by Kaori Haishi, Shinichi Asabe
Publisher: Nikkei Business
Publication: 2017
Pages: 288 pages
NON FICTION
Original Title
Sakezuki Ishi ga Oshieru Saikou no Nomikata
In this uniquely Japanese mix of quirky fun and hard science, alcohol is revealed not as a poison, but as the best of all medicines . . . up to a point. If we drink healthily, drinkers need never give up what they love.
Publisher Nikkei Business Publications
Pub Date 2017/11/25
ISBN 978-4822258931
Pages 288
World Rights
Japan Uni Agency (US, UK, Europe and Latin America)
Kaori Haishi is a journalist and the director of the Japan Saké Association; Dr. Shin-ichi Asabe is a liver specialist who likes a drink. Together they interview a line-up of twenty-five booze-loving physicians, including Japan’s leading expert on throwing up, a sleep specialist on how nightcaps can cause depression and a professor on how drinking too much beer can prevent the secretion of testosterone.
Rights Sold UK (WE), Italy, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand
Materials Synopsis
Universally relevant information about the effects of wines, beers and spirits on the human body is delivered with clarity and precision, backed up by plentiful footnotes citing the latest academic research.
In this uniquely Japanese mix of quirky fun and hard science, alcohol is revealed not as a poison, but as the best of all medicines . . . up to a point. If we drink healthily, drinkers need never give up what we love.
Kaori Haishi is a journalist and the director of the Japan Saké Association; Dr. Shinichi Asabe is a liver specialist who likes a drink. Together they interview a lineup of twenty-five booze-loving physicians, including Japan's leading expert on throwing up, a sleep specialist on how nightcaps can cause depression and a professor on how drinking too much beer can prevent the secretion of testosterone.
Rights sold
English (Little Brown)
Italian (My Life)
Universally relevant information about the effects of wines, beers and spirits on the human body is delivered with clarity and precision, backed up by plentiful footnotes citing the latest academic research. The unfailingly amusing Haishi suffered through many a compulsory works outing and has particularly empathetic advice for women, including the merits of saké as a miracle skin book explores all sorts of issues, such as:
· Bitter Medicine how beer can help to prevent dementia.
· Shakes on a Plane - is in-flight drinking dangerous?
· Mellow Yellow - checking the colour of your pee.
· Snack Attacks - secrets for avoiding weight gain.
· And that perennial mystery . . . how do the French get away with it?
Kaori Haishi (1966 - ) Sake journalist. Founder and director of the Japan Sake Association. Devotes her time and energy to form alcohol experts and professionals, and organizes events to promote Japanese Sake.
Shin-ichi Asabe is a a liver specialist who has worked for a US-based pharmaceutical company and has published a number of research papers on the liver.
Kaori Haishi is a journalist who devotes her time and energy to instructing alcohol experts and professionals and organizes events to promote Japanese saké.
Korean, Simplified Chinese, Thai Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency AUTUMN 2022 RIGHTS GUIDE © JAPAN
Dr. Shin-ichi Asabe is a liver specialist who has worked for a US-based pharmaceutical company. He has published a number of research papers on the liver.
A heartwarming story about past emotions packed into old pens, which will soothe and comfort you like a back rub after a long day.
Author : Kyoko Hasumi
Medico Penna is a store selling fountain pens that will “change your life.”
Customers with all sorts of problems go to the store with its eccentric owner.
Doctor Pen is a store selling fountain pens that will “change your life.” “Fountain Pen Counseling will change your life.” So says the message on the signboard which hangs outside Doctor Pen, a pen shop in a corner of Kobe.
A heartwarming story about all the past emotions packed into old pens, it will soothe and comfort you like a back rub after a long day.
The proprietor has greying hair, a brusque manner, and an ageless face— but when it comes to repairing old pens, no one can compete with him. Simply looking at a pen is enough for him to grasp all the worries and difficulties of its owner and gently guide them to a solution.
➡ English synopsis and sample are available.
