Hiromi Kawakami

11 marca 2011 dzieli współczesną Japonię na tę przed i po. Jednym z pierwszych tekstów literackich, który pojawił się w świecie po, było opowiadanie Niedźwiedzi bóg 2011 – historia Niedźwiedzia, który wprowadza się w sąsiedztwie i zabiera nas na spacer. Czytelnikom śledzącym twórczość Hiromi Kawakami była to fabuła znana – w końcu o tym samym traktowało opowiadanie Niedźwiedzi bóg, od którego autorka rozpoczęła swoją pisarską karierę. W 2011 roku postanowiła jednak opowiedzieć tę samą historię na nowo, udowadniając, że w świecie po nic już nie będzie takie samo. Polskie wydanie Niedźwiedziego boga przedstawia czytelnikom obie wersje opowiadania, które obecnie stanowią kanon literatury "po Fukushimie". To dwie krótkie nowelki o świecie przed i po – które idealnie uchwyciły to, czego na co dzień wolimy nie widzieć. Wydanie o tyle wyjątkowe, że oprócz polskiej wersji w tłumaczeniu Beaty Kubiak Ho-Chi, znajduje się w nim też oryginalny tekst japoński. Całość dopełnia wstęp Karoliny Bednarz.

Having married her childhood sweetheart, Riko now finds herself trapped in a relationship that has been soured by infidelity. One day, by chance, she runs into her old friend Mr Takaoka, who offers friendship, love, and an unusual escape: he teaches her the trick of living inside her dreams. And so, each night, she sinks into another life: first as a high-ranking courtesan in the 17th century, and then as a serving lady to a princess in the late Middle Ages. As she experiences desire and heartbreak in the past, so Riko comes to reconsider her life as a 21st century woman, as a wife, as a mother, and as a lover, and to ask herself whether, after loving her husband and loving Mr Takaoka, she is now ready for her third great love.

A brief, disquieting companion to the bestselling Strange Weather in Tokyo, set during a summer afternoon and featuring a mischievous pair of creatures called tengu. On a summer afternoon, Tsukiko and her former high school teacher have prepared and eaten somen noodles together. “Tell me a story from long ago,” Sensei says. “I wasn’t alive long ago,” Tsukiko says, “but should I tell you a story from when I was little?” “Please do,” Sensei replies, and so Tsukiko tells him that, when she was a child, she awakened one day to find something with a pale red face and something with a dark red face in her room, arguing with each other. They had human bodies, long noses, and wings. They were tengu, creatures that appear in Japanese folktales. The tengu attach themselves to Tsukiko and begin to follow her everywhere. Where did they come from and why are they here? And what other invisible and unacknowledged forces are acting upon Tsukiko’s seemingly peaceful world?

From the author of the internationally bestselling Strange Weather in Tokyo, a collection of interlinking stories that masterfully blend the mundane and the mythical—“fairy tales in the best Brothers Grimm tradition: naif, magical, and frequently veering into the macabre” (Financial Times). A bossy child who lives under a white cloth near a t­ree; a schoolgirl who keeps doll’s brains in a desk drawer; an old man with two shadows, one docile and one rebellious; a diplomat no one has ever seen who goes fishing at an artificial lake no one has ever heard of. These are some of the inhabitants of People From My Neighborhood. In their lives, details of the local and everyday—the lunch menu at a tiny drinking place called the Love, the color and shape of the roof of the tax office—slip into accounts of duels, prophetic dreams, revolutions, and visitations from ghosts and gods. In twenty-six “palm of the hand” stories—fictions small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand—Hiromi Kawakami creates a universe ruled by mystery and transformation.

Included in The New Yorker's Best Books of 2023 From the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo comes this otherworldly collection of eight stories, each a masterpiece of transformation, infused with humor, sex, and the universal search for love and beauty—in a world where the laws of time and space, and even species boundaries, don’t apply. Meet a shape-shifting con man, a goddess who uses sex to control her followers, an elderly man possessed by a fox spirit, a woman who falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor, a kitchen god with three faces in a weasel-infested apartment block, moles who provide underground sanctuary for humans who have lost the will to live, a man nurtured through life by his seven extraordinary sisters, and a woman who is handed from husband to husband until she is finally able to return to the sea.

