Author(s): Hiromi Kawakami

Novel | Japan | Translated fiction

 Tsukiko is in her late 30s and living alone when one night she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, 'Sensei', in a bar. He is at least thirty years her senior, retired and, she presumes, a widower. After this initial encounter, the pair continue to meet occasionally to share food and drink sake, and as the seasons pass - from spring cherry blossom to autumnal mushrooms - Tsukiko and Sensei come to develop a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.

Perfectly constructed, funny, and moving, Strange Weather in Tokyo is a tale of modern Japan and old-fashioned romance. This edition contains the bonus story, 'Parade', which imagines an ordinary day in the lives of this unusual couple.

Review: A dream-like spell of a novel, full of humour, sadness, warmth and tremendous subtlety. I read this in one sitting and I think it will haunt me for a long time -- Amy Sackville
Enchanting, moving and funny in equal measure, this compelling love story is expertly crafted against a backdrop of modern Japanese culture... I [was] captivated... Stylish and unsentimental, a perfect love story * Stylist **** *
I'm hooked... It's interesting enough to read about an aging woman drawn to an older man; when this attraction comes wrapped up in Japanese nostalgia for old fashioned inns, mushroom hunting, refined manners, and Basho, how can a person resist? I can only imagine what wizardry must have gone into Allison Markin Powell's translation -- Lorin Stein * Paris Review *
Kawakami transforms an affecting cross-generational romance into an exquisite poem of time and mutability.... Delicate and haunting -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
This short, quirky love story has a very distinctive, very Japanese sensibility... Allison Markin Powell's translation is clear and graceful -- Brandon Robshaw * Independent on Sunday ***** *
A subtle and haunting portrait... Kawakami's prose is warm and often humorous. Allison Markin Powell's masterful translation conveys a deceptively effortless, understated delicacy and dream-like tone. Often enchanting but ultimately heart-breaking, this is an unforgettable evocation of love and loneliness -- Alev Adil, Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Judge
Kawakami paints perfectly the lightness and delicacy of modern Tokyo, delivering a love story that breaks hearts * Monocle *
An elegiac sense of speeding time, and yawning distance, drizzles the story - sensitively translated by Allison Markin Powell - with a sweet sadness -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
In quiet, nature-infused prose that stresses both characters' solitude, Kawakami subtly captures the cyclic patterns of loneliness while weighing the definition of love * Booklist *
Expertly translated by Allison Markin Powell, this is a beautifully understated love story, a novel of sadness, longing and gentle humour * A Life in Books blog *
A book of breathtaking delicacy * Telerama *
One of the most beautiful love stories I have read in all my life... Read it and enjoy * La Vanguardia *
In equal measures profound and exhilarating * Westdeutsche Zeitung *
Charming and understated... acutely observed and surprisingly involving. A delicious read * Hull Daily Mail *
A charming, understated story, played out against Japan's seasonal extremes. Acutely observed, it's a delicious read * Gloucestershire Echo *