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Haruki #1 Yasutani
Tomoko is Nao’s mother and Haruki’s husband. Like Nao, she, too, is badly shaken by the turn their lives take after Haruki loses his job in America and they are forced to relocate to Japan with no savings. Initially, she cannot shake herself out of her depression and ends up staring at the jellyfish at the aquarium for hours every day. However, after Haruki’s first suicide attempt, Tomoko realizes that Haruki cannot pick himself up and that it is up to her to provide for the family. She ends up getting a job at a publishing house, and she works long hours. Since Tomoko is rarely home, she and Nao don’t communicate much, and Tomoko is largely ignorant of Nao’s problems. However, even when Tomoko finds out about the bullying that Nao faces at school, she isn’t very understanding. She implies that the situation might be Nao’s fault for not making friends with more of her classmates, and she speaks to the school authorities about the situation even though Nao begs her not to. This worsens the bullying, as Nao predicted it would. In general, Tomoko has an authoritarian parenting style that causes a rift between her and Nao.
Tomoko / Nao’s Mother Quotes in A Tale for the Time Being
The A Tale for the Time Being quotes below are all either spoken by Tomoko / Nao’s Mother or refer to Tomoko / Nao’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part I, Chapter 3: Nao
Quotes
But since these are my last days on earth, I want to write something important. […] I want to leave something real behind.
But what can I write about that’s real? Sure, I can write about all the bad shit that’s happened to me, and my feelings about my dad and my mom and my so-called friends, but I don’t particularly want to.
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Part I, Chapter 7: Nao
Quotes
I already thought my father was insane, because this was at a time when I still believed that only insane people try to kill themselves, but at the back of my mind, I guess I was hoping that my mom was normal and okay again […]. But at that moment I knew she was as crazy and unreliable as my father, […] which meant there was nobody left in my life I could count on to keep me safe. I don't think I’ve ever felt as naked or alone. My knees went all soft as I sank, crouching there, cradling my fish. It thrashed one last time, rising up almost into my throat, and then it flopped back down and just lay there, gasping for air. I held it. It was dying in my arms.
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Part III, Chapter 5: Nao
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It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful to her. I really was. She was my only friend, and if I couldn’t hang out at Fifi’s Lonely Apron, where could I go? My home
life was a disaster. Mom [...] was killing herself working overtime. Dad [...] was depressed like I’ve never seen him before, like he’d finally and truly lost all interest in being alive. He avoided any contact with me and Mom, which is a trick in a small two-room apartment. [...] [S]ometimes, if I happened to pass him in the narrow hallway and catch his eye, his face would twitch and start to crumple with the weight of his shame, and I had to turn my head away because I couldn’t bear to see it.
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Tomoko / Nao’s Mother Quotes in A Tale for the Time Being
The A Tale for the Time Being quotes below are all either spoken by Tomoko / Nao’s Mother or refer to Tomoko / Nao’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part I, Chapter 3: Nao
Quotes
But since these are my last days on earth, I want to write something important. […] I want to leave something real behind.
But what can I write about that’s real? Sure, I can write about all the bad shit that’s happened to me, and my feelings about my dad and my mom and my so-called friends, but I don’t particularly want to.
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Part I, Chapter 7: Nao
Quotes
I already thought my father was insane, because this was at a time when I still believed that only insane people try to kill themselves, but at the back of my mind, I guess I was hoping that my mom was normal and okay again […]. But at that moment I knew she was as crazy and unreliable as my father, […] which meant there was nobody left in my life I could count on to keep me safe. I don't think I’ve ever felt as naked or alone. My knees went all soft as I sank, crouching there, cradling my fish. It thrashed one last time, rising up almost into my throat, and then it flopped back down and just lay there, gasping for air. I held it. It was dying in my arms.
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Part III, Chapter 5: Nao
Quotes
It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful to her. I really was. She was my only friend, and if I couldn’t hang out at Fifi’s Lonely Apron, where could I go? My home
life was a disaster. Mom [...] was killing herself working overtime. Dad [...] was depressed like I’ve never seen him before, like he’d finally and truly lost all interest in being alive. He avoided any contact with me and Mom, which is a trick in a small two-room apartment. [...] [S]ometimes, if I happened to pass him in the narrow hallway and catch his eye, his face would twitch and start to crumple with the weight of his shame, and I had to turn my head away because I couldn’t bear to see it.
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