Escaping Daily Life

The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami is a poignant contemporary Japanese fiction offering which I enjoyed.

We meet the inhabitants of the Nakano Thrift shop – Mr Nakano, his two assistants and his sister. The action is told in the first person through the eyes of the young female assistant, Hitomi. She is perceptive in her observations as we hear about her daily life.

We meet a few regulars, as well as accompanying some of the collection runs.