Salad Anniversary by Machi Tawara

Machi Tawara's first book of poems, Salad Annivsersary, combines the classical 'tanka' form with the subject of a modern love affair. It became a sensation, selling over 2 million copies - and the 'salad phenomenon' in Japanese culture was comparable to the 'bananamania' that followed publication of the first novel by Tawara's contemporary Banana Yoshimoto. Contains 15 poems:

'August Morning'
'Baseball Game'
'Morning Necktie'
'I Am the Wind'
'Summertime Ship'
'Wake-up Call'
'Hashimoto High School'
'Pretending to Wait for Someone'
'Salad Anniversary'
'Twilight Alley'
'My Bisymmetrical Self'
'So, Good Luck'
'Jazz Concert'
'Backstreet Cat'
'Always American'

Pushkin Collection editions feature a spare, elegant series style and superior, durable components. The Collection is typeset in Monotype Baskerville, litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow. The covers, with French flaps, are printed on Colorplan Pristine White Paper. Both paper and cover board are acid-free and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

Machi Tawara (b. 1962) is a contemporary Japanese poet, writer and translator, most famous for her revitalization of the classical 'tanka' form of poetry. Her 50-poem sequence August Morning received the Kadokawa Tanka Prize, and Anniversary of the Salad became a bestseller on its publication in 1987.


Translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter.