After the quake
after the quake[1] (Japanese: 神の子どもたちはみな踊る, kami no kodomo-tachi wa mina odoru[2]) is a 2000 collection of short stories that take place after the Kobe Earthquake of Japan in 1995, by author Haruki Murakami.
The stories are "ufo in kushiro", "landscape with flatiron", "all god's children can dance", "thailand", "super frog saves tokyo" and "honey pie". All stories contain characters affected by the Kobe Earthquake in one way or another, and contain supernatural elements, just like Murakami's other stories.
The short stories contains examples of:
- All Lowercase Letters: The title lacks capitalization, and all the chapter titles are in lowercase, too.
- Author Appeal: Jazz music, especially in "thailand". Satsuki's father used to play his records and force her to listen to them, giving her candy if she got the performers right.
- A Date with Rosie Palms: "all god's children can dance". Yoshiya went as far as patronizing a porn shop to avoid his mother discovering his erections when she slept in his bed with him.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The English title after the quake is a series of short stories that take place after the Kobe Earthquake of 1995.
- Follow That Car!: "all god's children can dance". Yoshiya tells a taxi driver to tail the car that the man he thinks is his father is in. He lies about being in a company that wants him, and that companies really do scramble over people like that.
- Hot Mom: Yoshiya's mother in "all god's children can dance".
- Intergenerational Friendship: "Landscape with flatiron". Junko, a girl who's a bit past highschool-age and Miyake, a man in his mid-forties.
- Japanese Christian: "all god's children can dance". Yoshiyo, his mother and mentor.
- Market-Based Title
- The Runaway: "landscape with flatiron". Junko ran away from home in her third year of high school.
- Titled After the Song: "honey pie", for a song by The Beatles.
- Two Guys and a Girl: "honey pie". Sayoko ended up marrying Takatsuki, and Junpei was the best man. Takatsuki has a mistress and Sayoko is distressed when she finds out, because they have a child (Sala), as well. Takatsuki apologizes but says that he couldn't help it and encourages Junpei instead, since Sala likes him and he knows he always loved Sayoko, too. At the end, Junpei finally decides to propose to Sayoko.
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