Who loves Mr Nishino?Minami is the daughter of Mr Nishino's true love.Bereaved Shiori is tempted by his unscrupulous advances. His colleague Manami should know better. His conquest Reiko treasures her independence above all else. Friends Tama and Subaru find themselves playing Nishino's game, but Eriko loves her cat more. Sayuri is older, Aichan is much younger, and Misono has her own conquests to make.For each of them, an encounter with elusive womaniser Mr Nishino will bring torments, desires and delights.

Featuring a delightfully offbeat cast of characters, The Nakano Thrift Shop is a generous-hearted portrayal of human relationships by one of Japan's most beloved authors. Objects for sale at the Nakano Thrift Shop appear as commonplace as the staff and customers that handle them. But like those same customers and staff, they hold many secrets. If examined carefully, they show the signs of innumerable extravagancies, of immeasurable pleasure and pain, and of the deep mysteries of the human heart. Hitomi, the inexperienced young woman who works the register at Mr. Nakano's thrift shop, has fallen for her coworker, the oddly reserved Takeo. Unsure of how to attract his attention, she seeks advice from her employer's sister, Masayo, whose sentimental entanglements make her a somewhat unconventional guide. But thanks in part to Masayo, Hitomi will come to realize that love, desire, and intimacy require acceptance not only of idiosyncrasies but also of the delicate waltz between open and hidden secrets. Animating each delicately rendered chapter in Kawakami's playful novel is Mr. Nakano himself, an original, entertaining, and enigmatic creation whose compulsive mannerisms, secretive love life, and impulsive behavior defy all expectations.

Following The Nakano Thrift Shop, Hiromi Kawakami's breakout success, comes a new novel full of charm, subtlety, and style by an author whose readership in Japan numbers in the millions. Each woman in this book has succumbed, even if only for an hour, to that seductive, imprudent, and furtively feline man who managed to glide so naturally into their lives. But who really was Mr. Nishino? Still clinging to the vivid memory of his warm breath, his indecipherable silences, and his nonchalance, ten women who have loved him tell their stories as they attempt to recreate the image of the unfathomable and seemingly unattainable Mr. Nishino. Through accounts that are full of humor, intelligence, and the bittersweet joys of love, these women evoke Nishino's image but reveal themselves. Each perspective is both captivating and sensual, droll but important, and each is a variation on themes of love and identity.

The Akutagawa Prize-winning stories from the author of Strange Weather in Tokyo. In these three haunting and lyrical stories, three young women experience unsettling loss and romance. In a dreamlike adventure, one woman travels through an apparently unending night with a porcelain girlfriend, mist-monsters and villainous monkeys; a sister mourns her invisible brother whom only she can still see, while the rest of her family welcome his would-be wife into their home; and an accident with a snake leads a shop girl to discover the snake-families everyone else seems to be concealing. Sensual, yearning, and filled with the tricks of memory and grief, Record of a Night Too Brief is an atmospheric trio of unforgettable tales.

From one of Japan's most brilliant and sensitive contemporary novelists, this speculative fiction masterpiece envisions an Earth where humans are nearing extinction, and rewrites our understanding of reproduction, ecology, evolution, artificial intelligence, communal life, creation, love, and the future of humanity. In the distant future, humans are on the verge of extinction and have settled in small tribes across the planet under the observation and care of "Mothers." Some children are made in factories, from cells of rabbits and dolphins; some live by getting nutrients from water and light, like plants. The survival of the race depends on the interbreeding of these and other alien beings--but it is far from certain that connection, love, reproduction, and evolution will persist among the inhabitants of this faltering new world. Unfolding over fourteen interconnected episodes spanning geological eons, at once technical and pastoral, mournful and utopic, Under the Eye of the Big Bird presents an astonishing vision of the end of our species as we know it.

Both startlingly restless and immaculately compact, Manazuru paints the portrait of a woman on the brink of her own memories and future. Twelve years have passed since Kei’s husband, Rei, disappeared and she was left alone with her three-year-old daughter. Her new relationship with a married man—the antithesis of Rei— has brought her life to a numbing stasis, and her relationships with her mother and daughter have spilled into routine, day after day. Kei begins making repeated trips to the seaside town of Manazuru, a place that jogs her memory to a moment in time she can never quite locate. Her time there by the water encompasses years of unsteady footing and a developing urgency to find something. Through a poetic style embracing the surreal and grotesque, a quiet tenderness emerges from these dark moments. Manazuru is a meditation on memory—a profound, precisely delineated exploration of the relationships between lovers and family members.

