31 Running Against the Clock: Ageism in Kirino’s Out – Jason Harrell

Running Against the Clock: Ageism in Kirino’s Out 

Across the world and throughout human history, women have faced daunting challenges and both systemic and societal discrimination as they seek to exist in patriarchal spaces. These challenges, which are often relentless in force and compounding in nature, can exist in a realm seemingly beyond the control of women. One significant method of discrimination lies is ageism, whereby women have limited time to succeed and maintain their status in objectified, male-dominated spaces. In Out, Natsua Kirino focuses on the impacts of ageism in how society views and treats the female characters, how the characters seemingly view themselves, and the actual impacts ageism has on their employment and societal engagement, roles, and identities.

Kirino’s novel largely centers around the lives of four women in Japan, all of whom are facing some form of discrimination, as they work the arduous night shift at a Japanese bento factory. In a moment of rage, one of the women murders her husband, and Kirino writes about how all the lives of these women become changed by and connected to the implications of the murder. The novel is about much more than the murder, however, as it is also decidedly about the lives of women and the discrimination they routinely face in society. This paper will use a feminist and cultural approach to examine how ageism and sexism impact women in general and specifically three characters, Masako, Kuniko, and Anna.

In the discussion of this novel and its characters, classmates note how the “female characters, especially those at the factory, are treated differently according to their age” (Davis). This is true, as women perform different roles at work and have different employment opportunities based on age. This treatment is blatant throughout the novel, and little subtlety exists in the examples of the outright sexism and ageism women face: “There is a prevalent attitude from the men in Out that women are commodities that should be discarded when they are no longer pleasant or exciting” (Gavin). This observation is particularly true, as even women who do not face the immediate and most obvious negative consequences of ageism still live in a society that treats them as objects rather than as individuals. Their relative acceptance in society is consistently bound by the confines of their age and beauty, both of which are seen as temporary virtues. As a result of these strict standards, “age, gender, and physical appearance make it impossible for women to be truly independent and self-reliant” (Brooks). The women are always dependent upon the standards of age and beauty set by men. These standards regarding beauty exist throughout cultures but are highly evident in Japan, as the standards are “representative of a severe lack of respect between the sexes in Japanese culture” (Ott).

This analysis of ageism in Out will use additional critical sources. In “Work in Death in the Global City: Natsuo Kirino’s Out as Neoliberal Noir,” Christopher Breu examines noir, a genre of crime fiction. Breu analyzes the individual circumstances of the characters in Out, their roles in society, and how their standings impact their choices and crimes. In “Cracks in Reality: Kirino Natsuo and the Exploration of Contemporary Japan,” Rebecca Copeland examines contemporary society in Japan, including the roles women play in it. Specifically, the author summarizes Kirino’s novels, and how the characters and plots of these novels illustrate the challenges individuals experience in Japan. In “Contextualizing Crimes: Kirino Natsuo’s Out,” Wendy Nakanishi provides examples of crime novels from Japanese women writers. There is also a section of gender, including the ages of women in the novel Out, and how both age and gender are factors in the societal conditions of the women. In “Inside OUT: Space, Gender, and Power in Kirino Natsuo,” Amanda Seaman writes about how gender impacts the roles of women in Kirino’s work. Seaman closely examine Kirino’s characters, including the four women in Out, and details how their lives are impacted culturally, societally, and economically. The article examines how age, in addition to gender, affects women in the novel and how they are viewed. This analysis continues the conversation of gender and examines the role ageism plays in the novel.

Kirino’s novel concerns itself with the “underpaid, ignored, and desperate individuals struggling in the margins of Japanese society” (Copeland 245). These individuals are largely struggling and are placed on the margins of society, due to the constraints of their gender and the results of ageism. While the individuals are prominent figures as characters in the context of the novel, they are largely ignored and ostracized in the male-dominated society, and when they try to escape, they are limited and rebuffed in their efforts. While Kirino’s novel “expose[s] the harsh treatment meted out to … elderly women,” it is important to note that elderly women in Japanese society is a relatively young age (Copeland 246). In fact, women are encouraged and expected to “retire from well-paid office jobs at the age of thirty-five” (Nakanishi 137). This expectation results in women having a small amount of time to achieve success.

