Strange Weather in Tokyo
A woman in her thirties keeps running into her old schoolteacher at the same bar, and neither hurries.
Tsukiko is in her late thirties, drinking alone, when she recognises the old man at the counter as her former high-school Japanese teacher. Neither of them names what develops over the following months of bars, mushroom-picking trips and market walks. Kawakami keeps the register deliberately flat and the seasons doing most of the emotional work, which is why the ending lands as hard as it does.
Recommended by 1 Person
Aysegul Savas
Viewed through drinks at train station bars, walks through sprawling markets, trips to pick mushrooms, and meals at lantern-lit izakayas, the Tokyo of this magical novel unravels piece by intimate piece.
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