Tsukiko rencontre par hasard, dans le café où elle va boire un verre tous les soirs après son travail, son ancien professeur de japonais. L'histoire qui va se tisser entre eux est si simple qu'il est difficile de dire pourquoi on ne peut la quitter. Peut-être est-ce l'air du bonheur qu'on y respire, attaché à des choses si ténues qu'elles se volatilisent quand on essaie de les toucher.

Ocho narraciones trenzadas con la extraordinaria prosa de Hiromi Kawakami, la autora más aclamada de la literatura japonesa actual. Los ocho relatos que componen este libro, si bien totalmente independientes los unos respecto a los demás, parecen atravesados por el mismo eje, tejidos con el mismo hilo, sutil pero firme en su atadura. Con asombrosa sensibilidad, Kawakami hilvana historias que hablan de enamoramientos, de desengaño, de pasión, de sexo, de amor y del casi inevitable desamor, y dibuja unos personajes hermosamente heridos, mujeres que descubren lo que la vida parece depararles para bien o para mal. La extraordinaria prosa de la autora nos empapa con la fina lluvia de sus narraciones, nos hace sentir el miedo y la repugnancia, la indignación, el dolor y el odio, pero también la comprensión, la empatía y el apego por los personajes que nos presenta. A un ritmo suave pero en ningún caso lento, Kawakami nos acerca alo dulce y amargo de la vida y el amor. Crí «Con un lirismo delicado y nada efectista, Kawakami relata el dolor de la separación y la intromisión de la muerte.» El Mundo «Kawakami vuelve a hacer gala de una fina delicadeza, calidad tan poco habitual como bienvenida estos días.» La Vanguardia «Una disección apasionante de las relaciones y la conducta humana.» El País «Conmovedora lectura de estos delicados relatos.» Hoy de Extremadura «Kawakami expresa, desde varios ángulos y con una riqueza sensorial y psicológica potentísima, una visión profundamente melancólica y afligida de la feminidad. Un libro espléndido.» Ara «Unos bellísimos, inquietantes y melancólicos relatos escritos en una prosa transparente.» Levante «La prosa de Kawakami bien puede definirse como está construida con la precisión hermosa y reticular, perfectamente conectada, de un cristal.» El Norte de Castilla ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Eight tales interwoven with the extraordinary prose of Hiromi Kawakami, the most acclaimed author in current Japanese literature. The eight stories that make up this book, if actually completely independent from each other, seem to be crossed by the same axis, woven with the same thread, subtle but firm in its bonds. With astounding sensitivity, Kawakami weaves stories that speak of infatuation, disappointment, passion, sex, love, and almost inevitable heartbreak, and depicts some beautifully wounded characters, women who discover what live seems to offer them for better or for worse.The author’s extraordinary prose surrounds us with the fine rain of her narrations, makes us feel fear and repugnance, indignation, pain, and hatred, but also understanding, empathy, and attachment to the characters we meet. At a smooth but never slow pace, Kawakami brings us the sweet and the bitter sides of life and love.

Tsukiko tiene 38 años y lleva una vida solitaria. Considera que no está dotada para el amor. Hasta que un día encuentra en una taberna a su viejo maestro de japonés. Entre ambos se establece un pacto tácito para compartir la soledad. Escogen la misma comida, buscan la compañía del otro y les cuesta separarse, aunque a veces intenten escapar el uno del otro: el maestro, en el recuerdo de la mujer que un día lo abandonó; Tsukiko, en un antiguo compañero de clase. Con una prosa sensual y despojada, Kawakami nos cuenta una historia de amor muy especial: el acercamiento sutil de dos amantes, con toda su íntima belleza, ternura y profundidad. Todo un descubrimiento literario.

On a summer afternoon, Tsukiko and her former high school teacher have prepared and eaten somen noodles together.“Tell me a story from long ago,” Sensei says.“I wasn’t alive long ago,” Tsukiko says, “but should I tell you a story from when I was little?”“Please do,” Sensei replies, and so Tsukiko tells him that, when she was a child, she awakened one day to find something with a pale red face and something with a dark red face in her room, arguing with each other. They had human bodies, long noses, and wings. They were tengu, creatures that appear in Japanese folktales.The tengu attach themselves to Tsukiko and begin to follow her everywhere. Where did they come from and why are they here? And what other invisible and unacknowledged forces are acting upon Tsukiko’s seemingly peaceful world?

