Would one’s inner conscience keep them from doing the deemed noble and courageous deed of saving the world. In the story, “Super- Frog Saves Tokyo’” Haruki Murakami illustrates a self-inflicted conflict within the main character, Katgiri, who suffers due to being overworked, insecure and being unappreciated for his contributions. Through a Freudian lens, the story leads to the main character’s negotiation of the id, ego, and superego. This then leads to Katagiri serving as the ego who is trying to balance the id and the superego. Katagiri is an ordinary guy. One day, a talking frog barges into Katagiri’s life claiming that there is a “worm” about to cause a deadly earthquake and only Katagiri can save Japan. Katagiri’s imagination of the Frog is his superego that represents his morals. Soon he is convinced and puts himself in a position where he needs to go through a complicated plan to save Japan from the earthquake and stop the “worm.” The id is the worm which is Katagiri’s instinctual negative thoughts that lead him to become the man he genuinely wants to be; a man who has a life worth living.  

The story introduces Katagiri, a man who lives a mundane life. Katagiri is an individual who struggles to accept the reality of his mundane existence. Society has an obvious archetype of a person it favors over others which leads to Katagiri believing that he is unworthy and undeserving of anything other than what he already possesses. Katagiri’s wish is to find a solution to balance his overwhelming life. He says, “I’m an absolutely ordinary guy. Less than ordinary. I’m going bald, I’m getting a potbelly, I turned 40 last month. My feet are flat. The doctor told me recently that I have diabetic tendencies. It’s been three months or more since I last slept with a woman” (Murakami). With that, Katagiri’s miserable life is shown in detail. He struggles to hold himself to a higher standard because of the lack of recognition for his work which the frog specifically responds to by explaining how he picked Katagiri because even though he is unappreciated, he is still a hard worker. Throughout the story Freud’s concepts of id, ego and superego are demonstrated because Katagiri’s ego became overwhelmed with his superego. In theory, taking his family sounded like a rewarding experience however, in reality that was not the case for Katagiri as his family was unappreciative of his contributions. Providing for his family after his parents death made Katagiri even more discouraged about the future. Despite trying his best to remain objective regarding these matters as they are, after all, a part of life, he fails to accept the fact that he is not appreciated for what he does for others. He deals with the trauma of his parents’ death by overworking. The article “Cultural Trauma, Counter-Narratives, and Dialogical Intellectuals: the Works of Murakami Haruki and Mori Tatsuya in the Context of the Aum Affair” by Rin Ushiyama states “Trauma work” is also inherently competitive, as stakeholders struggle over what trauma narratives are legitimate and lasting, what the spatial and temporal frames of the event are, who are defined as victims, and who is held morally responsible for wrongdoing” (Ushiyama 473). Katagiri compensates for the lack of excitement and accomplishment in his life by creating a persona representing his superego “frog”, who represents his innermost desires and assures him that he is enough since the people around him do not care enough. In the sense that the frog is his own imagination and his own conscience, Katagiri is compensating for his boring life by creating the worm, frog and the fight to induce excitement in his life. He wants to make himself believe that there is still hope for him by grasping onto false hope which validates him for being unique. Frog informs Katagiri that no one will know about Katagiri and Frog’s dedication towards saving Tokyo, but he still agrees to do so, similar to his real life. When Frog dies in the end, it represents the fact that Katagiri, similar to Frog, will probably die unrecognized and unappreciated.  

Wishful-fulfillment also impacts Katagiri’s unbalanced life where he feels the need to be accepted by society. The Freudian concept wishful-fulfillments are unconscious desires that are repressed, usually by the ego and superego (Freud 2221-2224). The wishful-fulfillment in Katagiri’s life is the representation of Frog being that solution to his repression that is guilt created from the lack of contribution towards society. In the story, Frog is the recognition of why Katagiri should change his mindset on his life. Murakami states “I have always had the profoundest respect for you, Mr. Katagiri. For sixteen long years, you have silently accepted the most dangerous, least glamorous assignments—the jobs that others have avoided—and you have carried them off beautifully” (Murakami). This explains how Frog is viewed as the superego who carries valuable aspects to Katagiri. Katagiri’s assumptions on the real world make his life miserable because it’s as if someone just placed him on the world but he’s simply surviving rather than living his life while enjoying himself. The article “Cultural Trauma and Epigenetic Inheritance” by Amy Lehrner states “they suggest that such experiences can be recognized as “turning points” and form the basis of shared social narratives that can transform the community’s sense of identity, principles, and values, and understanding of the world” (Lehrner 1773). Could this explain why Katagiri has such a low esteem of his own identity and status in life. 

Katagiri’s imagination is his own inner power struggling to come to the surface. He channels that concealed power into an imagination of a frog and a mission that needs only him to satisfy the regrets he has in life. Katagiri holds a low self-esteem, doing what is expected of him and does not complain. “Katagiri had been surrounded more than once by mobsters threatening to kill him, but he had never been frightened…They could stab him if they wanted to. They could beat him up. He was perfect for the job: no wife, no kids, both parents dead, a brother and sister he had put through college married off. So what if they killed him? It wouldn’t change anything for anybody—least of all for Katagiri himself” (Murakami). The entirety of Katagiri’s life is him putting himself down to cope with inner trauma, resulting in further pain from being lonely. He seems miserable because he holds society with high expectations that influence him enough, that he isn’t doing enough which in turn triggers his superego. He copes with this by creating an imaginary force which assures him that he has the ability to save someone. The frog is a character consisting of his own subconscious which resides in his dreams. Making his id change his self-inflicted problems that empower his true identity by stopping the earthquake. However, as soon as he wakes up in that hospital bed, he realizes that the frog is simply a figment of his imagination. He is brought back to the reality of who he perceives himself to be; someone not worthy of any gratitude or respect.

Katagiri’s unbalanced life is seen upon his difficult development of his id, ego, and superego because of the society that he’s been living in. Katagiri is not to blame in this situation of turning events on his story because he is a product in his environment. Through Muarakimi’s writing one can agree his critiques in society were stated clearly throughout Katagiri’s story, especially in Japanese society. The society in Japan is greatly influenced by who does more than the other. Through Katagiri’s perspective one can assume that he was influenced primarily by his parents since he had to look after his siblings due to his parents’ death. Katagiri’s imagination of the frog is his superego’s imaginary force that assures him of his ability to save someone. This explains how society has an ideal view of success. Katagiri himself is a successful and accomplished man according to society’s standards however, he doesn’t view himself like that since he is severely lacking in the social department. We get so invested within our work that we oftentimes tend to lose ourselves as we forget to build connections with other people and enjoy life. Our lives have the tendency to revolve around material gain and it is important to understand that work is a part of life and not life itself. Struggling to find the fine line between the two might take your whole life if you let it.

Work Cited

Murakami, Jay Rubin and Haruki, and Photography by Furi Furi. “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo by Haruki Murakami – GQ June 2002.” GQ, 2012, www.gq.com/story/haruki-murakami-super-frog-saves-tokyo-full-story. 

Ushiyama, Rin. “Cultural Trauma, Counter-Narratives, and Dialogical Intellectuals: the Works of Murakami Haruki and Mori Tatsuya in the Context of the Aum Affair.” 2018. 

Lehrner, Amy. “Cultural Trauma and Epigenetic Inheritance.” 2018. 

Freud, Sigmund. “Five Lectures On Psycho-Analysis.” Semanticscholar.org, 1910, pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b446/cfb00094a2e62f82e8c8e430581891ca4e47.pdf?_ga=2.153662776.1893964575.1597526595-1709737971.1597526595.