A Tale for the Time Being

A Tale for the Time Being

by

Ruth Ozeki

Hentai Term Analysis

Hentai is a Japanese term for a sexual pervert or deviant.
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Hentai Term Timeline in A Tale for the Time Being

The timeline below shows where the term Hentai appears in A Tale for the Time Being. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part I, Chapter 1: Nao
Sexual Perversion and Violence Theme Icon
...the café. She doesn’t want her reader to think she’s “a nasty girl or a hentai” (a sexual pervert). She hopes that the reader isn’t a hentai either—a hentai would find... (full context)
Part III, Chapter 3: Nao
Sexual Perversion and Violence Theme Icon
...panties on an auction site; Nao was creeped out by the number of bids that hentais were already placing on it. (full context)
Time, Impermanence, and the Present  Theme Icon
The Difficulty of Communication  Theme Icon
Sexual Perversion and Violence Theme Icon
...day the bidding ended on her panties, she was sickened at the thought that some hentai would soon own them. To cheer herself up, she went shopping at a boutique, where... (full context)
Part III, Chapter 4: Ruth
The Difficulty of Communication  Theme Icon
Sexual Perversion and Violence Theme Icon
...calls him a “sicko.” Oliver is surprised—he says that Haruki only wanted to stop some hentai from buying them. He says that Ruth must be “the sicko” to think that Haruki... (full context)
Part III, Chapter 9: Nao
Time, Impermanence, and the Present  Theme Icon
Sexual Perversion and Violence Theme Icon
...get out. Then, Babette proceeded to set her up on a date with the “creepy hentai” who was a regular at the café—the same man who used to stare at Nao... (full context)
Sexual Perversion and Violence Theme Icon
The hentai was waiting for Nao in the reception area, and in the crowded elevator, he groped... (full context)
Time, Impermanence, and the Present  Theme Icon
Nao’s phone rang while she was with the hentai, and she began to cry because she thought it might be Jiko, who she missed... (full context)