Japanese author Nao-Cola Yamazaki’s two recently translated novels explore the complexities of romantic relationships at contrasting stages of life. Both works, originally published in Japan and now available in English, delve into intimacy’s evolving forms through understated, character-driven narratives.
The 2004 novel “Don’t Laugh at Other People’s Sex Lives,” translated by Polly Barton, follows a young art student who becomes involved with his professor. Unlike conventional romantic tales, their relationship is marked by an absence of passion or eroticism and unfolds with a tone of muted awkwardness. The plot highlights the ambiguous motivations that draw people together, rather than focusing on whether the couple remains together. An incident in which the professor’s husband discovers them results not in confrontation but in a quiet domestic scene, underscoring the unconventional dynamics at play. Yamazaki’s examination of desire and connection challenges romantic clichés, suggesting that attraction can be unexpected and deceptively simple.
Twelve years later, the 2016 novel “Beautiful Distance,” translated by Charlotte Goff, offers a more meditative perspective on long-term love facing mortality. Centered on a husband in his 40s caring for his wife during her battle with cancer, the story portrays a relationship shaped less by passion than by deep, everyday attentiveness. The couple has maintained separate identities—he works as an insurance salesman, she is a chef—but chooses to share their lives side by side. The husband’s gestures of care—from moisturizing her skin to braiding her hair—illustrate a tender intimacy that transcends physical desire. The narrative also captures the emotional challenge of confronting the limitations imposed by terminal illness while holding on to hope.
Together, these novels highlight the contrast between the fiery uncertainties of new love and the somber reflections of love enduring hardship and loss. Yamazaki adeptly captures how the experience of attachment shifts over time, shaped by life’s unpredictable circumstances and the imperfect ways people communicate affection. The translators, with Barton mentoring Goff, maintain the author’s concise, laconic prose style that lends the stories a quiet emotional resonance.
“Don’t Laugh at Other People’s Sex Lives” delves into youthful naivety and the murky nature of desire, embodied in the art student’s candid yet immature observations. In contrast, “Beautiful Distance” confronts themes of mortality and acceptance, posing poignant questions about how individuals preserve connection when faced with the prospect of separation.
Together, the books offer a nuanced reflection on love’s many forms and challenges, suggesting that intimacy is not a fixed ideal but an evolving practice shaped by time, loss, and everyday care. Yamazaki’s work refrains from offering definitive answers, instead portraying relationship as a complex, often imperfect process that resists idealization.