A young woman in Tokyo takes a few tentative steps outward after years of isolation. Kawakami's unsettling lyricism and candour about ordinary modern lives have made her one of Japan's most ... read more
The author's father was an American soldier who fell in love with a Japanese girl on the devastated island. This affecting book probes her own complex feeling and the attitudes among which s... read more
Like all well-loved nursery creatures, Teddy has lost one of his button eyes. Surely it's somewhere in the garden? A charming picture book from Japan for ages 4-6.
Had Mrs Gaskell lived in Japan and a century later, she might have written this intimate portrait of four sisters of good family living in Osaka in somewhat straitened circumstances. Their e... read more
The author moved to Japan aged 21, immersing herself in language and culture with such success that she is now a literary translator. Her route there was by no means straightforward; this bo... read more