Archipelago of the Sun

Scattered All Over the Earth #3

by Yōko Tawada, Margaret Mitsutani (Translator)

In this concluding volume, intrepid Hiruko and her band of friends embark on a sea voyage in search of Hiruko’s lost island homeland – the Land of Sushi. The boat carrying the companions strikes east from Copenhagen across the Baltic Sea, but as it docks in coastal ports along the route, an array of mysterious characters boards the vessel.

Deeply inventive, poignant and sublime, Archipelago of the Sun is yet another masterful novel by the grande dame of Japanese literature.

Genres: Fiction, Japan, Novels, Japanese Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2022

About the author

Yōko Tawada (多和田葉子 Tawada Yōko, born March 23, 1960) is a Japanese writer currently living in Berlin, Germany. She writes in both Japanese and German.

Tawada was born in Tokyo, received her undergraduate education at Waseda University in 1982 with a major in Russian literature, then studied at Hamburg University where she received a master's degree in contemporary German literature. She received her doctorate in German literature at the University of Zurich. In 1987 she published Nur da wo du bist da ist nichts—Anata no iru tokoro dake nani mo nai (A Void Only Where You Are), a collection of poems in a German and Japanese bilingual edition.

Tawada's Missing Heels received the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 1991, and The Bridegroom Was a Dog received the Akutagawa Prize in 1993. In 1999 she became writer-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for four months. Her Suspect on the Night Train won the Tanizaki Prize and Ito Sei Literary Prize in 2003.

Tawada received the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize in 1996, a German award to foreign writers in recognition of their contribution to German culture, and the Goethe Medal in 2005.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[George H · Rating 1 out of 5]

I worry the series lost its wit in its final entry.

It's not to say I didn't enjoy parts of this book, but it had all the stuff of a failure: undeveloped characters, a contrived plot (once again) filled with lazy explanations, and a weak end that leaves us in the same place as the start of the book.

But maybe I was too hard on the series. I was first sold by its promise rather than it's content.

This time, the group hops on a boat to travel to Japan, but they go through the Baltic Sea, which in no way attaches to Japan. For the entire book, they stay on the boat, while exploring some port cities along the way. They seemed to have suffered a mysterious collective illness that caused them all to forget why they traveled who's way, rather than heading south around Africa.

On the boat, they meet some interesting figures, and most exciting, hear stories about a mythical region that sounded quite like Japan.

The narrative is incredibly slow moving with the same gripes as the first: poorly handled trans-narrative I really wanted to support, characters operating like their country's caricatures, and conversations that leap from topic to topic, grazing the surface of insight from great writers and thinkers of history, without ever saying anything unique. I came into the series for its ruminations on linguistics, and although some interesting conversations occurred, it was stymied but a weak foundation.

When the story finally picked up around the 3/4ths mark, I had nearly convinced myself that it finally got its legs and was ready to impress me, only to fumble it at the end. I did, however, appreciate finally getting Susanoo's perspective. Lol he gay.

When it came to character's interpersonal relationships, it felt like everyone had been "reset" and no further development occurred. The first and second book had a complex nuance to Knut's involvement with both Hiruko and Akash, which was completely sidelined. Nothing further was explored between Nanook and Nora, despite their relationship deteriorating from the first book, and Nora started talking with a worker on the boat, which led to absolutely nothing.

Plus, the script seemed to have been lost with whether Japan was real or not in public consciousness. The first book went to great lengths to divise alternate etymologies for Japanese exports like sushi, while this boom casually mentioned Uniqlo as a potentially Japanese brand. This late in the series, I don't think the intention was to have the reader question the core plot.

Also, found it funny that basically all of them want to spoink Knut.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5 / rounding up because I really liked the series as a whole)

The first book I read in 2025 was Suggested in the Stars, which is the second book in a trilogy by Tawada (I'd read the first book back in 2022), so it feels fitting that I closed the year out with this one, which is the third of the trilogy. This was also interesting to read after having recently read Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders: in that novel, one of the characters is a grad student getting a PhD in literature, and that character spends some time thinking about the structures of stories and the artificiality of plot arcs: "The only structure that really approximates our lives as we know them is the episodic, the picaresque, the travelogue." And Archipelago of the Sun is definitely an episodic travelogue, in which the six characters from the previous books are on a mail boat hopping from port to port on the Baltic Sea, trying to get to Japan, where two of the characters are from and which may or may not have disappeared. Near the end of the book, Hiruko, one of the Japanese characters, thinks about the experience of being "on a journey without knowing where we were going or how we'd get there," which of course is what life is.