About the author
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
softcover
Publication: 2021
Pub month: Nov. 2021
Pages: 293
ISBN 978-4-591-17171-4
FICTION
188mm x 128mm
293 pages
Keywords
Fountain pen, Job hunting, Kobe
He hires Sawa, a university student struggling to find a proper job, as a part-timer at the store. As she engages with the store’s customers and their personal challenges, she gradually develops the courage to confront her own anxieties about life.
Kyoko Hasumi: Born in Sakai, Osaka in 1965. Graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Osaka University of Arts. Debuted by winning the Excellence Award in the Yokomizo Seishi Mystery and Horror Prize for Horsewoman in 2010. Won the Osaka Book One Project for Kishimoto and her Grilled Octopus Balls in 2020.
Overview
Rights sold
Italian (Sperling&Kupfer)
Asian territories: Poplar Publishing
“Fountain Pen Counseling: It will change your life.” Such is the message of the signboard which hangs outside Medico Penna, a pen shop in a corner of Kobe. The proprietor has shaggy gray hair and a brusque manner and no one knows his age— but when it comes to repairing old pens no one comes close to him. Moreover, simply looking at a pen is enough for him to grasp all the worries and difficulties of its owner and gently guide them to a solution. He hires Sawa, a university student struggling to find a proper job, as a part-timer at the store. As she engages with the store’s customers and their personal challenges, she gradually develops the courage to confront her own anxieties about life. A heartwarming, fountain-pen-inspired novel set in the city of Kobe.
Kyoko Hasumi (1965) was born in Sakai, Osaka, and graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Osaka University of Arts. Her debut novel won the Excellence Award in the Yokomizo Seishi Mystery and Horror Prize in 2010. In 2020 she won the Osaka Book One Project.
a
A moving multigenerational tale portrays one family's bond through wool spinning.
Publisher: Bungeishunju
Publication: 2020
Pages: 360 pages
FICTION
Original Title Kumo wo Tsumugu
Publisher Bungeishunju
Pub Date 2022/9/1
ISBN 978-4167919320
Pages 432
A cross-generational story that contrasts the incessant pressures of urban life with the practical challenges that confront a diffident teenager when she runs away from home to live with her grandfather in rural Japan. There, she learns how to work with wool. A red shawl, a treasured present from her late grandmother, becomes the key to untangling her emotions and bringing her estranged parents back together again.
World Rights Japan Uni Agency (US, UK, Europe and Latin America)
This is an uplifting celebration of the traditional and tactile arts in an age of virtual reality, invoking both C.S. Lewis’s Tales of Narnia and Kenji Miyazawa’s Night Train to the Stars
Rights Sold China, Vietnam
Materials Synopsis
This novel weaves a cross-generational story that contrasts the incessant pressures of urban Japanese life with the down-to-earth challenges that confront a diffident teenager when she returns to her roots in rural Iwate Prefecture.
Rights sold French (Albin Michel)
Italian (Garzanti)
Portuguese (Presenca)
Overwhelmed by bullying at school, Mio runs away from home to live with her artisan grandfather and learn how to work with wool. A red shawl, a treasured present from her late grandmother, becomes the key to unlocking her potential and unknotting her tangled-up emotions, in the process binding her estranged parents together again.
Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
This is an uplifting celebration of the traditional and tactile in the age of the vapid and virtual, invoking both C.S. Lewis’s Tales of Narnia and Kenji Miyazawa’s Night Train to the Stars.
Yuki Ibuki (1969) was born in Mie and graduated from Chuo University. After working for a publishing house, she made her literary debut in 2008. Her novels have won various prizes and have been made into films.
Yuki Ibuki (1969 - ) was born in Mie and graduated from Chuo University. After working for a publishing house, she made her literary debut in 2008 with Kazemachi no Hito (Waiting for the Wind), which won the Special Prize in the 3rd Poplar Publishing Novel Award. Her second work Shiju-kunichi no Recipe (The Recipe for 49 days) was adapted into a TV drama series in 2011, and then into a film in 2013. The novel Midnight Bus was nominated for the 27th Yamamoto Shugoro Award and the 151st Naoki Prize, and the novel was adapted into a film in 2018. Kanata no Tomo e (To My Friend) was nominated for the 158th Naoki Prize and the 39th Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Award for new writers.
