53 pages • 1 hour read
Breasts and Eggs
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Themes
Reproductive Rights Versus Anti-Natalism
Content Warning: This section of the guide references domestic violence.
Anti-natalism is a set of philosophical and moral views which hold that bringing new people into the world through procreation is an immoral act. In Breasts and Eggs, Kawakami probes the question of who, if anyone, has a right to bear children as Natsu embarks on a solo journey toward motherhood. Delving into anti-natalist arguments, she explores the thin line separating the autonomy of a woman from that of her unborn child.
In Breasts, Midoriko laments the injustice of her birth. Her mother is too poor to support them, and existence in a pubescent female body is agonizingly complicated for Midoriko. She asserts that everyone should stop having babies so there will be no more. However, she seems to move past this belief as she grows older. She and Makiko eventually reconcile, and Midoriko never restates her wish to not exist. She has a loving mother, a healthy relationship, and bright prospects.
In Eggs, Kawakami explores more sophisticated anti-natalist arguments through the character of Yuriko Zen. Conceived through donor conception, Yuriko was sexually abused as a child by her non-biological father. Yuriko states, “Whatever I’ve had to live through, it’s nothing compared to being born” (349), framing birth as an act of violation and violence.
Yuriko espouses several common anti-natalist positions. She believes that because it is impossible to get someone’s consent before bringing them into the world, conception and birth are inherently selfish acts. Yuriko also views procreation as a gamble with someone else’s life, risking the chance that the child will live a life full of suffering.
Natsu knows well that being alive can be miserable and painful; she deals with grief, loneliness, and anxiety and considers this “the pain that comes with reality” (349), persistent and unavoidable. Yet even in her darkest moments, Natsu derives some fundamental value out of being alive. As Yuriko points out in Chapter 17, people like Natsu and Aizawa, despite everything, are glad to be alive.
Much of Eggs involves Natsu’s uphill struggle against a legal system that deliberately excludes single women. Natsu has no legal options in her home country for artificial insemination and is forced to consult a stranger for “direct donation,” placing herself in a dangerous situation when he turns out to be a sexual predator. Kawakami highlights the flaws of a system that defines families in a rigid, heteronormative way.
At Children of Donors seminars and online, Natsu encounters discourse about who deserves to have a child. The prevailing view is that children should be born into two-parent households, and that women who choose to become single mothers are making a selfish, ego-driven choice. Yet Natsu knows plenty of dysfunctional two-parent households, and plenty of single women who are successfully raising children.
After speaking with Yuriko, Natsu decides that the decision to have a child, whether undertaken by a couple or a single woman, is an inherently selfish gamble. There is no justification for having a child beyond the desire to be happy. This desire is the “single greatest motivator” on Earth, shared equally by single and partnered people. Natsu challenges the idea that only married, heterosexual women should get to pursue this form of happiness. If desire by itself is a valid reason to have a child, then there is no moral difference between a married woman and a single woman acting on that desire.
Natsu and Aizawa pose as a married couple, deceiving a sperm bank to conceive through artificial insemination. In doing so, Natsu asserts her equal right to bodily autonomy while highlighting the hypocrisy of a system that deems her ready for motherhood only because of the false perception that she is married. She accepts the responsibility of the gamble she is taking but is overjoyed when she gives birth to a baby girl. Kawakami leaves the question of whether birth is unethical open-ended, suggesting that there is no objective answer. Each character’s position is inextricable from their background and identity. Ultimately, motherhood is the right choice for Natsu because it makes her happy and affirms her autonomy.
Defining Womanhood: Gender Roles in Contemporary Japan
The expectations placed upon women play a major role in Breasts and Eggs. All the female characters are keenly aware of the impossible standards placed upon them, and all defy these standards in some way. Kawakami shines a light on life outside of these norms, portraying her women characters as complex individuals who choose different paths. Ultimately, she subverts the idea that womanhood can be reduced to a single definition.
Even in the near-complete absence of male characters, patriarchal gender roles pervade the lives of Natsu and her loved ones. Makiko frets about the desirability of her body, subjected to the constant reminder that she is aging out of Japan’s youthful ideal of beauty—and therefore aging out of her job at a hostess bar. She considers a breast augmentation she can’t afford to assuage these feelings. Midoriko wishes she could stop puberty from making her into a woman. Natsu struggles to reconcile her desire to experience motherhood outside of a patriarchal family structure.
