The only woman in her male-dominated news office, Rika Machida is a workaholic who barely has time to eat. Manako Kajii or ‘Kajimana’ as she is dubbed by the media, is a woman convicted of the serial murders of lonely and wealthy businessmen she’s seduced and killed with her mouth-watering cooking. Desperate to get the scoop of her career, Machida wants to interview this woman who refuses to talk to journalists or allow any visitors. How to get close? To write to her and ask for the beef stew recipe that killed her last victim, of course. This is the premise of the Japanese bestseller Butter (4th Estate, `599) by Asako Yuzuki and translated by Polly Barton, who was recently in the city for the Alliance Literary Festival hosted by Alliance University.
The novel is inspired by the real Japanese case of the ‘Konkatsu Killer’ explains Yuzuki. “During the ‘konkatsu’ (marriage hunting/seeking) phase, men search for women who can cook well and deem them worthy of supporting the family. In this case, many of the victims, that is, the potential grooms, were eating her food, approved her as a bride, and then mysteriously died,” she says. The misogyny that surrounded the case, too, fascinated Yuzuki, as it does the main character – it is as if what truly disturbed everyone was not the murder but that a woman deemed ‘ugly’ and ‘fat’ could attract men, extract wealth from them and exploit the femininity associated with being a good cook to do so.
As the book (a character study more than a crime novel) progresses, Rika begins to sympathise with Kajii, even convincing herself of Kajii’s innocence. Alongside this is Rika’s slow transformation from someone for whom food is an afterthought to someone who cooks each of Kajii’s recipes carefully, indulging in their rich flavours. “I bet Kajimana eats a tonne! That’s why she’s that huge. It’s a miracle that someone that fat could con so many people into wanting to marry her! Is her cooking that good or what?,” asks the husband of Rika’s best friend, in one of many instances where Yuzuki has directed a spotlight on the complicated relationship between Japanese women, food, their relationship with their bodies, and the pressure to conform. “Japanese society has made women internalise their insecurities, where the latter tend to blame themselves for their ‘imperfections’, further pressuring them into having unrealistic expectations from their bodies. Many readers also mirror these thoughts,” says Yuzuki.
Despite its rootedness in the specific way that Japanese women relate to food and cooking – restricting themselves from indulging too much while also striving to make delicious food for others – are universal experiences to women across many parts of the world.
Yuzuki speculates that this may be why the book has found a notable international readership, saying, “The novel has not received the same positive response in Japan as compared to other parts of the world. While I cannot think of a definite reason as to why it gained international attention, it could be that the international readers could relate to the struggles of women in this book.”
This seems to be true in Bengaluru too, with a constant stream of young women approaching Yuzuki for autographs before and after her panels at the festival. Bookstores she made an appearance at, too, saw crowds of young people gather to meet her. “I was so happy to see people bringing my book with them to get it signed. When I came to know that the book was going to be translated into English, I felt that since this is based on Japanese society and the vast gap between men and women in Japan, it may be difficult to write it in English. But I’m glad it happened and that Indians are reading it,” she says.