Enchanting, moving and funny in equal measure, this compelling love story is expertly crafted against a backdrop of modern Japanese culture Stylist
Tsukiko is in her late 30s and living alone when one night she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, Sensei , in a bar. He is at least thirty years her senior, retired and, she presumes, a widower.
After this initial encounter, the pair continue to meet occasionally to share food and drink sake, and as the seasons pass - from spring cherry blossom to autumnal mushrooms - Tsukiko and Sensei come to develop a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
Strange Weather in Tokyo is perfectly constructed, warmly funny and deeply moving.
This edition contains the bonus story, Parade , which imagines an ordinary day in the lives of this unusual couple.
A dream-like spell of a novel, full of humour, sadness, warmth and tremendous subtlety. I read this in one sitting and I think it will haunt me for a long time Amy Sackville
Kawakami transforms an affecting cross-generational romance into an exquisite poem of time and mutability.... Delicate and haunting Independent
About the Author
Born in 1958 in Tokyo, HIROMI KAWAKAMI is one of Japan s most popular contemporary novelists. She is the recipient of the Pascal Short Story Prize for New Writers and the Akutagawa Prize. Her novel Drowning won both the Ito Sei Literature Award and Joryu Bungaku Sho (Women Writers Prize) in 2000. Her novel Manazuru won the 2011 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize. Strange Weather in Tokyo (Sensei no kaban) won the Tanizaki prize in 2001 and was shortlisted for both the 2013 Man Asian Literary Prize and the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.
ALLISON MARKIN POWELL has been awarded grants from English PEN and the NEA, and the 2020 PEN America Translation Prize for The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino. Her translations include works by Osamu Dazai, Fuminori Nakamura, and Kanako Nishi
Please use your Email instead of your Username to login.
Caution: Deleting Your Account will permanently remove all associated data, which cannot be recovered.
Your cart's total less than the Gift Card value. If you checkout now, the remaining amount will elapse as Gift Cards are for one time use only. Continue Shopping to fully consume your Gift Card.
The Transaction was unsuccessfull. Please try again.