'Vanishing World' explores the strange evolution of human society
Sayaka Murata’s "Vanishing World" presents a provocative vision of societal change and the redefinition of human relationships.
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| Illustration by Febrina Tiara |
By Anna Fadiah and Hayu Andini
In Sayaka Murata’s Vanishing World, the acclaimed Japanese author continues her exploration of the unsettling transformation of human norms. Originally published in Japanese in 2015 and now available in English, Vanishing World offers a chilling yet thought-provoking look at how society can reshape even its most fundamental aspects. The novel follows Amane, a protagonist whose extraordinary adaptability allows her to survive a series of radical societal shifts, challenging readers to reconsider what we define as “normal.” Through this unsettling journey, Sayaka Murata Vanishing World provides a lens to view the alien elements hidden in everyday life.
Amane’s story begins in a Japan radically altered by the aftermath of World War II. In Murata’s alternative reality, the devastation of the war has spurred a complete overhaul of reproduction practices. Now, all children are conceived through artificial insemination, and sex within marriage is regarded with the same revulsion as incest. This shift deeply impacts Amane’s upbringing. Raised as an only child, she is frequently reminded by her mother about the sterile mechanics of family formation, foreshadowing the cultural alienation that will define her adult life.
The collapse of intimacy in "Vanishing World"
From an early age, Amane learns to suppress any notions of romantic intimacy. Her society has turned the idea of sexual relationships into a forbidden subject, something both deeply shameful and irrelevant. When she eventually marries, her horror grows after her first husband develops romantic feelings for her—a behavior that society deems unacceptable. Divorcing him and remarrying, Amane continues her journey, steadily adapting to an environment where physical connection is diminishing and communal parenting is becoming the new standard.
As Sayaka Murata Vanishing World progresses, Amane moves to “Experiment City,” a utopian community where traditional family structures are fully dismantled. Here, all children are conceived on the same day, December 24, and are raised communally, calling every adult “Mother.” This system, called the “Paradise-Eden System,” symbolizes a profound detachment from the biological family unit. In this environment, even men are fitted with artificial wombs, allowing them to participate equally in reproduction.
Yet, even within this meticulously designed utopia, Amane faces emotional dissonance. After suffering a miscarriage, she is shocked by the community's lack of empathy. Despite her initial offense, she once again adjusts to the new norms, embodying Murata’s theme of relentless human adaptability. In Vanishing World, survival depends not on clinging to emotional bonds but on abandoning them altogether.
Sayaka Murata’s alien eye on human society
Sayaka Murata Vanishing World echoes the themes Murata explored in her earlier works, particularly Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings. In Earthlings, characters develop an “alien eye” to perceive human society as absurd and illogical. Similarly, in Vanishing World, Murata grants her readers an outsider’s perspective, inviting them to view everyday societal expectations as bizarre constructions.
Murata’s mastery lies in her ability to make the familiar feel alien. In Convenience Store Woman, she depicted a convenience store as a machine that eliminates “foreign matter”—a metaphor for how society demands conformity. In Vanishing World, she broadens this idea, suggesting that even our most intimate instincts can be reshaped by social engineering.
By presenting her fictional society without judgment, Murata blurs the lines between dystopia and utopia. Her characters accept radical change not because they are forced to, but because they simply adapt. Through Sayaka Murata Vanishing World, she illustrates how deeply humans can be molded, for better or worse.
The persistent force of desire
Despite the societal attempts to sterilize human life, Vanishing World acknowledges one force that refuses to be fully suppressed: sexual desire. Murata portrays this instinct as a “parasite,” something that society believes it has eradicated but which resurfaces uncontrollably. Amane’s own first sexual experience is described with imagery of infection and possession—a visceral reminder that biology resists social control.
This theme resonates throughout Murata’s work. Her fiction frequently returns to the messy, uncontainable nature of physical urges, contrasting sharply with the sanitized worlds her characters inhabit. In Vanishing World, sex is not glorified but depicted as a haunting and disruptive force, one that society tries to eradicate but cannot fully eliminate.
Amane’s experiences suggest that even in a meticulously controlled environment, human nature finds ways to assert itself. Murata’s vision is neither purely hopeful nor entirely bleak; it acknowledges the complexity of human instincts and the limitations of societal engineering.
Paradise lost in Experiment City
The choice to have all children born on Christmas Eve in Experiment City is no coincidence. The “Paradise-Eden System” represents an attempt to return humanity to an innocent state, free from the original sin associated with sexual reproduction. Yet, Sayaka Murata Vanishing World suggests that such utopias are inherently fragile.
As Amane reflects on her life in Experiment City, it becomes clear that the project’s aim to erase individuality and physical desire ultimately fails. Murata uses this setting to critique both the blind pursuit of technological progress and the naivety of idealized communal living. No matter how much society evolves, certain aspects of human experience remain stubbornly intact.
Amane’s gradual acceptance of each new reality illustrates the disturbing ease with which humans can acclimate to profound changes. At the same time, her lingering emotional pain serves as a subtle resistance, a reminder that some parts of the human soul cannot be reshaped by external forces.
A provocative addition to Sayaka Murata’s body of work
Sayaka Murata Vanishing World, translated into English by Ginny Tapley Takemori, maintains the author’s characteristic prose style: clear, understated, and disarmingly simple. This stylistic choice makes the unsettling content of the novel all the more impactful, leaving readers little room to emotionally detach.
For longtime fans of Murata, Vanishing World offers a raw and more overt exploration of themes she has addressed with greater subtlety in previous novels. For new readers, the novel presents an unforgettable introduction to a writer whose work challenges the very notion of what is normal.
By crafting societies where the unimaginable becomes ordinary, Murata offers readers a disturbing mirror of their own world. In Vanishing World, as in all her works, she shows that the boundaries of normalcy are more flexible—and more alien—than we might like to believe.
Sayaka Murata Vanishing World stands as a bold and disturbing exploration of how societies reshape human instincts, relationships, and identities. Through Amane’s journey, Murata demonstrates the unsettling adaptability of human beings and the persistent, untamable nature of desire. With her clear-eyed prose and unflinching vision, Murata cements her place as one of contemporary literature’s most provocative and original voices.
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