Title: The Weight of a Name
Subtitle: A Novel of Identity, Gender and Choice
Series: Japanesque TS
Author: Yulia Yu. Sakurazawa
Welcome, fellow readers, to the vibrant, and often challenging, world of my new novel, The Weight of a Name, the latest addition to my Japanesque TS series. This story is not just about bodies and how they shift, but the weight of the very names we are given, and that we give ourselves, and how we choose to use them. It’s about the journeys we all undertake to become our true selves, set against the backdrop of a contemporary Japan that is both familiar and slightly uncanny.
At its core, The Weight of a Name tells the story of Yuta Akisawa, a university student who feels that he should have been born a girl. When a chance encounter offers the possibility of switching lives with a woman, Yuta plunges into the complex world of a gender-swapped sharehouse, an unlikely, but supportive, haven. But this swap, as you might have guessed, is not as simple as it seems. It forces Yuta to face the harsh realities of living as a woman in a world that has always treated him as a man, and to question what it really means to be a woman, and all of the issues that come with this. It is a journey where the boundaries of gender, desire, and societal norms become blurred, where friendship turns into something dangerous and unexpected, and where the promise of self-discovery comes with the risk of pain.
This is more than just a fantastical tale. It’s about the human struggle for autonomy, for acceptance, and for love, in a world that is always trying to restrict those things. It also tackles the very real issues facing many members of the LGBTQ+ community, through a lens that is at times challenging, and at other times, deeply moving. I have tried to explore the idea that gender is not a binary concept, and that it is something that exists on a spectrum, and I have explored what that means to my characters.
As I created the characters for The Weight of a Name, I focused on making them feel authentic. Flawed but resilient. They make mistakes, they fall in love, and sometimes, they are forced to make painful choices. In that way, I believe they reflect the contradictions and complexities of the human condition. I also wanted to explore the power of narrative, both in terms of telling our stories, and how we interpret the stories of others. The way we construct our narratives can either imprison us or set us free.
I invite you to come along on this journey, not just with Yuta, but with all the characters who inhabit this unique world. This isn’t just about a fantastical premise. It’s about the inner conflicts that we face, and how we must fight to overcome the societal pressures and impositions that make it so hard to live an authentic life. “The Weight of a Name” is not just a story – it’s a conversation about identity, choice, and the courage it takes to live a life that truly reflects who we are. I hope that you will find it illuminating and thought-provoking.