Natsu often wonders what defines womanhood. Her asexuality sometimes make her feel like she is not a real woman at all because she is “failing” to perform the two basic functions of women, sex and motherhood. As she searches for the meaning of womanhood, Natsu turns to the women around her, all of whom are unconventional to some degree. Makiko is a single mother in her late 30s, working full-time at a hostess bar. Sengawa is independently wealthy and lives alone, with no partner and no children. Rika is a single mother who neither needs nor desires a partner, outspoken in her dislike of men. Yuriko is a staunch anti-natalist, the opposite of the traditional maternal ideal. Even Natsu’s closest married friend, Rie Konno, is explicitly critical of her marriage and admits to experiencing postpartum depression. Natsu doesn’t judge any of her friends for their choices, whether conventional or unconventional. By having her protagonist be a neutral observer of others’ lives, Kawakami emphasizes that all the different versions of womanhood presented in the novel are valid and deserve to be witnessed.
In Eggs, Natsu realizes that there is no one way to be a woman. Through her friendships with other women in her age group, she sees the advantages and disadvantages of each lifestyle. She comes to understand that, just as there is no “right” way to be a woman, there is no wrong way either. As the homunculi shout in the bathhouse, “there’s no such thing as women” (64), because women are not a monolith. Kawakami’s women are individuals who each get to determine how they want to live.
Single-Mother Households and the Dangers of Domesticity
In Breasts and Eggs’s contemporary Japan, women are told to aspire to a nuclear family; even working women are expected to become housewives after marriage. Single motherhood is therefore seen as a cardinal failure. As Natsu ages and embarks on a solo fertility journey, she encounters this rhetoric again and again. Yet Kawakami questions whether the nuclear family is the best situation for women to be in, exploring the dangers of domesticity and the advantages of single-mother households.
In Breasts and Eggs, men are most present through their absence. Makiko’s unnamed ex-husband is a minor blip in the timeline of her life. Natsu has only vague memories of her neglectful father, a sedentary presence around the house who rarely worked or helped to keep the family solvent. More dangerous than his laziness were his fits of violent, abusive rage. When he abandoned the family, it was a relief to his wife and daughters, affording them an opportunity to begin a new life.
After their flight, Natsu’s unnamed mother and Komi keep the household afloat. Natsu’s mother works long hours while Komi takes care of the children. Together, they comprise a tight-knit family unit, anchoring one another through the trials of poverty. After the deaths of their mother and grandmother, Makiko takes on a motherly role in Natsu’s life. Later, she takes on this same role for Midoriko, providing financial and emotional support for her daughter without the help of a partner. Though they remain on the poverty line for much of the book, they take pride in their ability to provide for themselves and their loved ones.
Even for working women, the expectation remains that they will retire after marriage. In Chapter 8, Natsu lunches with her former coworkers, all of whom have left the workforce. Their energy is now devoted to taking care of their husbands and children. Patriarchal power struggles play out in miniature within the home, with wives expected to serve as “free labor with a pussy” (251), taking on the sole burden of childrearing and housekeeping.
Again and again, Kawakami presents families whose fathers and husbands are failures at best, and abusers at worst. Rika and Makiko’s partners abandoned them to raise their children alone. Rie’s husband mocks her postpartum depression yet expects to be cared for by his wife during his own depression. Yuriko’s father subjected her to sexual abuse when she was a child. These men don’t fulfill their role as protectors and providers, yet their wives and daughters are expected to continue doting on them. As Rika notes in Chapter 14, “[men] blame women for all of their problems” (314). Natsu learns that often, married women feel just as alone as single women. Rika, staunch in her belief that women are better off without men in their lives, is one of the happiest and most self-actualized women Natsu knows.
When Natsu decides to get pregnant, she has little interest in her child having a father figure. Aizawa’s entrance into her life doesn’t change this despite their mutual feelings. Though Aizawa fathers her child through artificial insemination, Natsu ultimately chooses to raise her child on her own, willingly foregoing a romantic partnership. Her experiences have taught her that a mother and child can comprise a complete, happy family unit. A two-parent household and a heterosexual marriage are not prerequisites for raising a child well.
Throughout Breasts and Eggs, Kawakami interrogates the default assumption that all women should aspire to domestic life. She highlights the pitfalls of marriage in a patriarchal society and emphasizes that relationships with men are not the ultimate source of women’s fulfillment. Breasts and Eggs critically examines the stigma around single-mother households and posits that single motherhood is a valid choice for many women.
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