As well it offers writing on the background and cultural context around activism from the baby boomers, formation of the women’s liberation movement, feminism, gay rights and ever-growing understanding of sexuality, gender and the challenges through generations.
Sparkling Rain is 2008 English-language translated anthology of Japanese fiction around women who love women covering some history and selections of works from 1912 into the new millennium. But the piece that had the most impact was the title story “Sparkling Rain” a remarkably candid examination of the challenges of aging through the experiences of Yukino who’s struggling to care for Itsuko after she’s paralysed by a series of strokes – although some of the comments about gender made me a little uncomfortable.
But there were also a number that stood out, a series of wonderfully wry extracts from Plica-Chan a manga series that first appeared in the 1990s in the lesbian fanzine Anise the restless, atmospheric Night Footsteps in which an isolated woman looks back at a revelatory past relationship and Uehara Chigusa’s touching story of first love. There are entries that have a slightly bizarre, didactic quality, particularly Shichi Hakku’s speculative fiction centred on robots and patriarchy. Some stories have a slightly dated feel, for instance “Monalisa Night” which compares and contrasts bar culture in New York and Tokyo - although it’s still a fascinating glimpse of a lesbian community in a specific time and place - and Togarashi’s “Lover” an awkward exploration of sexual frustration. It features a detailed historical overview and a more general introduction on contexts and concepts informing the editor’s choices – originally published in 2008 I’d love to read updated versions of these essays. Ranging across genres from poetry to manga to short stories, this collection focuses on shifting representations of lesbian culture and identity in Japanese fiction.
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