in Berlin & loves Manfred; Manfred, German, lives in New York & loves Michael; Michael, American, lives in Tokyo & can’t stop thinking about Mamoru.
Thoughts: I did not have very high expectations for this one going in—perhaps because there was nothing weird or uncanny about the premise, or because it sounded potentially depressing and trite (a variation, I thought, on the whole "it's never been easier to connect to someone halfway across the planet and yet we're even more isolated than before" thing), or because, the preface made me want to read the story less. Turns out, this was one of the best of Strangers Press's Keshiki chapbooks! One thing I learned recently, from reading novels by Celeste Ng, is that I love sudden perspective shifts, and 'Time Differences' is full of them. And they work wonderfully well with the fact that, at least as far as I can tell, there are no significant differences in the three characters' voices: a few times I thought I was reading from Michael's perspective until I realised I was actually reading from Manfred's, and my wife also got Manfred and Mamoru mixed up when she read the story. I don't think this was an oversight on the translator's part—his prose is so confident and polished that I'm convinced it was either a deliberate choice on his part or a successful attempt at replicating how the voices sounded the same in the original as well (which I am in no position to figure out, not knowing Japanese). Either way, as I said, it works well with the way the author switches unexpectedly from one character's perspective to the next, disorienting the reader and suggesting that the three characters are in some way interchangeable, despite their clear personality differences, which itself adds an interesting commentary to the fact that each of them is obsessed with one of the other two but doesn't care much about the other.
For a complete guide to the Keshiki series, head over to my blog, Strange Bookfellows: https://strangebookfellowsblog.wordpr...
Thoughts: I did not have very high expectations for this one going in—perhaps because there was nothing weird or uncanny about the premise, or because it sounded potentially depressing and trite (a variation, I thought, on the whole "it's never been easier to connect to someone halfway across the planet and yet we're even more isolated than before" thing), or because, the preface made me want to read the story less. Turns out, this was one of the best of Strangers Press's Keshiki chapbooks! One thing I learned recently, from reading novels by Celeste Ng, is that I love sudden perspective shifts, and 'Time Differences' is full of them. And they work wonderfully well with the fact that, at least as far as I can tell, there are no significant differences in the three characters' voices: a few times I thought I was reading from Michael's perspective until I realised I was actually reading from Manfred's, and my wife also got Manfred and Mamoru mixed up when she read the story. I don't think this was an oversight on the translator's part—his prose is so confident and polished that I'm convinced it was either a deliberate choice on his part or a successful attempt at replicating how the voices sounded the same in the original as well (which I am in no position to figure out, not knowing Japanese). Either way, as I said, it works well with the way the author switches unexpectedly from one character's perspective to the next, disorienting the reader and suggesting that the three characters are in some way interchangeable, despite their clear personality differences, which itself adds an interesting commentary to the fact that each of them is obsessed with one of the other two but doesn't care much about the other.
For a complete guide to the Keshiki series, head over to my blog, Strange Bookfellows: https://strangebookfellowsblog.wordpr...
October 29, 2019
It's a simple to understand story, but I feel like something was missing. It could be the translation or the fact that it's hard to develop a fully fledged fabula as a short story (or I may be too stupid to get it), but it just didn't work for me.
Still, I do appreciate the amount of work, the character development, the multilayered storytelling and the ideals expressed within the book. A defnite must-read if you are into Japanese literature, not to mention it's a very short read at that.
Still, I do appreciate the amount of work, the character development, the multilayered storytelling and the ideals expressed within the book. A defnite must-read if you are into Japanese literature, not to mention it's a very short read at that.
July 1, 2018
The jumps from Mamoru to Manfred to Michael and the 'time differences' without any breaks confused me, not to mention the characters' lives abroad (i.e. the Japanese is living in Berlin, the American was in Tokyo, etc.), but I liked their individual actions in their respective places, and how they were linked to one another.
August 18, 2019
It’s a very pretty book, but the story itself is rather bland. I was really confused about who was who and how they related to each other for most of the story (as there are no real clear indications of when the narration switches character) and I’m mean really nothing happened. I wasn’t interested in any of the three of them
August 23, 2024
I read this because I was intrigued that the author writes in Japanese and German.
I loved reading about the three characters who each live in a different country. Sadly, the story didn't quite tie up at the end.
I loved reading about the three characters who each live in a different country. Sadly, the story didn't quite tie up at the end.
November 6, 2019
This is nothing you've read before.
https://elifthereader.com/books/time-...
https://elifthereader.com/books/time-...
November 12, 2019
LOVED it so much, can't wait to pass it on.
December 10, 2022
This tells the story of three men simultaneously, one living in New York, one in Germany and one in Tokyo and how their lives interlink. This was really well done and I really liked how certain themes would carry over even to things like one character would talk about pizza and then a character in another place would be ordering or eating it, all of these men know and have met/had relationships with each other. Execution was very good.
April 1, 2024
Around 30 pages long, this chops and changes between three men, Mamoru, Manfred and Michael. I found it a little hard to follow, I think Manfred and Mamoru were involved, but living abroad separately for work, and Michael seemed to be a fling to one or both men (I could be mistaken about any of this!).
Writing quality is good and I did enjoy reading the story, but I couldn’t really rate it any higher because I’m not sure what it was trying to say.
Writing quality is good and I did enjoy reading the story, but I couldn’t really rate it any higher because I’m not sure what it was trying to say.
December 14, 2024
Yoko Tawadan novellissa on todellinen love triangle - Berliinissä asuva japanilainen Mamoru haaveilee New Yorkissa asuvasta saksalaisesta Manfredista, joka puolestaan kaipaa Tokiossa asuvaa amerikkalaista Michaelia, jonka mieli vaeltelee puolestaan Mamorussa. Erilaiset aikavyöhykkeet, luonteet ja arjen tapahtumat muuttuvat todellisuudeksi, jossa ihmiset alkavat sekoittua toinen toisiinsa. Taitavasti kirjoitettu lyhyt kokonaisuus, jossa käsitellään myös kulttuureja maahanmuuttajan näkökulmasta.
July 9, 2023
A very quick read, but have trouble understanding how and where the three different main characters are and what is happen as their name are very similar. Would like to know what happen after this ending.
July 11, 2024
ngl the three characters are kinda pervs and idk how real they feel to me as queer people, but i really liked the longing and desire. to want to be doing the same thing at the same time with someone in a different place while understanding how people far away can be so powerless 🥲🥹
February 12, 2020
Mamoru, Michael and Manfred - three different men in three different places!
November 16, 2021
2.5 Interesting premise but unfortunately with bland writing.
May 22, 2023
Enjoyable read.
May 28, 2022
Each of the three M characters is quite strange in how they want to feel connected with their lovers across borders and time zones. At the same time I just didn't find the characters themselves particularly interesting, nor what they were doing... A lot of regular work interspersed with eating or daydreaming about sex. Interesting idea to have three characters each not in their home countries, though.
June 27, 2025
Three men on three continents in a classic love triangle, each pining for the one they seemingly can not have, far removed from each other through time and space, each also alien to where they are.
I liked this.
The writing style is clear and unemotional in a good way and it was mostly vibes, no plot.
I might look for this author’s writing in German (she writes in German in Japanese, which is impressive on its own), just to see….
I liked this.
The writing style is clear and unemotional in a good way and it was mostly vibes, no plot.
I might look for this author’s writing in German (she writes in German in Japanese, which is impressive on its own), just to see….
March 27, 2017
It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great. I felt the writing & story, perhaps due to translation, lacked flow, depth. I struggled to remain interested.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews