If Cats Disappeared from the World

by Genki Kawamura

A sort of fable, blurbed by Robin Sloan, which I read on my trip to Newburyport for the developer conference. A Japanese postman finds out he is about to die. The devil appears (in shorts and a Hawaiin shirt, and looking otherwise just like the postman himself) and makes him a deal. For every item (of the devil’s choosing) that is removed from the world, the postman will live an additional day.

[Quick side note: as the devil is explaining the creation story, he gets to the 7th day. “And that’s Sunday, right?” asks the postman. “Exactly.” But the 7th day was Saturday – why does he get this wrong? It does nothing in the plot and seems like just a mistake.]

The first item that disappears from the world is the cell phone. “When human beings invented the mobile phone, they also invented the anxiety that comes with not having one on you.” (35) This reminds me of the quote, “When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck.” (Paul Virilio)

He reconnects with an ex-girlfriend. “I still remember that smile. It was embedded somewhere deep in my heart. It was like an old football injury that ached on rainy days.” (59)

The second day, movies are removed from the world. He gets to watch one last movie (with the ex-girlfriend, who lives about a theater and works the projector), but the DVD he borrowed is missing from the case. He would have watched the Charlie Chaplin film “Limelight”. But since he can’t do that… they watch a white rectangle for a while. It is the combination of all movies.

When I’m reading something translated from Japanese, I am always pretty aware of it. The Japanese-ness doesn’t go away, even in translation. A small example: “Life must mean something to everything, even a jellyfish, or a pebble by the side of the road.” I understand life having meaning to a jellyfish. But to a pebble? Does he think pebbles have a consciousness or a sense of meaning? I do not think like that.

After movies, he gets rid of clocks. Talks of being freed from the passage of time. His father is someone who repairs clocks. There’s a memory of his mother being on her deathbed, but her father leaves to fix her wristwatch, and by the time he gets back, she’s dead. That was the last time they spoke. The story is leading up to reuniting him with his dad.

“Although he really did love her, he was incapable of treating her as though he did when they were together.” (90) This is too relateable!

Finally, the devil is about to remove cats, and the narrator refuses. He decides it is time for him to die. He writes his dad a letter, but then, because he is a postman, he delivers it in person.

All in all, it was short and touching at times, but also weird and confusing. I can’t really recommend it but don’t regret having read it.