Green Onions by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Short summary

5 seconds

A young girl, fascinated by art, falls in love with a rogue. He invites her to visit, but on the way she meets a shop with cheap onions, and all her romantic mood evaporates.

1 minute

A young girl, Okimi, works as a waitress in a cafe. She lives in her own unreal world, fascinated by old books and art objects, dreaming of great love. She wants to escape her dull life and become a little happier.

Young Tanaka invites her to see a performance at the circus. But he takes her to his home with specific intentions. The romantically inclined girl believes in true love and tries not to notice for what purposes he invites her to his place.

But on the way there is a vegetable shop. In it, Okimi sees a cheap onion. In an instant, the magic spell dissipates and she recalls that she lives in an ordinary apartment and has to pay for it. And any inexpensive product is very important to her right now. She goes into the shop and buys two sharp-smelling bundles of onions.

The date didn’t work out that night. Okimi heads back to her house. But perhaps next it will happen again, and the young girl’s dreams will always collide with harsh reality.