And what a captivating view it is. Here are 27 short stories set in Japan -- elegantly minimalist musings on society, humanity and relationships. Perfect for train reading, some of these bonsai tales can be read between stations, the jolt of stopping coinciding with a sudden recognition, that epiphanic moment when a character and the reader are caught off guard by an unexpected moment of truth.
Donald Richie crafts understated, austerely honed tales about the pathologies of contemporary Japan. We catch glimpses of homeless, jobless, clueless characters, of unrequited love, noisy neighbors, and discrimination. There are stories about the sacred overlapping the profane and the anxieties of looming social sanctions. More about lost and mistaken identities, missed, confused and misunderstood communications. Even a Santa in crisis. Here the quotidian is exhumed from unexpected angles, evoking a Japan rich in paradox with whiffs of Zen koan.
Confronted by the influx of foreigners, Mrs. Shirai comfortably shifts her animus from the familiar Koreans to the more unpleasant unknown. "Observing these new events she gained a number of new prejudices. But in doing so she lost one of the old. She was seen to be shopping at the Korean green-grocer's."