Tsukiko, thirty-eight, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei" in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is thirty years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship, traced by Kawakami’s gentle hints at the changing seasons, develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to an enjoyable sense of companionship, and finally into a deeply sentimental love affair. As Tsukiko and Sensei grow to know and love one another, time’s passing comes across through the seasons and the food and beverages they consume together. From warm sake to chilled beer, from the buds on the trees to the blooming of the cherry blossoms, the reader is enveloped by a keen sense of pathos and both characters’ keen loneliness.

Cartea lui Hiromi Kawakami cuprinde marturisirile a zece femei si tot atitea povestiri din care, pornind de la frinturi de amintiri, cititorii pot recompune personalitatea fascinanta, greu de prins, magnetica a unui barbat. Fie ca este vorba despre legaturi adolescentine sau din amiaza vietii, eroul dovedeste un sarm fara gres. Intriga donjuanismul nelinistit, nepasarea pe care Nishino o afiseaza, desi e chinuit uneori de angoase morbide, de dragostea pe care si-o declara, fara sa fie crezut. Insa rind pe rind, desi intruchipeaza barbatul ideal, femeile il parasesc, mai puternice dupa apropierea de el. Cele zece iubiri ale lui Nishino capteaza deopotriva unde secrete ale obiectelor, ale naturii si, in stilul bine-cunoscut al lui Hiromi Kawakami, dincolo de simplitatea naratiunii, te face sa simti un parfum si un freamat care dureaza. „In jurul lui plutea un aer straniu. Ceva ce nu vedeai la nimeni altcineva din clasa. Oricit ai fi incercat sa patrunzi in aerul acela, nu ii dadeai de capat, asa mi se parea. Cu cit il razbateai, cu-atit te duceai mai adinc. Dar, oricit de profund ai fi scrutat, tot nu puteai ajunge la Nishino, ascuns dincolo de valul acela de aer. Si, cu toate astea, aerul ala era moale, cald si placut. Te trezeai pe nestiute cu iluzia ca aerul ala era Nishino insusi.“ (Hiromi Kawakami) „Pasionata de reminiscentele pe care le pastram in noi, Hiromi Kawakami urmareste cum se oglindeste Nishino in privirea iubitelor sale. Au fost oare iubiri implinite, destramate, statornice? Absenta unor repere si certitudini mai mult da contur femeilor pe care le-a iubit, decit le sterge. Forta romanului vine tocmai din aceasta apropiere de femeile iubite, niciodata victime, intotdeauna invingatoare, insufletite zi dupa zi de convingerea ca «miine a inceput deja».“ (Telerama)

«¿Qué será el amor? Las personas tienen derecho a enamorarse de otros, no a que los demás las amen.» Todas han amado a Nishino. Todas han sucumbido, aunque solo sea durante una hora, a ese hombre seductor, imprudente y salvaje como un gato, que se inmiscuía de manera natural en la vida de las mujeres a las que deseaba conquistar. Pero, ¿quién era Nishino? Ellas, que guardan en la memoria el vivo recuerdo de su cálido aliento, de sus silencios indescifrables y sus gestos de indiferencia, toman la palabra para recrear la figura llena de encanto de un hombre conmovedor e inalcanzable. A través de este retrato también ellas revelan quiénes son. Sus testimonios son variaciones llenas de humor, sensualidad, inteligencia y melancolía sobre ese extraño sentimiento llamado amor. Reseñas: «Sutileza y delicadeza, una prosa detallada que describe a conciencia las marcas del alma.» Pere Guixà, El País «Si te gusta Haruki Murakami, adorarás Los amores de Nishino.» DozoDomo.com «Los amores de Nishino es una canción que se nos susurra en voz baja y que nos atrapa hasta el infinito.» L'Express «Nunca se sabe dónde están los amores de Nishino. La falta de puntos de referencia, de certezas, fortalece a las mujeres que ama en vez de destruirlas. Esta es la fuerza de la novela; hay amor, nunca víctimas.» Marine Landrot, Télérama «La japonesa es una reina en el difícil arte de golpear al lector sin hacer ruido.» Eugenio Fuentes, La Opinión de A Coruña «Leer a Kawakami es como darse un baño de agua tibia. Lo más importante es el homenaje que se rinde a la melancolía, o a la imposibilidad o, mejor aún, a este estado de indefinición -prerreflexivo- podríamos decir en el que habitualmente nos movemos los humanos.» Pablo D'Ors, ABC «La prosa de Kawakami bien puede definirse como cristalina: está construida con la precisión hermosa y reticular, perfectamente conectada, de un cristal.» Ciro García, El Norte de Castilla «Una capacidad descriptiva y de evocación visual, sutileza y una disección apasionante de las relaciones y la conducta humana.» Flavia Company, El País «Kawakami cautiva con sus palabras y su estilo poético.» Jacinta Cremades, El Mundo «Lo que Hiromi Kawakami cuenta es tan carnal, hermoso y estimulante para el lector, que no exige ser más explícita. Su misterio radica en el extraordinario poder alusivo de la escritura, legado de los grandes artistas de la narrativa japonesa moderna. Sin duda.» Robert Saladrigas, La Vanguardia «Original, ágil y directa, con una prosa liviana que esconde el peso de la vida y sus contrastes: es delicada, pero dura; fría, pero pasional; divertida, pero seria.» Revista Paula (Chile)

