平成猿蟹合戦図

by Shūichi Yoshida, 吉田修一

In the book, there are eight kindhearted protagonists. The waitress taking her baby to take a thousand miles of trip to look for her husband in the capital, the bartender witnessing a hit-and-run accident, the muddle-headed money boy, the woman determined to be the secretary to a politician, the world-level cellist, the club procuress, the art university girl whose father is sent to jail as a scapegoat, and the old granny living alone in Odate of Akita. They try hard to change their fate and embrace happiness with their negligible courage and belief.

504 pages, Tankobon Hardcover

First published September 7, 2011

About the author

Shūichi Yoshida (吉田 修一) was born in Nagasaki, and studied Business Administration at Hosei University. He won the Bungakukai Prize for New Writers in 1997 for his story "Saigo no Musuko", and the Akutagawa Prize in 2002 (the fifth time he'd been nominated for the prize) for "Park Life". In 2002 he also won the Yamamoto Prize for Parade, and for winning both literary and popular prizes Yoshida was seen as a crossover writer, like Amy Yamada or Masahiko Shimada. In 2003 he wrote lyrics for the song "Great Escape" on Tomoyasu Hotei's album Doberman. His 2007 novel Villain won the Osaragi Jiro Prize and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award, and was recently adapted into an award-winning 2010 film by Lee Sang-il.