Description: From the bestselling, International Booker-shortlisted author of Strange Weather in Tokyo, this polyphonic story of love and friendship on the outskirts of Tokyo takes readers into a neighborhood like any other, yet full of unforgettable characters--by turns funny, wise, and heartrending.
Take the train from central Tokyo and head east. In twenty minutes, hop off and here you are: far from anywhere, but right in the heart of everything. Here, you'll meet a widowed fishmonger who invites his dead wife's former lover to move in, a fortune teller who helps a friend down on his luck, a young woman who learns her mother-in-law's secret over a late night snack of tea and rice crackers, and, at the local restaurant, the cook and the server whose on/off relationship might be back on. From one of Japan's most celebrated writers, this charming, character-rich meander through a small, seemingly average community becomes a quiet, profound meditation on connection and attachment, loneliness and loss, life and all its ephemera.