Following failed marriages that have left each of them scarred, two people are united in Tokyo. Ayano, born and raised in Japan, and JapaneseAmerican Michio are introduced to each other. They instantly hit it off, decide to get married without delay, and Ayano moves to America. There, the couple agrees to adopt a cat. When a Norwegian Forest kitten at the local animal shelter leaps out of the cage onto Michio’s shoulder, they decide to take it home.
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
Publication: 2011
Pages: 262
FICTION
As the love between the couple grows, the kitten ages into adulthood, quickly becoming a symbol of their happiness. Set against the changing seasons of the American countryside, stories of the young cat’s life are interwoven with the ebb and flow of the couple’s love. This irresistibly endearing tale tells of the powerful bond that forms between the couple and their cat, and reflects on their different responses as the beloved cat ages far more quickly than its human guardians.
Rights sold Italian (Sperling&Kupfer)
Korean Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
Rui Kodemari was born in Okayama Prefecture. In 2005 she received the Shimase Award for Love Stories. Since then she has produced numerous romances, which have gained her a steady following, and other fiction works. She currently lives in Woodstock, New York.
We have seen Japanese books about cleaning and by monks, but never a Monk Business book by a monk featured in Forbes Business magazine!
In his new book, Work Like A Monk, Shoukei Matsumoto (author of A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind) takes his mindful philosophy one step further: from Capitalism towards Cooperation, with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Buddha, also known as “the Great King of Medicine”, is the ultimate doctor who fundamentally cures human beings of suffering. Buddha’s way of preaching, taiki-seppo, focuses on who the listener is and is also phrased as oubyo yoyaku, giving appropriate medicine in accordance with the status of illness. Matsumoto is a leading “corporate monk” who aims to support modern workers and organizations with Buddha’s teachings. His book about “cleaning” has become a bestselling title.
Publisher: TBD
Delivery: January 2024
Rights sold
German (Penguin Random House)
Italian (Vallardi)
Portuguese (Bertrand)
Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
Shoukei Matsumoto (1979) is a Contemporary Buddhist, who graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, University of Tokyo. Matsumoto is the World Economic Forum (Davos) Young Global Leader. In 2010, he received his MBA from the Indian Institute of Business (ISB) as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. In 2012, he opened the “Future Chief Priest School”, a temple management school.
Novel ・ Platonic love ・ Life
story
Over 200,000 copies sold in Japan. A story of beautiful, fleeting platonic love.
“I only have a year to live. Now I’ve met you—and you’ve only six months left!”
Ao Morita: Born in Hokkaido. Won the grand prize in the short story contest of online fiction platform Line Novels in 2020 with “Lord Death’s System.” Made his debut as a print author with this series, which first appeared on online publishing site Shosetsuka ni Naro.
Overview
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
paperback
Publication: 2021
Pub month: Jan. 2021
Pages: 300
ISBN 978-4-591-16889-9
Volume 1 of Ao Morita’s “Not Much Time Left” series
FICTION
148mm x 105mm
300 pages
Rights sold: Korean and Thai
Akito Hayasaka, a boy in his first year at high school, develops a heart problem. Told that he does not have long left to live, he is plunged into a deep despair. Just at that moment he happens to meet Haruna Sakurai, an in-patient at the hospital he is visiting regularly. Like him, Haruna is gravely ill and only has a short time left. Keeping his own condition secret, Akito starts talking to her. When Haruna reveals that she is not afraid to die, Akito’s interest is piqued. But Akito is torn: should he permit himself to fall in love with her? As time passes, a change comes over him. With its cool, matter-of-fact tone, this account of the everyday life of the young pair is radiant with tenderness and fragile beauty. The ultimate story of pure, platonic love.
paparback
“I only have a year to live. Now I’ve met you—and you’ve only six months left!” Akito Hayasaka, a boy in his first year at high school, develops a heart problem. Told that he does not have long left to live, he is plunged into deep despair. Just at that moment he happens to meet Haruna Sakurai, an in-patient at the hospital he is visiting regularly. Like him, Haruna is gravely ill and only has a short time left. Keeping his own condition secret, Akito starts talking to her. When Haruna reveals that she is not afraid to die, Akito’s interest is well and truly piqued. But Akito is torn: Should he permit himself to fall in love with her? As time passes, a change comes over him. With its cool, matter-of-fact tone, this account of the everyday life of the young pair is radiant with tenderness and fragile beauty. The ultimate story of pure, platonic love.
