'I'm in story heaven with this book.' Cecelia Ahern, author of P.S. I Love You
Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to... View details
Sentaro stood over a hot griddle inside the Doraharu shop, as he did all day everyday, cooking pancakes for his dorayaki. Cherry Blossom Street was a run-down commercial strip in a depressed part of t...
Shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award
Longlisted for the Believer Book Award
Longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
A Los Angeles Times Bestseller... View details
A convenience store is a world of sound. From the tinkle of the door chime to the voices of TV celebrities advertising new products over the in-store cable network, to the calls of the store workers, ...
Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.
He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem-ever since a traumat... View details
"Yes, there is," he said, pointing at his chest. "It's in here. It'sthe most discreet sort of number, so it never comes out where itcan be seen. But it's here." We fell silent for a moment, trying top...
Banana Yoshimoto's novels have created a sensation in Japan and all over the world. With the publication of Kitchen, the dazzling English-language debut that is still her best-loved book, the literary world realized that Yoshimoto was a young writer ... View details
The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it's a kitchen, if it's a place where they make food, it's fine with me. Ideally it should be well br...
Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Asian Literary Prize, Strange Weather in Tokyo is a story of loneliness and love that defies age.
Tsukiko, thirty-eight, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school tea... View details
Sensei and I exchanged glances. Despite the fact that we came to this bar almost every other night, the owner had never once treated us like regulars or made a point of making friendly conversation. R...
Finalist for the International Booker Prize and the National Book Award
A haunting Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor.
On an unnamed island, objects are disappearing... View details
“Long ago, before you were born, there were many more things here,” my mother used to tell me when I was still a child. “Transparent things, fragrant things…fluttery ones, bright ones…wonderful things...
A book that "speak[s] volumes about our need for connection-human, feline or otherwise" (The San Francisco Chronicle), The Travelling Cat Chronicles is a life-affirming anthem to kindness and self-sacrifice that shows how the smallest things can prov... View details
IN HER PREVIOUSjob, Noriko had often been posted to new places, so she was used to moving. She would take what she needed out of the cardboard boxes, steadily unpacking, always in the same order. When...
A brilliant, unforgettable novel from bestselling author Ruth Ozeki, author of The Book of Form and Emptiness
Finalist for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award
"A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and... View details
Actually, not much has changed. I’m still sitting in this French maid café in Akiba Electricity Town, and Edith Pilaf is singing another sad chanson, and Babette just brought me a coffee and I’ve take...
Featuring a delightfully offbeat cast of characters, The Nakano Thrift Shop is a generous-hearted portrayal of human relationships by one of Japan's most beloved authors.
Objects for sale at the Nakano Thrift Shop appear as commonplace as the staff... View details
The three of us had gone for an early lunch. Mr. Nakano ordered the gingered pork set lunch, Takeo the simmered fish of the day, and I went for the curry rice. The gingered pork and the simmered fish ...
In a tranquil neighborhood of Tokyo seven students are avoiding going to school - hiding in their darkened bedrooms, unable to face their family and friends - until the moment they find the mirrors in their bedrooms are shining.
At a single touch, t... View details
BEYOND THE DRAWN CURTAINS floated the sound of the little truck from the local supermarket coming to sell produce. ‘It’s A Small World’ – the song from Kokoro’s favourite ride at Disneyland – boomed f...