Constructing Japan with Stereotypes: An Analysis of Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘A Family Supper’

Yoshiki Tajiri unveils the artificial construction of Ishiguro’s early story ‘A Family Supper’ (1980) in this chapter. Indicating examples of anachronism, stereotypically Japanese elements (ghosts, suicide and pause) and descriptive oddities in the story, Tajiri demonstrates that these historical and cultural discrepancies are embedded in Ishiguro’s story to trick readers, Western or Japanese, into feeling suspense. Moreover, Tajiri compares ‘A Family Supper’ with Yukio Mishima’s short story ‘Patriotism’—the latter renowned for its use of excessively Japanese stereotypes like hara-kiri. Tajiri argues that both short stories were written with a growing awareness that Japanese cultural identity is only an artificially constructed product.