Rights sold Korean, Thai Asian territories: Poplar Publishing
➡ English synopsis and sample are available.
Volume 2 of Ao Morita’s “Not Much Time Left” series
“With only 99 days left to live, I met you—someone else who can foresee other people’s deaths.”
Arata is a high school student with an uncanny ability: whenever he meets someone who is within 99 days of dying, he sees the number of days they have left floating
paperback
Pub month: Jan. 2021
ISBN 978-4-591-16889-9
148mm x 105mm
300 pages
Rights sold: Korean and Thai
Volume 2 of Ao Morita’s “Not Much Time Left” series
“I only have a year to live. Now I’ve met you—and you’ve only six months left!” Akito Hayasaka, a boy in his first year at high school, develops a heart problem. Told that he does not have long left to live, he is plunged into deep despair. Just at that moment he happens to meet Haruna Sakurai, an in-patient at the hospital he is visiting regularly. Like him, Haruna is gravely ill and only has a short time left. Keeping his own condition secret, Akito starts talking to her. When Haruna reveals that she is not afraid to die, Akito’s interest is well and truly piqued. But Akito is torn: Should he permit himself to fall in love with her? As time passes, a change comes over him. With its cool, matter-of-fact tone, this account of the everyday life of the young pair is radiant with tenderness and fragile beauty. The ultimate story of pure, platonic love.
“With only 99 days left to live, I met you—someone else who can foresee other people’s deaths.”
➡ English synopsis and sample are available.
Volume 2 of Ao Morita’s “Not Much Time Left” series “With only 99 days left to live, I met you—someone else who can foresee other people’s deaths.”
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
paparback
Publication: 2022
Pub month: Jan.2022
ISBN 978-4-591-17237-7
Pages: 281
148mm x 105mm
FICTION
281 pages
Arata is a high school student with an uncanny ability: whenever he meets someone who is within 99 days of dying, he sees the number of days they have left floating as a figure above their heads. One day, he sees the same number floating above his own head and that of Kazuya, an old friend who, like him, belongs to the school’s book club. A girl called Mai Kurose then joins the book club. Quite by accident, Arata discovers that Mai, like him, has the ability to foresee death. Despite having given up on saving people from their fate, Arata now finds himself inspired by Mai, who is doing all she can to save him and Kazuya, and so he starts trying to help Kazuya and to prolong his own life as well. A truly touching story about the inestimable value of life.
Arata is a high school student with an uncanny ability: whenever he meets someone who is within 99 days of dying, he sees the number of days they have left floating as a figure above their heads. One day, he sees the same number floating above his own head and that of Kazuya, an old friend who, like him, belongs to the school’s book club. A girl called Mai Kurose then joins the book club. Quite by accident, Arata discovers that Mai, like him, has the ability to foresee death. Despite having given up on saving people from their fate, Arata now finds himself inspired by Mai, who is doing all she can to save him and Kazuya, and he starts trying to help Kazuya and to prolong his own life as well. A truly touching story about the inestimable value of life.
Volume 3 of Ao Morita’s “Not Much Time Left” series
High school senior Hikaru Sakimoto sends a group photo of his class to the “God of Death” out of curiosity and learns that he and Rina Asami, a popular girl, have only 88 days to live. Hikaru, who has no friends and feels he has already given up on life, is not depressed by the news, but he is curious as to why he is destined to die on the same day as the vivacious Rina Asami. When their paths cross at a local aquarium, the truth begins to unfold.
