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I had gotten used to walking the streets alongside Ama. He wore three 4g pointed earrings in his left eyebrow and another three in his bottom lip. And as if that didn't make him stand out enough, he wore a tank top that made his dragon tattoo visible and his red hair was cropped so short on the sides that it looked like a thick Mohawk. When I first saw Ama at that dark techno club, I thought he looked scary. It was my first time in a club that played music other than hip-hop or trance, as most other clubs I'd been to with friends had been events. Until then I'd pretty much thought all clubs were the same. That night, after I had parted from a friend, a black guy speaking heavily-accented English talked me into going. It was a club all right, but totally different from the kind I was used to. I'd become tired of the unfamiliar songs and was sitting at the bar drinking when I saw Ama dancing in a weird kind of way. He stood out, even in such a strange crowd. Our eyes met and he walked straight up to me and I remember being surprised that even people like him try to pick up girls. We made small talk for a while, but then he got me interested with his forked tongue. I remember being mesmerized by his slim, serpentine tongue, and even now I don't really understand why it attracted me so much.


from Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara



Snakes and Earrings:

Official site (annoying Flash-presentation)
Penguin publicity page
Profile in The Guardian
Akutagawa Prize (scroll down)
Interview with translator David Karashima
Article in Japan Today

Reviews:

Bangkok Post
Bookreporter.com
Emerging Writers Forum
The Guardian
The Independent
Metro Times
RALPH
San Francisco Bay Guardian



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