Abstract

Japan is in the era of one million hikikomori. These shut-in recluses do not work, do not study, and rarely even leave their rooms. When they grow up, they even leech off of their aging parents’ pension funds, known as the “8050” problem plaguing Japanese society. And while Masaki Ozawa lives an otherwise blessed life with a dedicated wife and a brilliant daughter, he finds himself facing this very crisis: his shut-in son, Shota, has not come down from his room in seven years and is growing increasingly violent.
Losing control of Shota, and facing the anguish of his daughter who fears that Shota will ruin her prospective marriage, Masaki decides to confront his son once and for all. Bestselling author Mariko Hayashi weaves a gripping tapestry of family drama and pressing social issues.
This fast-paced page-turner was a blockbuster sensation in Japan, combining a courtroom drama and a psychological thriller as a wounded family tries, fails, and succeeds to come together for the sake of their shattered son.

Author’s Information

Mariko Hayashi (b. 1954) is one of Japan’s most successful and prolific contemporary authors. She has published nearly 200 novels and won a bevy of major literary awards, including the Naoki Prize, the Shibata Renzaburo Prize, the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize, the Shimase Romance Novel Award, and the Kikuchi Kan Prize. Hayashi is a consistent producer of bestsellers, and more than two dozen of her works have been adapted for film and television. Her notable works, full of enchanting human drama, include Women In Distress (Fukigen na Kajitsu), Anego, and The Woman Who Reads (Hon o Yomu Onna). She is the first female writer to become the chairperson of the Japan Writers’ Association, has received a Legion of Honour from the government of France, and holds the Guinness World Record for the largest number of essays published by one author in the same magazine.