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
Publication: 2022
Pages: 282
FICTION
Ao Morita was born in Hokkaido. He won the grand prize in the short story contest of online fiction platform Line Novels in 2020 with Lord Death’s System. He made his debut as a print author with this series, which first appeared on online publishing site Shosetsuka ni Naro.
As rumours of the impending closure of a local department store begin to spread, its employees - the elevator “girl”, the concierge, the jewellery department floor manager - come together with the founder’s family to try to save the store, with the help of a resident white cat.
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
Publication: 2017
Pages: 452
FICTION
Literary
Rights sold
Italian (Garzanti)
Portuguese (Presenca)
Korean, Thai
Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
Original Title Ofudo Monogatari
Publisher PHP Institute
Pub Date 2016/9/20
ISBN 978-4569831084
Publisher: PHP Institute
Publication: 2016
Pages: 382
FICTION
Pages 382
World Rights Japan Uni Agency (US, UK, Europe and Latin America)
Rights Sold China, Korea, Taiwan
Materials Information sheet
Issei Tsukihara, an introverted young man working for Gingado Bookshop, has a gift for discovering hidden treasures. One day, a shoplifting incident leads to terrible consequences and Issei is held accountable and forced to quit. Heartbroken, he leaves town and visits Sakuranocho, where an old man runs a bookshop called Ofudolives. The unexpected encounter takes a serendipitous turn. Driven by a “gem” of a book discovered by Issei, his friends, ex-colleagues, and editors all work together to bring about a miracle.
Issei Tsukihara, an introverted young man working for Gingado Bookshop at a department store, is shy about communicating with people but has a gift for discovering hidden masterpieces and shedding light on them. The bookshop manager even calls him the “Treasure hunter” and trusts him.
Rights sold
Italian (Garzanti)
Korean, Simplified Chinese, Thai Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
However, one day a shoplifting incident leads to a terrible end where Issei is held accountable and later forced to quit the job. Heartbroken, he leaves the town and visits Sakuranocho, where an old man running a bookshop called Ofudo lives; Issei and the old man have known each other via the internet. An unexpected encounter awaits him. Driven by a “gem” of a book discovered by Issei, his friends, excolleagues, authors and editors all work together to bring a miracle.
vicki@vickisatlow.com
Publisher: Shogakukan
A 50-something woman and her black cat manage a unique coffee shop where she delights her customers by serving them food, tea, and magic spells.
One day, Ritsuko finds a helpless black cat on the roadside. She takes the poor thing home and cures it, when suddenly, the cat speaks to Ritsuko. When she was a little girl, Ritsuko had a cat named Melody that died of an illness and the black cat is Melody reincarnated.
Publication: 2023
By Saki MurayamaPages: 296
Sample translation by Emily Balistrieri
FICTION
*Omissions in the sample marked by “[…].”
Prologue: A Magical Beginning
Ritsuko has an unusual lamp in her home, given to her by a fortune teller friend who told her that a “genie” lives in it. Half-jokingly, Ritsuko asks the lamp to cure her terrible headache and that is when she meets the lamp’s genie. The genie then tells Ritsuko, “You are to pass away tonight. It cannot be undone.” Ritsuko accepts her fate, but Melody begs the genie to spare Ritsuko’s life in exchange for the cat’s. The genie agrees to spare both of them but on the condition they both become wizards.
The silvery late autumn rain poured softly down.
Ritsuko summons a giant flying car with her magical abilities, and embarks on a journey with Melody and the genie. They open a magical coffee shop where they can grant people happiness.
In the narrow little alley around the back of the shopping arcade near the station, irregularly shaped puddles formed here and there, and ripple after ripple vanished just as quickly as they appeared.
The chilly air was thick with the smells of rain and wet asphalt.
Usually Ritsuko would enjoy them, but today they seemed to be making her temples throb I suppose it’s because I’ve had a headache all day, she thought
Usually if she drank some strong milk tea, she would feel so much better it was as if she’d drunk a magic potion, but today it hadn’t worked Maybe it wasn’t as effective because I made the tea using the electric kettle at the office between tasks, not paying much attention? Because I used a tea bag and powdered creamer instead of taking the time to simmer it with milk?
