Circle K Cycles

Circle K Cycles, is a narrative that counters the erasure of marginalized people by showing that trauma is trans-historical. Yamashita's use of sourced materials, three languages (Japanese, Portuguese, English), fictional stories, photographs, and personal essays intentionally disrupt the omniscient single voice, the master narrator.

Master narratives provide only the view point of the highly privileged, dominant group. The narratives are distributed systematically, prescribing a singular "correct" version of events. It is no mistake that the word "history" when deconstructed, reads as his story and that the dictionary defines "master" as the male head of the household. Men retain power and subsequently, the pen. Yamashita draws attention the imbalance of power in the male-female gender binary and the fiscal implications for women in number six of the "Japanese Rules": "For the same work: Pay men 1,200 yen per hour; pay women 900 yen per hour" (107).

The exclusivity of canonized history expunges the lives and voices of marginalized people thus sustaining discrimination and the exploitation of marginalized people for dominant gain. Discrimination is traumatic and ubiquitous, creating cultural memories or fantasies that bleed amongst generations, transgressing the categorization of time. Circle K Cycles shows how Japan, the master culture and master narrator propagandize the discrimination and exploitation of people that are both Brazilian and Japanese.

The first piece in the collage on page 45, is an in text citation stating: "N.M.O., 27, was arrested on the 27th in Hammamatsu after having exposed his penis to a Japanese woman, M.M., 22. According to police, the Brazilian had also touched the thighs of the victim." The numerical day of the incident is included in the citation but the year is excluded. Had the year been included, we would might find ourselves thinking about cultural sentiments at the time, perhaps justifying the racist invocation of the attackers' Brazilian ethnicity by compartmentalizing it into past generations. Yamashita uses a cause and effect method with this excerpt showing the cause/formation of stereotypes, while other excerpts such as Joji's tirade against taunting children on page 97 illustrate the effects.

Trans-historical trauma happens in our families when we begin to learn the secrets of our lineage. It happens in our nations with wars and how you can remember exactly where you were on September 11th and how the terrorist attack is referred to by its day and month alone: 9/11. Circle K Cycles shows ways in which "national sentiments" are formed, how perspectives/experiences/traumas are erased, how discrimination is condoned and sustained, and the enduring "difficult, dangerous, and dirty" effects of the master narrative.