One of the women who faces the expectation of early retirement and the impacts of ageism at a well-paid job is Masako. When employed at a credit and loan operation, Masako, at 40, is already “the oldest woman in the company” (Kirino 156). At a New Year’s party, Masako and other older women are kept “behind the scenes at the party, making hors d’oeuvres, washing dishes, and warming sake” (Kirino 155). This treatment, wherein Masako and women close to her in age are relegated to work outside of the presence of men, is indicative of the ageism they face and how they are pushed out of society, even by their employers and colleagues. Masako, the oldest and most knowledgeable female employee, is forced to “clean up the pools of vomit left by her drunken coworkers” (Kirino 156). Her role at work, then, based on her age and gender, becomes anything she is instructed to do, regardless of how demeaning and outside of her scope of responsibilities. This ageism also functions as an intentional warning to younger female employees, who often “quit the company in despair after seeing how unfairly Masako was treated as the senior female employee” (Kirino 156). These women see that there is no trajectory for female employees, regardless of their talents and dedication to the company. These are not isolated incidents; instead, there is systemic and pervasive ageism.

Not only does the ageism prevent Masako from promotions and upward mobility, but she is also only given “rudimentary clerical work” as she watches “younger men … being promoted to positions above her” (Kirino 156). Actual competence is irrelevant in a society that only values men. Masako attempts to break this norm and prove her value to the company by informing her younger male boss of a serious error. Instead of valuing her contribution and potentially saving him from reprimand, he instead lashes out at Masako and “[gives] her a slap” (Kirino 157). While this abusive behavior certainly has correlation to Masako’s gender, it is compounded by her age and how she is viewed. This treatment is normal for women, especially an older one. Masako is “essentially forced to resign (by being reassigned to a branch that would separate her from her husband and child)” (Breu 46). When Masako refuses to resign, the company “announce[s] her retirement” for her (Kirino 157). And instead of her employer being regretful to see such a dedicated employee leave the company, the office leaps with applause. This celebration is not merely a personal attack on Masako as an employee; instead, it represents society’s view and the collective condemnation of women who attempt to work past their approved, allotted time in the workforce. When employed at the lunch box factory, Masako has an unwanted encounter with Kazuo, a twenty-five-year-old worker at the job. After resisting his advances, she yells to him, “Find someone younger for your fun” (Kirino 57). It is important to note that Kazuo is seen as “good-looking and well built,” so despite his immoral sexual advance with Masako, the societal ageism she has accepted compels her to tell him to find someone younger (Kirino 391). Even after he develops a friendship with Masako, the persistent ageism of the society leads men to encourage him to find a younger interest.

Out focuses on women “trapped in dysfunctional relationships with men who are parasites or predators while laboring under the burden of crippling societal expectations” (Nakanishi 137).  The women, “each with their own dark pains and unhappy histories,” are forced by the realities of gender and ageism “to form a strange alliance” (Copeland 245). Kuniko, whose “boyfriend abandons her,” is trapped by the expectations for women in Japan and she is obsessively aware of her age, gender, and the limitations thereof (Nakanishi 137). As stated in the class discussion, “Kuniko clearly struggles with her age, weight, and overall looks in relation to men and society” (Hogeston). Kuniko experiences constant reminders that she fails to meet the societal standards, and she attempts to adjust her life as a façade for meeting them. She “drives a car she can’t afford, spends money on clothes and food she can’t afford, and is in debt” (Breu 46). Kuniko, who fixates on clothing, looks, and materialism, seems to operate from a place of self-loathing. It is just as plausible and reasonable, however, that there is some subconscious realism at work in her thought process. Kuniko is aware that she is over thirty years old, in mountains of debt, and working a job that barely meets her needs. She focuses on women on television and in magazines. The images Kuniko esteems are not merely an escape into an idealized reality or fictionalized universe; instead, they are Kuniko’s desperate attempts to look, dress, and drive in a way that she hopes prevents others from seeing her and her age. Her compulsion is her acknowledgement of the pervasive ageism in the society.