When I get home, I’ll make it right. I’ll put on some quiet music and make hot milk tea.
I’ll put my favorite Keemun black tea in my little milk pan to simmer gently with tasty milk and freshly drawn water, plus sugar for sweetness. Tea giving off white steam and a sweet fragrance… Today I’ll drink it in a heated mug no, a latte bowl filled all the way up to the top.
When she imagined it, she could feel the lovely scent deep in her sinuses, and it eased her pain a little bit.
Born in Nagasaki, Saki Murayama (1963) made her literary debut with Small Eri, which won the Mainichi Children’s Books Award and the 4th HatojuMuku Children’s Books Award. Magic of the Mall was nominated for the Booksellers’ Award in 2018.
The story of a hardened criminal whose life changes when he meets Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. They work at a pastry shop where she teaches him a secret recipe for sweet bean paste. As their friendship flourishes, Tokue’s dark secret is revealed, leading to devastating consequences. A heartbreaking novel about kindness and acceptance.
Rights sold
English (Oneworld Publications)
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
Publication: 2013
Pages: 239
FICTION
Durian Sukegawa (1962- ) Born in Tokyo and grew up in Kobe Durian Sukegawa studied East Asian philosophy at Waseda University before going on to work as a reporter in Berlin and Cambodia in the early 1990s and a three-year period when he lived in New York City He has written a number of books and essays, TV programs and films The novel AN (Sweet Bean Paste) was cinematized by director Naomi Kawase, and it became the opening film at the 68th Cannes Festival in 2015 AN has also been translated and published in 14 countries including France, UK, Germany, Italy, Poland, Lebanon and Finland Awards for AN include the Domitys Awards and Le Prix des Lecteurs du Livre du Poche
Arabic (The Arab Cultural Center)
Bulgarian (Colibri Publisher)
Czech (Dobrovsky)
Estonian (Postimehe Kirjastus)
Finnish (Sammakko Publishing)
French (Albin Michel)
German (DuMont)
Hungarian (Muvelt Nep Konyvkiado)
Italian (Einaudi)
Polish (Jagiellonian University)
Portuguese (Leya)
Romanian (Alice Books)
Serbian (Vulkan Publishing)
Spanish (Chai Editora)
Indonesian, Korean, Simplified
Chinese
Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
A young boy forms a bond with an injured bird, a crow chick, which he cares for until forced to set it free. Meanwhile, the boy and his mother also struggle to survive in a society where the disadvantaged are treated without compassion.
Rights sold
Arabic (The Arab Cultural Center)
French (Albin Michel)
Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
Publication: 2018
Pages: 259
FICTION
vicki@vickisatlow.com
Ryôsuke follows in his father’s footsteps and settles on the remote Japanese island where he spent his last years. On this land renowned for its wild goats, he tries to realise his father’s dream: to make cheese. However his project clashes with local customs and arouses the anger of the islanders. Ryôsuke’s ordeal evokes the difficulty of finding one’s way, and poses an essential question: how far are we ready to go to realise our desires?
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
Publication: 2014
Pages: 340
FICTION
Rights sold
French (Albin Michel)
German (DuMont)
Italian (Einaudi)
Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
In the heart of Shinjuku where the local strays gather, cats and humans alike, an apprentice scriptwriter struggles to keep going. He encounters bar attendant Yume-chan, who is fond of stray cats, and cold to customers. Amidst the glow of Shinjuku nights, they share secrets and vow to keep a promise to each other. This story of crooked lives and throbbing poetry is set in a bewitching and now vanished Tokyo.
