Abstract

Emerging from the darkness, we continue to spread our wings—
Five stories that remind us of the precious presence of “someone” in our lives.

An old friend. A distant lover. A mentor who left the industry. A family drifting apart.
How can we restore connections that are about to be lost?
Set during the autumn foliage season, this touching collection follows people traveling on the Tohoku-Hokkaido Shinkansen to Aomori, Morioka, and Sendai, leaving a deep impression on the heart.

The author, who won widespread acclaim for “Sakura no Shita de Matteiru (Waiting Under the Cherry Blossoms)”—depicting people returning to their hometowns via the Tohoku Shinkansen—opens a new chapter ten years later with this work.

Cover Illustration: Daisuke Igarashi

Author’s Information

Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1986. Graduated from the Faculty of Letters at Sophia University. In 2010, she won the Reader’s Prize of the 9th “R-18 Literary Award by Women, for Women” for Hana ni Mabayumu (Blinded by Flowers). In 2013, she published her first standalone book, Ano Hito wa Kumo o Tsubusenai (That Person Can’t Crush a Spider). In 2017, she was nominated for the Naoki Prize for Kuchinashi (Gardenia) and, in 2018, won the 5th High School Naoki Prize for the same work. In 2019, she was nominated for the 36th Oda Sakunosuke Award for Mori ga Afureru (The Forest Brims Over). In 2021, she was again a Naoki Prize nominee for Atarashii Hoshi (A New Star).

The Forest Brims Over (Mori ga Afureru) has been translated into English and Italian.