I Merkelig vær i Tokyo møter vi 38 år gamle Tsukioko. En kveld støter hun tilfeldigvis på sin gamle lærer, Sensei, på bar. Han er tretti år eldre, pensjonert og lever alene. Et særegent fellesskap oppstår mellom de to: De møtes for å spise, for å drikke (framfor alt for å drikke) og for å fordrive tiden sammen, uten for mange ord. Gjennom vakre og eiendommelige glimt fra deres liv sammen utvikler Merkelig vær i Tokyo seg til å bli en unik, stillfaren og rørende kjærlighetsroman. Boka er oversatt til 14 språk og var nominert til Man Asian Literary Prize i 2013 og Independent Foreign Fiction Prize i 2014.

Tsukiko is drinking alone in her local sake bar when by chance she meets one of her old high school teachers and, unable to remember his name, she falls back into her old habit of calling him 'Sensei'. After this first encounter, Tsukiko and Sensei continue to meet. Together, they share edamame beans, bottles of cold beer, and a trip to the mountains to eat wild mushrooms. As their friendship deepens, Tsukiko comes to realise that the solace she has found with Sensei might be something more.

Istana Naga merupakan kumpulan delapan cerita pendek, masing-masing berkisah tentang transformasi yang dibumbui humor, seks, dan pencarian universal akan cinta dan keindahan—di suatu dunia di mana hukum ruang dan waktu, bahkan batas-batas spesies, tidak berlaku. Kita akan bertemu penipu yang bisa berubah bentuk, dewi yang menggunakan seks untuk mengendalikan para pengikutnya, seorang pria tua yang dirasuki roh rubah, seorang wanita yang jatuh cinta pada nenek moyangnya yang berusia empat ratus tahun, dewa dapur dengan tiga wajah di sebuah blok apartemen yang penuh dengan cerpelai, tikus mondok yang menyediakan tempat berlindung di bawah tanah untuk manusia yang kehilangan keinginan untuk hidup, seorang pria yang sepanjang hidupnya ‘diasuh’ oleh tujuh saudara perempuannya yang luar biasa, dan seorang wanita yang berpindah-pindah dari satu suami ke suami lain hingga akhirnya bisa kembali ke laut.

«No me gusta hablar del pasado. Mamá lo repetía a menudo, casi en un susurro, pero nada más decirlo empezaba a hacerlo.» Un hermano y una hermana retornan a la casa de su infancia, al lugar de la felicidad, de los deseos y de los secretos prohibidos a punto de ser revelados. Los recuerdos luminosos se mezclan con los que irrumpen arrasando con todo: el tacto delicado del lino se mezcla con el tumulto que huye del ataque con gas sarín; los silencios dolorosos de la familia con el sonido de los insectos de montaña. Con la maestría casi artesanal que la caracteriza, Hiromi Kawakami vuelve a construir un mundo frágil y sensual en el que los destellos y las sombras se abrazan de manera única. Escrita tras la tragedia del terremoto y el tsunami que asolaron Japón en 2011, esta novela encarna, con todas sus contradicciones, el deseo de vivir después de la catástrofe.

