There¡¯s a scene in Junichiro Tanizaki¡¯s serialized novel ¡°Naomi¡± (originally titled ¡°A Fool¡¯s Love¡°) from 1924 where the besotted protagonist, Joji, watches his wife, Naomi ¡ª part Lolita, part Madame Bovary, all trouble ¡ª through the pine trees. Having just emerged from a seaside villa, she is sashaying across the sand in nothing more than a cloak and high heels; the pied piper to no less than four men. The beach is Kamakura¡¯s Yuigahama, which was a draw for moga ¡ª the new so-called modern girls who emerged after the 1923 Tokyo earthquake shook up the city and its culture. (The term ¡°Naomi-ism¡± was also used at the time to describe the new phenomenon of modern girls, but I guess that one didn¡¯t stick.)
In her 2007 essay, ¡°The Modern Girl as Militant,¡± Miriam Silverberg describes this iconic female figure of the ¡®20s as ¡°A glittering, decadent, middle-class consumer,¡± and, of course, she was a thorn in the side of ¡°Joji¡¯s¡± across the nation.
The moga congregated in a number of places, but one of their main stomping grounds was Kamakura ¡ª a coastal town and district, located an hour by train from Tokyo. Today it¡¯s a bedroom community, peopled by those looking for a slower pace than Tokyo, full of cafes, organic restaurants and surf shops. These things ¡ª and Kamakura¡¯s old-town atmosphere ¡ª make it an attractive date spot for Tokyoites, while its trove of temples and shrines make it a popular excursion for foreign and local tourists alike.
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