Butter

By Asako Yuzuki

Translated by Polly Barton

(2017, translated 2024)

Ecco

Translated by Polly Barton


Asako Yuzuki’s Butter focuses on a woman who is accused of seducing wealthy elderly men, enslaving them with her voluptuous body and extraordinary appetite, and murdering them. Though the novel is based on a real-life con woman who used a similar modus operandi, Yuzuki presents us with a more complex criminal and a series of deaths that, though suspicious, might also be coincidental. Manako Kaji’s ability to satisfy these wealthy men’s yearning for meals capable of calming the storms that roil within them, excites the imaginations of the Japanese public. Most involve themselves in a paroxysm of body shaming while others critique her unctuous and over-the-top hair, makeup, and fashion choices. Yet what is most compelling about the accused is that although she is a Japanese woman, she rejects all accepted forms of culturally inscribed behavior, reveling in her “me-ness” and her desire to yield to every impulse. Women can’t stop thinking about her and a good part of that obsession may have more to do with envy. The women drawn into her orbit become fascinated and emboldened by her otherness as well as her iconoclastic celebration of female desire.  A journalist attempting to get close to the accused via letters about the types of food she enjoys eating and cooking finds herself inspired to eat more, gain a few pounds, and throw off her clingy and indecisive lover; a former classmate steps out of her ordinary life to indulge herself in a fantasy of detection, sexual transgression, and high-risk behavior. Asako Yuzuki keeps the tension taut. Is Manako Kaji a cunning villain or an attention-craving woman with the emotional maturity of an eleven-year-old? Is she a monster or a victim?  Butter makes us think a lot about food, but not in a way that will consistently satisfy those craving the thrill of lovingly or even sensuously described meals. Instead, Yuzuki seems more interested in wondering out loud about how much longer the old ideals of femininity–restraint, self-discipline, and self-effacement –will continue to please the tastes and hunger of 21st-century Japanese women. The author keeps us guessing about many things, but she makes it quite clear that the culture of women is changing, and the strongest indicator is that throughout the nation, storekeepers can’t seem to keep butter on the shelves.

“Just as instructed, she moved the butter and some rice to her mouth before the butter had a chance to melt. 

The first thing Rika felt was a strange breeze emanating from the back of her throat. The cold butter first met the roof of her mouth with a chilly sensation, contrasting with the steaming rice in both texture and temperature. The cool butter clashed against her teeth, and she felt its soft texture right down into their roots. Soon enough, just as Kajii had said, the melted butter began to surge through the individual grains of rice. It was a taste that could only be described as golden. A shining golden wave, with an astounding depth of flavour and a faint yet full and rounded aroma, wrapped itself around the rice and washed Rika’s body far away. 

It was, indeed, a lot like falling. Rika stared down intently at the bowl of rice with butter and soy sauce and let out a long sigh, feeling her breath rich and milky.”