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
Publication: 2019
Pages: 250
FICTION
Rights sold
French (Albin Michel)
German (DuMont)
Italian (Einaudi)
Polish (Yumeka)
Thai
Durian Sukegawa (1962- ) Born in Tokyo and grew up in Kobe Durian Sukegawa studied East Asian philosophy at Waseda University before going on to work as a reporter in Berlin and Cambodia in the early 1990s and a three-year period when he lived in New York City He has written a number of books and essays, TV programs and films The novel AN (Sweet Bean Paste) was cinematized by director Naomi Kawase, and it became the opening film at the 68th Cannes Festival in 2015 AN has also been translated and published in 14 countries including France, UK, Germany, Italy, Poland, Lebanon and Finland Awards for AN include the Domitys Awards and Le Prix des Lecteurs du Livre du Poche
Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
A former white-collar worker, who has been homeless since his release from prison, discovers redemption through woodcutting, and reconnects with a daughter he never manages to meet through the legacy he leaves her. A novel about finding hope through connecting with others and nature.
Publisher: Shogakukan
Publication: 2019
Pages: 317
FICTION
Durian Sukegawa studied oriental philosophy at Waseda University, before going on to work as a reporter in Berlin and Cambodia in the early 1990s. He has written several books and essays, TV programmes and films. He lives in Tokyo.
The no. 1 Japanese bestseller and Guardian highlight 2021
Publisher: Poplar Publishing
Publication: 2017
Pages: 368
FICTION
In a tranquil neighborhood of Tokyo, seven teenagers wake to find their bedroom mirrors are shining. At a single touch, they are pulled from their lonely lives into to a wondrous castle filled with winding stairways, watchful portraits, and twinkling chandeliers. In this new sanctuary, they are confronted with a set of clues leading to a hidden room where one of them will be granted a wish. But there’s a catch: if they don’t leave by five o’clock, they will die. As time passes, a devastating truth emerges; only those brave enough to share their stories will be punished. Tender, playful, gripping, LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR is a mesmerizing tale about the importance of reaching out, confronting anxiety, and embracing human connection.
Rights sold
English (Transworld Publishers Ltd)
Bulgarian (Peppermill Books)
German (Carlsen Verlag)
Italian (DeA Planeta Libri S.r.l.)
Polish (We Need YA)
Portuguese - Brazil (Editora Morro Branco)
Serbian (Vulkan Publishing)
Spanish (Ediciones Urano)
Indonesian, Korean, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese
Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
Original Title Asa ga Kuru
Publisher Bungeishunju
292,460 copies sold
Pub Date 2018/9/4
ISBN 978-4167991333
Publisher: Bungeishunju
Publication: 2018
Pages: 358
FICTION
Pages 358
World Rights Japan Uni Agency (US, UK, Europe and Latin America)
Rights Sold China, Indonesia, Korea, Vietnam
Materials
Synopsis
After years of grueling fertility treatments yield no success, Kiyokazu and Satoko Kurihara turn to the plenary adoption system, welcoming a son, Asato, in their home. Six years later, the three have settled into a regular family routine when they receive an unexpected phone call from a woman named Hikari, demanding her child back. Kiyokazu and Satoko decide to meet Hikari, who gave birth at 14 years old. How can they deny her request?
Rights sold
Spanish (Ediciones Urano)
Indonesian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese
Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
After years of grueling fertility treatments yield no success, Kiyokazu and Satoko Kurihara turn to the plenary adoption system, welcoming a son, Asato, in their home. Six years later, the three have settled into a regular family routine when they receive an unexpected phone call from a woman named Hikari, demanding her child back. It transpires that she is Asato's biological mother, who gave birth to him when she was 14.
The plenary adoption system does not permit the biological mother to contact her child's adoptive family, and Hikari is pursued by the police. Kiyokazu and Satoko decide to meet Hikari nonetheless, and eventually, Satoko and Hikari decide to live their lives on the understanding that they are both Asato's mothers.
Original Title Kohaku no Natsu
Publisher Bungeishunju
65,650 copies sold
Pub Date 2021/6/9
ISBN 978-4163913803
Mizuki Tsujimura is one of Japan's most popular woman authors, and the insight with which she probes the issue of underage pregnancy and adoption, towards which deep-seated prejudice still remains in Japan, as she deftly traces the past of all three adults makes TRUE MOTHERS one of her best-known works. It has been adapted into a film by well-known director Naomi Kawase. The film was named as part of the Official Selection for the Cannes International Film Festival 2020.
