Abstract

"Anyone want a hot plate?" — One day, at one table, nine stories.
Women and men, children and adults alike. For everyone, there are foods and tools that stir emotions.

From an author known for crafting many “delicious novels” comes this collection of short stories, portraying the lives of people of all ages as they are shaken—sometimes literally—through “tools connected with food.” Includes nine tales: “This Year’s Jelly Mold,” “The Laughing Pizza Cutter,” “The Adventure of the Coffee Server,” “The Cast-Iron Pot from That Time,” “The Table of Dumplings,” “Searching for Rusty Nails,” “Hot Plate and a Magnitude 4 Quake,” “Goodbye, Acrylic Scrubber,” and “It’s Burning, the Wood Stove.”

Author’s Information

Born in Tokyo in 1961. Graduate of Seikei University, Faculty of Letters. Recipient of numerous literary awards, including the 1st Femina Prize in 1989 for “My Nureyev,” the 11th Shimase Award for Love Stories in 2004 for “Junichi,” and the 139th Naoki Prize in 2008 for “Toward the Cut Edge.”