Kitchen

Death is a prevalent theme throughout each section of the narrative. Though it is a heavy theme, Yoshimoto manages to instill humor and life lessons into the narrative so that the weightiness of death does not crush the reader in doom and gloom. In many ways, death is what connects the characters and what brings them closer together, thus adding life to the narrative. Each character deals with tragedy on an individual level, but death as a social connector causes the characters to also express their grief with others, often while grieving over the same person or people.

The first two sections deal with Mikage and Yuichi. Both experience death at a young age. Mikage’s parents died during her childhood. Her grandmother took her in, and the narrative opens with the death of that grandmother, which leaves Mikage with no blood relative in the world. She feels orphaned. The death of all her loved ones throws Mikage into a depressive cycle where she questions even her own reason for living. Against the onslaught of death, Mikage finds that kitchens are a perfect representation of life. Kitchens are often the life force of the household, and Mikage is always drawn to these communal spaces.