Dear reader, today I have something a little different in store for you. Over the last year I have read several short stories by Japanese authors and felt moved to collectively talk about all of them.

Most of the short stories in today’s blog post have the characters coming together around a certain theme or object. For instance in What You are Looking For is in the Library, the characters all encounter a particular librarian, and in Before the Coffee Gets Cold, the characters all start their individual journeys in a certain coffee shop.

Another theme that all the short stories share is how each character encounters a seemingly innocent situation or thing, and that blossoms into an altered life, a change in character, a new outlook, etc. For example, in Sweet Bean Paste, the main character, after learning a new homemade recipe for red bean paste from an elderly lady instead of the pre-made store bought variety he was using, goes down a path of self-discovery , gains a new friend, and learns the dark history of a nearby dwelling. Unfortunately, Sweet Bean Paste is not in the Monarch system, but can be found in Wiscat, as well as Hoopla, one of Mead Public Library’s apps for online reading. I will also mention several other short stories that are available via Monarch, so have no fear, dear reader!

Revitalized lives is a third main theme in these short stories. Characters who, at the start of the stories, were at the end of their rope, the outcasts of society, viewed as failures, but by story’s end are living with purpose and even fulfilling a forgotten dream. This is the case in Lonely Castle in the Mirror and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

Hidden in Jimbocho, Tokyo, is a booklover’s paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building lies a shop filled with hundreds of second-hand books.

Twenty-five-year-old Takako has never liked reading, although the Morisaki bookshop has been in her family for three generations. It is the pride and joy of her uncle Satoru, who has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife Momoko left him five years earlier.

When Takako’s boyfriend reveals he’s marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle’s offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above the shop. Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takako is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the Morisaki bookshop.

As summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books.

Continue reading →