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Mistress Koharu
An obsessive Tokyoite Pygmalion—thrilling and provocative literary fiction from a leading Japanese author.
Akira, a meticulous editor at a major publishing house in Tokyo, harbors a he lives with Koharu, a Hungarian-made love doll. Each night, he speaks to her and finds a long-sought solace in her presence—a comfort he cannot attain even in the arms of real women in his life. Things only improve when Koharu breaks free from her role as a love doll and starts speaking and moving on her own, transformed into the perfect wife.
But when a new woman enters Akira's life, everything changes. A single confession to Koharu about his attraction sets off a chain of disturbing events that spiral into the unexpected.
Akira, a meticulous editor at a major publishing house in Tokyo, harbors a he lives with Koharu, a Hungarian-made love doll. Each night, he speaks to her and finds a long-sought solace in her presence—a comfort he cannot attain even in the arms of real women in his life. Things only improve when Koharu breaks free from her role as a love doll and starts speaking and moving on her own, transformed into the perfect wife.
But when a new woman enters Akira's life, everything changes. A single confession to Koharu about his attraction sets off a chain of disturbing events that spiral into the unexpected.
231 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2022
About the author
Noboru Tsujihara
10 books6 followersNoboru Tsujihara (辻原 登 Tsujihara Noboru?, born 1945) is a prize-winning Japanese Novelist.
1990 Akutagawa Prize for Mura no namae (村の名前, A Village's Name)[1]
1999 Yomiuri Prize for Tobe kirin (Fly, Kirin!)
2000 Tanizaki Prize for Yudotei Enboku (遊動亭円木)
2005 Kawabata Yasunari Prize for Kareha no naka no aoi honoo (枯葉の中の青い炎, Blue Flames Among the Dry Leaves)
(from Wikipedia)
1990 Akutagawa Prize for Mura no namae (村の名前, A Village's Name)[1]
1999 Yomiuri Prize for Tobe kirin (Fly, Kirin!)
2000 Tanizaki Prize for Yudotei Enboku (遊動亭円木)
2005 Kawabata Yasunari Prize for Kareha no naka no aoi honoo (枯葉の中の青い炎, Blue Flames Among the Dry Leaves)
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 16, 2026
Noburu Tsujihara’s multi-layered novel revolves around Akira a harried office worker in his late thirties. His life and pursuits are fairly mundane, he inhabits a small Tokyo apartment, his hobbies are goldfish and driving. He’s long since resigned himself to being single but he’s increasingly stressed and in need of companionship. He visits a gallery specialising in love dolls (rabu dōru) where he buys an unusual, Hungarian-made doll he names Koharu. Koharu becomes both sexual outlet and someone Akira relies on for emotional support. He carefully tends to her, hurrying home from work to talk about his day. When Koharu starts to reply, Akira’s more grateful than startled.
Akira’s relationships with “women” are wholly transactional, apart from Koharu, he has an ongoing arrangement with local bar owner Chikako, once a week they meet for sex and Akira leaves a cash gift in exchange. Akira’s unaware he’s someone else’s object of desire, Kyoko a woman who’s been stalking him for two years. She’s installed herself in an apartment building across from his so she can spy on him, inspired by her fascination with Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Frustratingly, Kyoko’s unable to identify the “pet” Akira seems to be keeping in his bedroom. Meanwhile Koharu starts to venture outside, keeping tabs on Akira and the women he meets.
Tsujihara steers clear of the salacious, his novel often has a distanced, docu-style feel: the layout of bars, cafes, his characters’ movements through Tokyo are recounted with forensic precision. Someone reading this when it first appeared could use it to navigate various Tokyo neighbourhoods. Tsujihara’s story shifts between characters moving from Akira to Koharu, Kyoko and Chikako. His digressive, highly referential narrative features copious discussions of film and literature; a society of paranormal fans who congregate at Chikako’s bar swap stories about cryptids and strange events indirectly framing Koharu’s sudden transformation. The barriers between reality and fantasy are increasingly uncertain, as is that between genres. Each character carefully guards personal secrets leading to a segment involving Chikako which, in style and content, closely resembles the work of crime writer Seichō Matsumoto.
Conversations between Akira and an old friend touch on the cultural history of life-like dolls from artist Oscar Kokoschka’s infamous Alma doll modelled on his former lover to the eerie Hoffmann tale that inspired Coppélia through to Freud’s theory of the uncanny. Interestingly an account of the significance of dolls in Japanese culture is more or less absent. Distinctions between the inanimate and the animate can be porous, in Japanese culture dolls are frequently linked to the ceremonial and the sacred, companies who make or sell love dolls have even been known to perform funeral rites for discarded dolls before disposal. Moreover, Tsujihara often seems to be reworking fiction by Japanese authors from Tanizaki’s tales of doll-like women to Edogawa Rampo’s classic doll-love stories – notably “A Brute’s Love.”