Desperate for another job, Kuniko sees a sign in front of a pub for a hostess position. The applicants should be women between eighteen and thirty, and Kuniko feels “her chances for getting the job” are “poor,” but decides to apply because the pub’s location is “remote and seedy” (Kirino 19). This internal conflict, wherein Kuniko wavers about applying for a hostess job, represents the ageism she encounters in her daily life. Due to ageism and sexism, Kuniko can only consider herself having a chance at this employer because of its remote and questionable location. This sentiment also aligns with how isolated and barred from certain places women are in Japanese society based on their age and looks. Kuniko’s initial reservations about applying are confirmed throughout the encounter. A group of young men outside of the pub stare are Kuniko “with a surprised look” when she asks about the job (Kirino 20). Once she walks away from the men to apply, she even hears laughter. This is not the only laugh she hears. The supervisor for the job gives Kirino a “coarse laugh,” explains the role is not for her because it’s “hard work,” and implies that based on her looks and age, she would not give men the “relief” they need at the pub (Kirino 21). As if he has not insulted her enough, however, he then asks her to confirm that she is “really over thirty” and has “scorn” for her when she says that she is not (Kirino 21). Jumonji also has contempt for Kuniko as he views her applying makeup and attempting to look younger, as he feels “all women as they grew older had something grimy about them” (Kirino 110). The scorn of the manager is the same scorn that the Japanese society has for all women above a certain age and those who do not meet the societal expectation of beauty.

Even women who meet the societal standard of beauty only do so with an awareness of the ageism they face while working in relegated but higher-paying spaces, and they do so for a limited time. In Out, Anna is the epitome of this woman. Anna, an immigrant from Shanghai, is seen as a “beautiful doll” (Kirino 36). Anna is aware, however, that the only “tools” she has in this society are “her youth and her beauty” (Kirino 187). Without many options, Anna becomes a hostess and is encouraged to pretend that she is a student since “most men have a thing about schoolgirls” (Kirino 192). With Anna, who is already young but pretends to be in school, Kirino is expressing how ageism impacts even the young and beautiful women in this society. This is not merely about men liking the vulnerability of youth; there is an inherent fascination with the naivete of youth and inexperience, which manifests itself as ageism. Anna, at only twenty years old, is still viewed as having “short-lived beauty” that will need to be replaced “when she got older” (Kirino 39). The fact that even in her respective prime, the eventual replacement of Anna is viewed as evident and certain, exemplifies the ageism Kirino is depicting. While Anna may feel that she is living well, her employer, Satake, “is thoroughly aware of the limitations on Anna’s ability to be successful in Japanese society” (Seaman 204). Anna’s ability, in fact, has a time limit, as she is only successful in her youth, and she can only remain successful if she exists in the ignorance that comes with age.

Anna’s “beautiful … appearance can guarantee her access to the center only for a short time” (Seaman 204). This center for Anna, and for any Japanese woman, ends when the woman walks into awareness of her role in society, which is a byproduct of maturity and age. Since the woman’s life and status are controlled by the predations and pursuits of men, the men desire “good looks untouched by any self-knowledge” (Kirino 368). A woman who becomes cognizant of her “positions” and begins to live and hide under the “shadow of self-awareness” then drastically limits her ability to thrive in Japanese society (Kirino 368). Ageism, then, is about more about physicality; it is about the awareness of one’s self, status, potential, societal place, and other factors that make women less appealing.

 As a discriminatory social and cultural practice, ageism thrives on stereotypes, misconceptions, and misinterpretations. As a result, individuality is forfeited for the collective, and people, especially women, are reduced to grotesque assumptions regarding their age. These assumptions regarding beauty, age, competence, and social mobility are throughout Kirino’s Out. They control the women’s lives, including how the women see themselves and their futures. Ageism is not merely a factor among many in the novel; it is a relentless thief that robs women of purpose and time.

Works Cited

Breu, Christopher. “Work in Death in the Global City: Natsuo Kirino’s Out as Neoliberal Noir.”

Globalization and the State in Contemporary Crime Fiction, edited by Andrew Pepper

and David Schmid, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, 39-57.

Copeland, Rebecca. “Cracks in Reality: Kirino Natsuo and the Exploration of Contemporary

Japan.” Critical Insights: Modern Japanese Literature, edited by Frank Jacob, Salem

Press, 2018, 239-253.

Kirino, Natsuo. Out. Vintage House, 2005.

Nakanishi, Wendy Jones. “Contextualizing Crimes: Kirino Natsuo’s Out.” Japanese

Language and Literature, vol. 52, no. 1, American Association of Teachers of Japanese,

2018, pp. 127–44, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26739445.

Seaman, Amanda C. “Inside OUT: Space, Gender, and Power in Kirino Natsuo.” Japanese

Language and Literature, vol. 40, no. 2, American Association of Teachers of Japanese,

2006, pp. 197–217, https://doi.org/10.2307/30198010.