“Lemon” (Remon) is a short story by Motojirō Kajii. written in 1924.
Plot
(The following is taken from Wikipedia. To see the full entry, click here.)
The protagonist, who has diseased lungs, is tormented by strange anxiety all the time. He lost his interest in the stationery store Maruzen, music, and poetry that he had been interested in before. He only continues walking around aimlessly in Kyoto.
In one such incident, he visits a fruit shop he likes on a regular basis through Teramachi (Kyoto Miyako Naka-ku “八百卯; Eight Hundred Rabbit”, closed January 25, 2009). There were rare lemons placed side by side. He bought one lemon that he was interested in; the coldness of the fruit in his hand was just right. After that, he felt uncomfortable, even though he stopped by his favorite shop, Maruzen, he began feeling uneasy.
He felt an unchanged feeling of dissatisfaction. Even though he looked at the usual picture albums that he used to like, he put the lemon as a time bomb on the pile of illustrations. Then he imagines the works of fine art flying out of the Maruzen shop, the excitement of blasting a lemon as a time bomb.
He was satisfied with what he had done at the end.
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Note: Maruzen was still near Sanjodori, Huyachotori in Kyoto at the time. After Lemon was published, it is said there was no end to people who continued leaving a lemon at the Kyoto Maruzen store (closed in October 2005. Now reopened in the Bal Building on Kawaramachi.).
The full story can be read in translation in its entirety by clicking on the bottom link of the Wikipedia page.
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