Una sorella e un fratello decidono di trasferirsi nella casa della loro infanzia a Tokyo, nel quartiere di Suginami. Per lunghi anni sono stati separati da una distanza incolmabile ma ora, adulti e soli, Miyako e Ryo cercano insieme un nuovo equilibrio tra i ricordi che disordinati riaffiorano: il ticchettio ostinato degli orologi amati dal padre, le piante di Mami nel piccolo giardino, le colazioni della domenica, i giochi nei caldi pomeriggi d’estate. E qui, nelle stanze affollate dai fantasmi della felicità passata, i desideri piú segreti e proibiti premono per tornare alla luce. «Sentite, voi due, non bisogna avere rimpianti », diceva Mami ai due figli, Miyako e Ryo quando, già molto malata, si preparava agli ultimi istanti con la serena leggerezza di sempre. Era una persona speciale, Mami, una donna coraggiosa che amava sfidare le convenzioni sociali. Miyako e Ryo sono cresciuti con lei e l’uomo che considerano il loro padre nel quartiere di Suginami. Proprio qui, nella casa della loro infanzia, i due fratelli decidono di tornare ad abitare a dieci anni dalla morte di Mami. È il 1996, e su Tokyo incombono ancora le immagini tragiche del recente attentato alla metropolitana. A lungo Miyako e Ryo sono stati separati da una distanza incolmabile, ma ora, adulti, ognuno con la propria vita e la propria solitudine, si ritrovano a cercare insieme un nuovo equilibrio tra i ricordi che disordinati riaffiorano, nelle stanze in cui riecheggiano le voci del passato. I giochi con Nahoko, la bambina con cui formavano un gruppo indivisibile, il tragitto di ritorno da scuola, un bacio rubato, i pomeriggi d’estate, le vecchie storie che Mami diceva di odiare ma inevitabilmente raccontava, un paio di sandali regalati da Takeji, un dipendente del negozio dei nonni e amico di famiglia – e forse anche qualcosa di più -, parole luminose e misteriosi non detti, gioia e amarezza, resistenza e abbandono. Miyako ripercorre la strada della memoria all’interno di un universo domestico fatto di un intreccio di dettagli, ombre, sensazioni, muovendosi con cautela sui fili invisibili che hanno tenuto unita la sua famiglia. Perché cadere significherebbe finire nell’abisso di un’attrazione proibita, di un segreto indicibile. Dalla ferita della Seconda guerra mondiale, ai dolorosi anni del dopoguerra prima della rinascita, attraversando più di mezzo secolo della grande Storia del Giappone fino al post-Fukushima, Kawakami Hiromi traccia il ritratto intimo di una famiglia con le sue debolezze e contraddizioni, ma capace di una tenace volontà di vivere anche – e forse a maggior ragione – dopo la catastrofe.

Tsukiko ha poco meno di quarant'anni. Vive sola, e dopo il lavoro frequenta uno dei tanti piccoli locali di Tokyo dove con una modica spesa si possono mangiare ottimi manicaretti e bere qualche bicchiere di birra o di sake. È un'abitudine molto diffusa fra gli uomini della metropoli, meno fra le donne. In una di queste occasioni incontra il suo insegnante di giapponese, che riconosce, malgrado i tempi del liceo siano ormai lontani, quando lo sente ordinare le stesse pietanze. Tsukiko e il prof, come lei lo chiama, iniziano a parlare e trovano subito un'intesa nella loro passione per il cibo. Fagioli fermentati con tonno, frittelle di radici di loto, scalogni sotto sale e altre leccornie della delicata cucina giapponese accompagnano gli incontri mai programmati, ma non per questo meno frequenti, di due persone così diverse eppure simili nella quieta accettazione della propria solitudine, e ogni incontro rappresenta un impercettibile avvicinamento, serve a chiarire dubbi e fraintendimenti. Ma la donna fatica a trovare una sua dimensione adulta, e il professore - che è vedovo e ha settanta anni - non riesce a uscire dal suo passato di marito e insegnante. Arriva la stagione dei funghi, le ferie di Capodanno passano senza allegria, poi fioriscono i ciliegi, si organizza una gita che delude le aspettative e termina, come tante serate, nel torpore dell'alcol... Trascorrono così due anni. E dopo infiniti appuntamenti, giunge il momento in cui il prof, nella sua lingua un po' vecchiotta, con i suoi modi di fare non proprio disinvolti, vince il pudore e chiede a Tsukiko se accetterebbe di frequentarlo «con la prospettiva di stringere una relazione amorosa». La storia di un amore insolito, e la scoperta di una scrittrice capace di cogliere, senza mai cadere nel sentimentalismo, la dolcezza della vita.

