Walking the Scenes of Dance Dance Dance
Exploring Murakami’s world
by Kunio Nakamura
The protagonist of Dance Dance Dance, a freelance copywriter who compares his work to “shoveling cultural snow,” embarks on a new adventure in the snowy northern city of Sapporo. He revisits the Dolphin Hotel, which first appeared in the previous work of Haruki Murakami’s, A Wild Sheep Chase.
At the hotel, now rebuilt and completely different, the protagonist, “I” (the first-person pronoun), meets Yuki, a beautiful young girl with an unusual power. The characters live in an advanced capitalist society, and some of them face mysterious deaths one after another. In that world, “I” must continue to “dance in tip-top form,” as he goes through his adventure in a consumer society like that of the 1980s. By the way, The Beach Boys, the American rock band, had a hit song titled “Dance, Dance, Dance.”
Sapporo
The Dolphin Hotel, not unlike a secret underground base in Star Wars, is an important place for the protagonist. This sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase begins with his monologue: “I often dream about the Dolphin Hotel. … The hotel envelops me.” There is actually no such hotel. But there are similar ones in and around Sapporo’s shopping and entertainment district, Susukino. You might perk up your imagination and enjoy a walk there, if you get a chance to visit the city.
“I” meets a female front-desk receptionist named Yumiyoshi at the Dolphin Hotel, a massive high-rise with “tennis courts, a health club,” and “a big shopping arcade,” as well as a video game corner. With nothing particular to do, “I” kills some time playing Pacman, making a self-deprecating comparison between his life and the computer game. “I felt like I was in a video game. A surrogate Pacman, crunching blindly through a labyrinth of dotted lines. The only certainty was my death.” Maybe the people in an advanced capitalist society are all like Pacman.
When “I” gets off an elevator, he finds himself surrounded by “total darkness.” Though scared, “I” slowly starts exploring the floor, and finds none other than the Sheep Man, who says, “You gotta dance. As long as the music plays.” The Sheep Man says it’s his duty to connect all sorts of things, “like a switchboard.” He points out that the protagonist’s ties have “come undone” and need reconnecting.
A Movie Theater in Sapporo
The protagonist eats doughnuts and drinks coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts more or less every day. There are no Dunkin’ Donuts stores in Japan right now, however.
“I” happens to watch a “film featuring a former junior high school classmate of mine,” named Gotanda. In the movie, the friend from many years ago sleeps with Kiki, the protagonist’s ex-girlfriend from Murakami’s previous novel, A Wild Sheep Chase. A former high-class call girl, she has ears with unique powers.
After “I” returns to Tokyo, he is asked to look after Yuki, the beautiful young girl he met at the Dolphin Hotel. “I” lives in an apartment in Tokyo’s Shibuya district.
Kinokuniya in Aoyama
“I” drives to Aoyama, a posh area near Shibuya, “to do my shopping at the fancy-schmancy Kinokuniya supermarket.” He parks his Subaru “among the Saabs and Mercedes.” At the store, he buys lettuce that he suspects is given “special training.” That, he says, “wouldn’t surprise me. This is advanced capitalism, after all.”
Gotanda, now a close friend after a reunion, drives a Maserati. “I” owns an old Subaru, a car that he treats with “warmth and affection.” Reading Dance Dance Dance with these two cars as a clue offers an interesting discovery. Gotanda, a famous actor, has a luxury foreign car. It could have been a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, but I think it had to be a Maserati for a reason. Maserati’s emblem is a trident held by Neptune, the sea god. “I” drives a Subaru, named after the Japanese word for the Pleiades, the star cluster in the constellation Taurus. Stars and space are apparently the motif behind the choice of Subaru for the protagonist. Come to think of it, the protagonist’s old girlfriend, before he met Kiki, dumped him, saying, “Go home to the moon!” The symbolism suggests where the two are headed: Gotanda into the sea, led by his Maserati, and “I” to lonely outer space, in his Subaru.
Aimless Walk in Shibuya
After watching a movie in Shibuya, “I” walks to Harajuku. From there, he strolls past the Jingu Stadium, and eventually goes back to Shibuya. This is “my usual course” for not just the protagonist, but also for Murakami. You might take your time walking the route yourself.
Located in Harajuku is the Togo Shrine, which the author used to visit on New Year’s Day to pray for a good year, a custom in Japan. The Jingu ballpark is where he decided to become a novelist. “I” also passes by the Nezu Museum along the way — in Murakami’s short story titled “Kino,” the protagonist opens a jazz bar near the museum.
Roppongi
Gotanda and “I” go to “a steak house in a remote corner of Roppongi,” an upscale district in Tokyo also known for nightlife. A steak house in the area frequented by people in the show business would be Seryna. The two have medium-rare steaks and salads. This is an important scene where they talk about Kiki, who has disappeared.
In an advanced capitalist society, one can write off all sorts of things as expenses. Even call girls and a Maserati. Gotanda says, “my accountant tells me all the time to spend more” and expense it all. His lifestyle is a perfect example of how some people in Japan lived during the bubble years, from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. He is “so deep in debt you wouldn’t believe,” and yet drives around a luxury sports car and has a big expense account. This novel sarcastically depicts the trend back then.
After the steak dinner, Gotanda and the protagonist go to “a bar down a back street in Azabu,” near Roppongi. Then “I” goes to Gotanda’s “penthouse condo, with… a veranda with a view of Tokyo Tower.” In the morning, they see the skyscraper “gleaming in the distance.”
Lively Shakey’s
From the protagonist’s apartment in Shibuya, Gotanda and “I” drive to a Shakey’s Pizza Parlor. A Dixieland quartet are playing live music “to a raucous college group loud on beer.” The chain’s Takadanobaba restaurant (now closed), near Waseda University, would have been a good fit.
The two sit at “a table under a gaudy imitation Tiffany lamp in the back,” and eat a pizza with anchovy. Then, without meaning to, “I” asks his friend, “Why did you kill Kiki?” The meal with “I” turns out to be the last supper for Gotanda, who later that night kills himself by driving his Maserati into Tokyo Bay. Who is “the next in line to die?” the protagonist wonders. He is at a loss what to do.
(Translation: Matt Kamata)
Originally published at ignition.co.
