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Popular Hits of the Showa Era (昭和歌謡大全集, Shōwa kayō daizenshū) is a 1994 novel by the Japanese novelist Ryu Murakami. It was translated into English in 2011 by Ralph McCarthy, and adapted as a film in 2003 under the title "Karaoke Terror: The Complete Japanese Showa Songbook."
Plot
editPopular Hits of the Showa Era chronicles the escalating battle between two groups of lost Tokyoites: a group of six mid-20s males who spend their time drinking and performing weekly karaoke contests, and six middle-aged divorced women who share the uncommon first name 'Midori'. The action begins when one member of the male's group randomly murders one of the Midoris in a libido-fueled rage; the murder results in a generally positive mood within his own group. The remaining members of 'The Midori Society' plot revenge, eventually killing the youth with a sashimi knife appended to a mop handle. Retaliation leads to retaliation, and as the violence escalates, both groups find their relationships slowly and mysteriously improving. Most of the males are wiped out in a 'guerilla raid' by the Oba-sans, in which they fire a rocket launcher at one of their karaoke performances; several months later, the survivors retaliate by detonating a home-made atomic bomb substitute over Chofu city, where the remaining Midoris are living more happily than ever.
As the title suggests, each chapter is named after a hit Japanese pop song from the Showa Era (1926-1989), and each song makes an appearance somewhere within its eponymous chapter.
The novel explores themes common to many of R. Murakami's novels, including satirical criticism of modern Japanese society, the emptiness of social customs, the inability for modern Japanese to connect with one another, questions of existential purpose, and criticism of America's influence on Japan following postwar reconstruction.
Characters
editThe Men
Ishihara Nobue Yano Sugiyama Kato Sugioka
The Midori Society
Henmi Midori Iwata Midori Takeuchi Midori Suzuki Midori Tomiyama Midori Yanagimoto Midori
Other Characters
The Junior College Girl - a sickly girl with an asymmetrical face who talks to ghosts Sakaguchi - an SDF (Japan's Self Defence Force) weapon dealer Hasegawa - a filmmaker and bomb expert The Pilot - a helicopter pilot ...
References
edit
External links
edit- [1] IMDB Page: "Karaoke Terror: The Complete Japanese Showa Songbook"