Wenn Nishino küsst, bleibt die Welt stehen Nishino ist der perfekte Liebhaber, der die geheimen Wünsche jeder Frau errät. Aber warum hat keine seiner Lieben Bestand? Mal sucht Nishino selbst das Weite, mal wünscht er sich, dass die Geliebte bei ihm bliebe. Doch am Ende wartet immer schon die nächste Frau – und der zauberhafte Beginn einer neuen Begegnung. Poetisch und präzise erzählt Hiromi Kawakami von zehn Frauen und Nishino – und der Frage, wann aus Verliebtheit Liebe wird.

La bottega del signor Nakano è un po' speciale. Innanzitutto, come tiene a specificare il proprietario, «non è un negozio di antiquariato ma di roba vecchia»: soprammobili fuorimoda, ciotole usate, manifesti di epoche dimenticate, malinconici reperti di vite sconosciute che potete comprare per pochi spiccioli, oggetti particolari e scompagnati come, in fondo, sono gli uomini e le donne che girano intorno al negozio. A cominciare dal signor Nakano: eccolo lì, dietro la cassa, magrissimo, un berretto di lana calato sulla fronte e una certa qual debolezza per il fascino femminile. A dargli una mano ci sono due ragazzi, Takeo, tanto laconico da apparire misterioso, e Hitomi, una ragazza allegra e inquieta. I due giovani si studiano, s'innamorano, nasce un legame toccante e maldestro che sembra destinato a inciampare su ogni incomprensione. Ma anche Nakano e la sua romantica sorella Masayo devono affrontare le impreviste complicazioni che nascono dal desiderio. Sarà proprio Hitomi, e il suo sguardo curioso e sensibile, ad accompagnare il lettore attraverso la girandola di incontri e personaggi che ruotano intorno alla piccola, vivace bottega del signor Nakano. Sono vicende comuni quelle che ci racconta Kawakami Hiromi, con una delicatezza che nulla toglie alla profondità dei sentimenti, all'intensità di relazioni umane che iniziano quasi per caso e si sciupano senza che sia colpa di nessuno. Una scrittura soave e luminosa, pervasa da un sottile rimpianto per quello che poteva essere e invece non è stato, e al tempo stesso da un confortante calore umano. Perché tutti, almeno una volta, ci siamo detti: «Che cosa complicata è l'amore!».

くまにさそわれて散歩に出る。「あのこと」以来、初めて――。 1993年に書かれたデビュー作「神様」が、2011年の福島原発事故を受け、新たに生まれ変わった――。「群像」発表時より注目を集める話題の書！ 2011年。わたしはあらためて、「神様2011」を書きました。原子力利用にともなう危険を警告する、という大上段にかまえた姿勢で書いたのでは、まったくありません。それよりもむしろ、日常は続いてゆく、けれどその日常は何かのことで大きく変化してしまう可能性をもつものだ、という大きな驚きの気持ちをこめて書きました。――＜「あとがき」より＞

Las circunstancias han convertido a Midori Edo en un muchacho que siente sobre los hombros todo el peso de una adultez prematura. Vive en casa de su abuela Masako junto a su madre Aiko, y recibe regularmente las visitas de su desvergonzado padre biológico. Pero Midori y su familia no son los únicos que viven constreñidos por el asfixiante lazo de una existencia precaria. Hanada, su amigo de la escuela, quiere vestirse como una mujer para fundirse así con la sociedad que lo rodea y sentir el desprecio ejercido por esta en su propia piel, al tiempo que la enamorada Mizue ha de soportar sus miradas llenas de indiferencia.

Cukiko je žena u poznim tridesetim, sklona izlascima u barove, dobroj hrani i prekomernom piću. U jednom od izlazaka naleteće na svog bivšeg profesora iz srednje škole, tri decenije starijeg od nje, visprenog i u dobroj formi, sa istom naklonošću ka dobroj hrani, pivu i sakeu. Ovaj neobičan tandem, serijom slučajnih a potom sve namernijih susreta, dok godišnja doba prolaze pored njih, razvija neobičan odnos koji pomalo trapavo ali istovremeno snažno naginje ka ljubavi. Savršeno konstruisana, duhovita i dirljiva priča o jednoj staromodnoj romansi u savremenom Japanu, „Profesorova tašna“ je nakon lokalnog uspeha i prestižne nagrade „Tanizaki“, postala veliki bestseler, prevedena na 15 jezika, a u SAD, Velikoj Britaniji i Francuskoj zadobila je kultni status.