As with the other two books in the trilogy, each chapter in this one consists of first-person narration by one of the characters; some characters get more than one chapter, while others just get one, but all of the chapters are a delight, and themes of identity and language recur throughout the book, as they did in the previous two volumes. The idea of home and homeland come up a lot in this one, and as with the other books, myth and legend keep popping up too. I love the associative flow of the conversations the characters have, like when a view of chalk cliffs leads to a conversation that starts with blackboards and ends up with them considering the number of suicides per year in various countries at various times, or when a slice of pineapple on a dessert plate leads to a string of images it makes Hiruko think of, followed by a conversation about her feelings about being called "you" versus being called by her name.

[Jessica DiBartolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yoko Tawada somehow managed to put a cozy spin on dystopian fiction with her 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 trilogy. These books bring a playful energy you don't typically get from a genre that's known for being eerie and foreboding. As a big fan of dystopian stories, I enjoyed this unexpected change of pace.

𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘯 is the final book in a trilogy that follows a group of friends as they journey to find out what happened to Hiruko's homeland, which they refer to as the Land of Sushi. The series takes place in a future where climate refugees--like Hiruko--are people displaced from their homelands due to rising sea levels.

I found myself glued to this story, but not because I was anxiously seeking the answer to the question about Japan's fate. I could easily follow this group for several more books without ever reaching that destination simply to bear witness to their thoughtful conversations about linguistics.

The characters in this story come from Denmark, Germany, Greenland, India, and Japan, and we get to read chapters from each of their perspectives. The language spoken at any given moment depends on which friends are included in the conversation. They frequently switch between Danish, English, German, Japanese, and Panska (a language Hiruko invented while living in Denmark), sometimes speaking multiple languages within a single conversation in order to help certain members of the group better understand the topic at hand.

I was uplifted by these characters, who draw inspiration from seemingly simple things and remain curious despite their grim circumstances. Who knew this genre could offer such a heartening experience?

[RJ Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely end to a lovely trilogy. this continues the ideas of the first two but brings them to a more abstract form. myth and reality blend as long dead artists appear on our travelers boat. language and identity are explored, one characters conclusion being a house and another’s a bird. so much room for joy and play exists within these characters (even the curmudgeon susanoo) that misunderstandings become an opportunity for exploration.

really love this series. i love how readable they are while presenting so many ideas. i love how incredible the translation work is, really astonishing at times. these have meant a lot to me since i read scattered all over the earth and we are all lucky to be able to read tawadas work <3

[Jonathan Hawpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the completion of Tawada's Earth/Stars/Sun trilogy it is clear that she's written quite a substantial piece of literature; one that carefully investigates and deeply resonates with its time and place. In a style melding magical realism with delicate satire she gives us a future of rising oceans, disintegrating cultures and confused pilgrims which beautifully illustrates universal conundrums, social bugaboos and political foibles, as well as humanity's strength, compassion and ingenuity. It is that rare novel with a whole lot to say, intelligence equal to its wit, and not a scrap of pretension in sight. 10/10

[Rhiannon Cornelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars, because I LOVED the overall series SO MUCH. if I think of it as one stories it’s 3 3/4 stars.

This last installment is a campfire snuffed out at 3am, just when the stars are starting to get brighter. Just when the meteors are falling!!

Three vivid, gorgeous and strange books— the ending is. Soft. Squishy. Perhaps squishier than I was hoping for, but it’s gentle in nature which feels Right. Much to think on.

[Annette Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third and final volume in the Scattered Over The Earth trilogy but don't worry if you haven't read the other two (I hadn’t), this one stands alone - there's a plot summary at the beginning and things are explained throughout.
It's a strange and weirdly wonderful dystopian climate change story but with so much more in it: literary, geographical and historical references abound and the nature of friendship, language, citizenship and even lfe itself is explored.

[angelina · Rating 1 out of 5]

all the lustful beauty of book one was striped away and bogged down by preachy exposition. maybe the wonders of this installment went over my head, but it was a slog to get through with pages upon chapters of seemingly useless and banal conversations between friends whose connection I once found intricate and peaceful. when the unsaid is declared loudly, have we lost something? (yes)

[Michael]

I'm so sad it's over

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Passengers on a boat discuss languages and cultures. Nothing happens.