(tent) Congratulations

Let’s not forget— What’s happening now. What’s happened until now. And what’s still to come. At a tiny bar in Odawara, Tamayo silently chews on raw octopus while I whisper “I love you.” “There was just too much love this time—it was a real problem,” Shōko says, her honesty leaving me speechless. “I’ve decided to live to 150,” Tokita suddenly declares. “If I live that long, there’s bound to be a time when we can always be together.” In these twelve quietly dazzling tales of rootless love, Hiromi Kawakami captures the loneliness, strangeness, and tenderness of people drifting through connections—yearning, reflecting, sometimes smiling. Stories that shine softly, and stay with you long after they’re over.