After the Banquet

Middle-aged, luxurious, independent, and straightforward Kazu, the owner of a restaurant frequented by conservative politicians, falls in love with the aging former diplomat Noguchi, an refined supporter of reforms, and becomes his wife. What could go wrong? If the former diplomat returns to politics, heeding the calls of a not particularly popular party, — almost everything. Indiscrimination in means versus moral purity, loyalty to husband against loyalty to principles — when politics turns personal, the family becomes a battleground, love risks becoming the victim, and the threat of losing independence may prove scarier than impending loneliness. Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) — a star of 20th century literature, the most read Japanese author in the world, possessed of brilliant talent, renowned for both his works of a wide range and diversity of genres (novels, plays, stories, essays), as well as his shocking biography (an obsession with bodybuilding, far-right political views, harakiri after a failed attempt at a royal coup). In "After the Banquet" (1960) Mishima wanted to show how love develops, transforms, distorts, and undermines under the influence of politics, and in Japanese political and social circles, the publication caused a huge scandal. Former Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita, recognizing himself in Noguchi, sued Mishima for invasion of privacy, and this trial — the first case in Japan regarding literary freedom of speech — Mishima lost, which, according to some critics, killed contemporary Japanese satire as a genre at its root.