The man always sat in the same seat, the stool farthest down the counter. When it wasn’t occupied, that is, but it was nearly always free. The bar was seldom crowded, and that particular seat was the most inconspicuous and the least comfortable. A stair
The story “Town of Cats” is excerpted from three-part novel, “1Q84”. In the book, Tengo is one of two main characters who pass between two distinct worlds, one of which has supernatural elements. But this story deals mainly with the real world —
This is another of his curious modern folktales / fairy tales / magic realist stories. Murakami takes this phenomenon to another level, in which monkeys have become like leprechauns or elves, who steal personal items from folks and explain themselves when
The first new novel Oe has published since winning the Nobel Prize, Somersault is a magnificent story of the charisma of leaders, the danger of zealotry, and the mystery of faith.A decade before the story opens, two men referred to as the Patron and Guide
The internationally bestselling, award-winning Japanese thriller about a child who may be the future of the human race--or the cause of its extinction.During a briefing in Washington D.C., the President is informed of a threat to national security: a thr
A young insurance saleswoman is found strangled at Mitsuse Pass. Her family and friends are shocked and terrified. The pass—which tunnels through a mountainous region of southern Japan—has an eerie history: a hideout for robbers, murderers, and ghostl
A stunning new work of the feminist noir that Natsuo Kirino defined and made her own in her novels Out and Grotesque.In a crowded residential suburb on the outskirts of Tokyo, four teenage girls indifferently wade their way through a hot, smoggy summer an
A definitive compilation of writings by the critically acclaimed Japanese author features the opening chapter of his first novel Norwegian Wood, selections from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Underground, and such stories as Barn Burning, Honeypie, and Ic
Ask yourself: If at the end of the year, you had accomplished one thing, what is the one accomplishment that would make the biggest difference to your happiness? Next
