Kafka on the shore jungle portal scene
This scene in Kafka on the Shore, where a portal to another world opens in the forest where Kafka is staying, made me wonder whether this is actually a common tale across different cultures. I live nowhere near Japan, yet older people here, many of whom have never read novels or watched tv, have described strangely similar experiences.
Among people who spent most of their lives in forests collecting wood or working in the jungle, there are stories about suddenly losing their way in places they know by heart, as if the forest itself changes. Some speak of crossing into another world or encountering an unseen “portal.” This year, there was even a mysterious death connected to such stories.
While reading Kafka on the Shore, I was struck by these parallels and started wondering whether this kind of tale exists universally across the world.