May be the super-frog was eaten by the cat he abandoned - Part 2, impressions
What you see with your eyes is not necessarily real - Super-frog saves tokyo by Haruki Murakami
目に見えるものが本当のものとは限らない -村上春樹著「かえるくん、東京を救う」より
I hope you read my previous article or the English translation by some random person. In this article, I will briefly explain what I felt on the meaning of the story.
In order to understand the story, one must know the two important dates from the era. One is 17th of January 1995 and the other is 20th of March. Former is the day that the Earthquake in kobe, which killed more than 6000 people, happened. The latter is the day which Tokyo subway sarin attack, which is the first terrorist attack in the world that used the chemical weapon, sarin. With Nostradamus's prophecy saying that the world is end at the end of 20th century and the ending of the Japanese economic miracle, Japanese people around those times had a feeling of desperation and fear.
Super-frog saves Tokyo is a story that sets in that kind of the time period.
Given that the story was published in 1999, I think it's safe to assume it was written after both of the events. I don't think that it's a coincidence that it was published at the very end of 20th century. Therefore, this, I think, was aimed to such people who lost their hope to the future.
The frog, of course, is not a real being; although in the text, the frog said something along the line that if some one say the frog doens't exist it will get very angry, it's the worst insult that anyone can say to it. But come on, if nobody else can't see, touch, or hear it, and it is a 2m tall frog, then there is no way that it's the real being. But that's okay, Katagiri even tell himself that what you see is not everything.
Then what is the frog? The answer is easy, most boring and obvious. It's someone or it can even be part of you that tells you that you are okay as who you are. Everyone fights their own battle, win or lose, there are so many people in this world who, big or small, fought but the steps and outcomes were never recognized.
The story gives the solution to those people, and people who want to help them. The answer is written clearly in the text. It's the imagination. The understanding only comes when you have the enough pieces to complete the puzzle. But as I quoted, understanding is merely the sum total of the whole, even you cannot understand yourself without misunderstanding.
But that's okay, even though our understanding of ourselves or the hardship of others, is just a misunderstanding, the important thing is the outcome. At the end of the day, Katagiri found the frog as the most important being for him. He finally found the way to like himself through his imagination. But of course, his own imagination of himself is just his imagination; it's never as great as someone who really understands him. That's why the battle against the worm ended up with drawn. That is why the worm escaped through the frog's death. Katagiri has to fight his own worms till the end of his time.
The frog, in the end, managed to stop the worst. I think it's safe to understand that the timeline of Katagiri getting shot and the Earthquake happens in Tokyo to Katagiri not getting shot and Earthquake does not happen in Tokyo. The compensation for that is of course the Sarin attack and Katagiri's fainting. For a moment, we think that the story is a happy end, but reality is not. Harsh yet boring.... I guess that's why we want to have imagination and escape into euphoria through that.
Probably that is okay, at least he knows that he can be drawn with them and prevent the worst from happening to him... The most importantly, he finally found the way to love himself, "more than anybody".
I never cried after reading something, and this book is no exception. But after reading this I felt that I wish I could. Vodka is almost empty, so I am going to end for now. The part three and onwards will be on the abandoned cat.
