A look at recent best-seller lists reveals several familiar faces. "Eien no Ko," a two-volume novel about the long-term effects of child abuse, is back with the broadcasting of a TV dramatization (Monday nights on NTV). There's another mystery by Nishimura Kyotaro and a book for improving one's English, "Kore-o Eigo-de Iemasu-ka?"
The cheerful account of overcoming adversity by the wheelchair-bound Ototake Hirotada, "Gotai Fumanzoku," is still on the list after a year and a half, and an English translation is also available, "No One's Perfect." Now Kodansha seems to have another such inspiring megaseller in "Dakara, Anata-mo Ikinuite" by Ohira Mitsuyo. The author attempted suicide in junior high school and spent six years as a yakuza woman until she met her new foster father and passed the bar exam at the age of 29. She is now a lawyer specializing in juvenile cases.
The two Murakamis, Murakami Haruki and Murakami Ryu, are also back on the best-seller list, the former with a well-regarded volume of short stories and the latter with a timely novel.