The Lantern of Lost Memories

Can a slim novel about death, violence and child abuse be charming? In the hands of Sanaka Hiiragi, the answer is yes. The story largely owes this charm to Hirasaka, proprietor of the photo shop that is home to the lantern of the title. His is one of many such shops that serve as a last waystation between death and the afterlife.

First, Yama, the cheerful messenger, brings a sack of photos, then the subject of these photos who has just died arrives. Hirasaka, a kind, gentle man (who like Yama, is also dead), guides his confused, sometimes resentful, visitors through their transition from this life to the next.

We first meet Hatsue, dead at 92. Yama has already brought her photos, a heavy burden, one for each day of those 92 years.

“Hearing a voice gently calling her name, the old lady woke with a start. Where was she? She appeared to be lying on her side on a sofa . . . in front of her was a man peering at her with a worried expression.”

Shocked to learn that she is dead, she is told that she must sort through the sack of photographs and choose one for each of her 92 years. These will become the magic lantern show, the last she will see of this world before entering the afterlife.

Hatsue has led a good life, and, after her first surprise, is happy to look back over her long career as a nursery teacher in a poor section of Tokyo. She remembers fighting for a safe place for her underprivileged charges: first a room in a warehouse, then an old bus, and finally a modern building. Hirasaka explains that she must also choose her favorite picture. When they discover that the group picture she has chosen is badly damaged, Hiraska is able to take back to the time and day to re-take the picture, meaning that Hatuse gets to relive her happiest day.

The next arrival at the photo shop, Waniguchi, is a very different proposition. When Yama brings the photo file, he warns Hirasaka that it has a red sticker meaning murder or suicide. Hirasaka knows this usually brings trouble. And indeed, Waniguchi was a yakuza (gangster) in life and his first reaction on arriving is to put Hirasaka in a choke hold. When he comes to understand that he has been stabbed to death and the purpose of the photo shop and the lantern, he is unimpressed.

“My whole life was probably a mistake, right from the point of conception. Or maybe my mum raised me wrong. Either way, I ended up with exactly the shoddy life I deserved, so all this crap about looking back on it sounds pretty damn meaningless.”

However, even Waniguchi has a moment he wants to relive. While Hatsue cared about the children she taught, her main interest was the social importance of the nursery school. Ironically, perhaps, Waniguchi cares about individuals: a brilliant, autistic young man, who he calls The Mouse; and Tien, a Vietnamese boy bullied by his classmates. However, the photo he has of the three of them is completely blurred. Again Hirasaka is able to take him back for a day to re-take the photo, reconciling him to his death and to the lantern show.

After each visitor has gone, fading off into a white light, Hirasaka is left envying their memories for he has none. He can remember nothing of his past and has only one photograph, in which he sits, smiling, against a forest background. He is happy with his job, fond of the ebullient Yama, but still hoping beyond hope that someone will come who can give him back his past.

The last visitor is a child, Mitsuru, victim of horrific parental abuse. Her file also bears a red sticker. She has few photos and no happy memories, so Hirasaka takes her on a trip to the country to a forest playground.

“There were all sorts of play equipment in the park which was bustling with children and parents. Mitsuru didn’t seem to know what to do, so Hirasaka showed her how to play. . . . They went down a long winding slide together and she cried out with excitement when they picked up speed.”

He also teaches her to skim stones and to cook a sweet potato in a pile of burning leaves. Though they are invisible to people in the living world, to Mitsuru’s joy, they still manage to score treats from the convenience store by a magical sleight of hand. Hirasaka longs for Mitsuru to have memories of happy times. Overcome by this feeling, will he risk the cardinal sin of trying to return her to life?