What happens to the things we forget when we grow up?
Pages 552
Publisher: Bungeishunju
Publication: 2021
Pages: 552
FICTION
World Rights
Japan Uni Agency (US, UK, Europe and Latin America)
Rights Sold China, Korea, Thailand Materials Information sheet
The skeletal remains of a child are found on the grounds of Mirai School, which was once criticized as a cult. Noriko, a lawyer, wonders if the body belongs to a girl she knew. During elementary school she participated in the summer camp at Mirai School, where children lived away from their parents to foster independence, or, like Noriko, because they couldn’t do well at school. There Noriko met a girl who said they were “friends forever”. What if the girl had died? The doors open to the memory from 30 years ago, and childhood secrets are revealed.
What happens to the things which we forgot upon growing up? Where did the child, left behind in the sealed time, go?
Mizuki Tsujimura (1980 - ) Born in Yamanashi. After her literary debut in 2004, she won Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Award in 2011, the prestigious Naoki Award in 2012, and the Booksellers' Award in 2018 for LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR
Rights sold Spanish (Ediciones Urano)
A skeletal remains of a child was found on the ground of "Mirai School", which was once criticized as a cult.
Korean, Simplified Chinese, Thai Asian territories: Japan Uni Agency
Noriko, a lawyer, wonders if the body belongs to a girl she knew. During elementary school, she had participated in the summer camp at "Mirai School". There were children who lived away from their parents to foster independence, and Noriko, who couldn't do well at school, met a girl who said they were "friends forever". What if the girl had died?
The doors open to the memory from 30 years ago, and the friendship and sin of the childhood begin to pour out.
Mizuki Tsujimura (1980) made her literary debut in 2004 by winning the Mephisto Award for TSUMETAI KŌSHA NO TOKI WA TOMARU, a novel she first begun writing in high school. In 2011 she won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, and in 2012 she won the Naoki Prize for her story collection.
A new masterpiece by Tsujimura the last chapter will surely lead the readers to tears.
In this high concept novel, a young girl uses her ability to understand scent-based communication between plants and animals to fight widespread food shortages.
This epic fantasy is both a tale of biodiversity and the natural world, and the coming-of-age story of Aisha, a young girl exiled from her hometown, who has the extraordinary ability to understand the communication between insects and plants using her sense of smell. It is a wide-ranging story, drawing on allelopathy to depict the workings of ecosystems of which humans are a part, and touching on plague, food shortage, and environmental destruction.
Publisher: Bungeishunju
Publication: 2022
Volume One: 440 pages
Volume Two: 464 pages FICTION
Long ago, a living goddess from another world brought to the Umar Empire a miraculous grain, resistant to all pests and disease. Under the guidance of her successors, who are revered as the Kokun, the empire expanded and prospered by spreading cultivation to new territories. While the grain was far more nourishing than other crops, it became a monoculture wherever it was planted, carrying within it the seeds of a disaster that would manifest generations later.
Aisha is a young woman from a vassal state on the edge of the empire. She is gifted with the ability to intuit what plants and living creatures are experiencing by reading their scent. When Aisha’s grandfather falls from power as the state’s ruler, Aisha is rescued by Mashu, a government official who sends her to work with the current Kokun, the beautiful Orie. Several years later, swarms of mysterious insects descend upon Umar’s grain. Famine looms, threatening the balance of power. Aisha, Orie and Mashu race to uncover the secret of the grain and save their people.
Rights sold
English (Europa Editions)
Italian (E/O)
Spanish (Monogatari Media Editorial)
Asian territories: Bungeishunju
Nahoko Uehashi is JAPAN’S MOST ACCLAIMED FANTASY WRITER– winner of awards including the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award (2014), the Japan Bookseller’s Award, and a Michael L. Printz Award (2020). Her books have sold more than 11.5 million copies in Japan, been made into comics, animated series, a live action television series, and a radio play. Many of her children’s works have been translated and published overseas.
