Fidelity: Episodes from Three Lives in Japan

By Alex Shishin

Set in the Osaka-Kobe area, the interconnected erotic stories of Fidelity: Three Interconnected Lives in Japan concern the unpredictable and labyrinthine symbiotic relationship between American expatriates Hank Hashimoto and Aurora Tanabe and the eccentric Erina Wada, nicknamed “Booger Eater” by Aurora. Both women love and leave Hank, only to return and leave and return to him again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alex Shishin
• Release date: Jan 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465984944

Alex Shishin

Alex Shishin has published fiction, non-fiction and photography in Japan, North America, and Europe in print and online. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Shishin is a permanent resident of Japan. Shishin is the author “Nippon 2357:A Utopian Ecological Tale,” and five other ebooks published exclusively by Smashwords and available for free. He is co-author with Stephan F. Politzer of “Four Parallel Lives of Eight Notable Individuals,” also published by Smashwords. Shishin's short story "Mr. Eggplant Goes Home," first published in “Prairie Schooner” received an O. Henry Award Honorable Mention and was anthologized in “Student Body: Stories About Students and Professors” (University of Wisconsin Press). His short story "Shades," originally published in “Sunday Afternoon” (Kobe) was anthologized in The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan (Stone Bridge Press) and reprinted by invitation in “The East” (Tokyo).  Shishin’s book “Rossiya: Voices from the Brezhnev Era” (a Russian-American memoir of a train odyssey through the Soviet Union and Poland) was published by iUniverse. It is available as a print-on-demand book and an ebook. Shishin has also published a collection of photographs entitled “Ordinary Strangeness” with Viovio in conjunction with his joint exhibition at the Twenty-first Century Museum of Art, Kanazawa, Japan. It is available from the publisher online. Alex Shishin holds degrees in English from the University of California, Berkeley (BA, Phi Beta Kappa) the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MFA) and the Union Institute and University (PhD).

Book preview

Fidelity

Episodes from Three Lives in Japan

By Alex Shishin

Published by Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Alex Shishin

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BOOGER EATER

The voluptuous student from Amagasaki, her hair dyed platinum blonde, puts her pencil, eraser first, up her miniskirt, draws it out and holds it before the nose of the young woman next to her. The other student cranes her neck slightly and sniffs it. The first student, whom Aurora Tanabe nicknamed Booger Eater, whispers something in Osaka dialect and the other student covers her mouth with her hand. In disbelief, Hank Hashimoto, their English Communication teacher, loses track of what he was saying and lets the class go five minutes early.

Booger Eater has done it again.

In this private Osaka junior college for women Booger Eater stands out. While the demure and proper students in the class speak of their pets and hobbies, Booger Eater talks about going to love hotels with her now ex-boyfriend who works in a convenience store. One time this boyfriend called her mobile phone in the middle of class and they had had a spat in front of everyone. Several times she talked about her father hitting her. Another time said she had lent him twenty thousand yen after he lost all of his money playing mahjong. When she and her boyfriend broke up Booger Eater announced it to the class.

Booger Eater’s what new anecdotes are invariably along the lines of seeing a baby throw up on the Midosuji subway line or a news item about a policeman arrested for urinating off of Ebisu Bridge. But she does not eat nose dirt--not as far as Hank knows. Aurora gave her that nickname after she told the class that if you didn’t have pickles to put on your rice you could use your hana kuso (nose shit) to make it salty.

Booger Eater only wears miniskirts and likes to sit with her legs splayed. Since her