Through his character’s interconnecting experiences, Tsujihara constructs a critique of contemporary Japanese society. Akira reads like a version of the so-called herbivore men (sōshoku-kei) whose failure to perform conventional masculinity, or marry and reproduce, has been blamed for Japan’s falling birthrates. The behaviour and relative isolation of characters like Chikako and Akira reinforce anxieties around growing urban alienation and anomie. Kyoko’s obsession with Akira is represented as a consequence of fangirling and idol worship in Japan - Tsujihara conveniently ignores the fact that Japanese women are far more likely to be stalked than become stalkers, an acknowledged issue in Japan. However, Tsujihara’s critique is relatively superficial, instead he crosses over into the realms of horror. The newly-independent Koharu becomes fiercely possessive, jealous of anyone or anything that might come between her and Akira. Her actions strongly reminiscent of the vengeful female ghosts or onryō of Japanese myth and legend. But her wrath isn’t directed at the man who’s wronged her but at other women. A development that underlines the questionable gender politics at the heart of Tsujihara’s novel.
Akira is represented as hapless, weak-willed, slightly deluded, his objectification of women, his focus on his own sexual pleasure reinforced by his use of Koharu isn’t presented as remarkable in any way – perhaps because Japanese men forming relationships with love dolls is a widely-reported phenomenon. But Tsujihara’s women are portrayed as duplicitous, manipulative and, in more than one instance, murderous. Kyoko’s interest in Akira is founded in his economic and social prospects, he’s decent marriage material, she closely resembles stereotypes of carnivorous women (Nikushoku-kei no josei) for whom men are prey. I also found it hard not to compare Koharu to Bae Doona’s Nozomi in Kore-eda’s Air Doll. Nozomi’s situation with her owner is markedly similar to Koharu’s with Akira. But, when she comes to life, the stress is on Nozomi’s developing sense of self, her rejection of male exploitation, and attempt at autonomy – akin to Ibsen’s Nora’s refusal to stay a doll-child. But Koharu’s depicted as having no goals beyond keeping her man, intent on wiping out the competition so she can remain his substitute “dutiful wife.” And her redeeming act is one of equally dutiful self-sacrifice reinstating patriarchal norms. Another striking feature is Koharu’s status as monstrous “other,” her Eastern European origins are highlighted throughout, forcefully reasserted at the end of the novel. This, and the emphasis on European doll stories, suggests Tsujihara’s attributing many of Japanese society’s problems to outside, specifically Western influences. So, an intriguing, readable even informative piece but, for me at least, unbalanced and highly problematic. Translated by Kalau Almony.
Rating: 2/2.5
Akira’s relationships with “women” are wholly transactional, apart from Koharu, he has an ongoing arrangement with local bar owner Chikako, once a week they meet for sex and Akira leaves a cash gift in exchange. Akira’s unaware he’s someone else’s object of desire, Kyoko a woman who’s been stalking him for two years. She’s installed herself in an apartment building across from his so she can spy on him, inspired by her fascination with Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Frustratingly, Kyoko’s unable to identify the “pet” Akira seems to be keeping in his bedroom. Meanwhile Koharu starts to venture outside, keeping tabs on Akira and the women he meets.
Tsujihara steers clear of the salacious, his novel often has a distanced, docu-style feel: the layout of bars, cafes, his characters’ movements through Tokyo are recounted with forensic precision. Someone reading this when it first appeared could use it to navigate various Tokyo neighbourhoods. Tsujihara’s story shifts between characters moving from Akira to Koharu, Kyoko and Chikako. His digressive, highly referential narrative features copious discussions of film and literature; a society of paranormal fans who congregate at Chikako’s bar swap stories about cryptids and strange events indirectly framing Koharu’s sudden transformation. The barriers between reality and fantasy are increasingly uncertain, as is that between genres. Each character carefully guards personal secrets leading to a segment involving Chikako which, in style and content, closely resembles the work of crime writer Seichō Matsumoto.
Conversations between Akira and an old friend touch on the cultural history of life-like dolls from artist Oscar Kokoschka’s infamous Alma doll modelled on his former lover to the eerie Hoffmann tale that inspired Coppélia through to Freud’s theory of the uncanny. Interestingly an account of the significance of dolls in Japanese culture is more or less absent. Distinctions between the inanimate and the animate can be porous, in Japanese culture dolls are frequently linked to the ceremonial and the sacred, companies who make or sell love dolls have even been known to perform funeral rites for discarded dolls before disposal. Moreover, Tsujihara often seems to be reworking fiction by Japanese authors from Tanizaki’s tales of doll-like women to Edogawa Rampo’s classic doll-love stories – notably “A Brute’s Love.”
Through his character’s interconnecting experiences, Tsujihara constructs a critique of contemporary Japanese society. Akira reads like a version of the so-called herbivore men (sōshoku-kei) whose failure to perform conventional masculinity, or marry and reproduce, has been blamed for Japan’s falling birthrates. The behaviour and relative isolation of characters like Chikako and Akira reinforce anxieties around growing urban alienation and anomie. Kyoko’s obsession with Akira is represented as a consequence of fangirling and idol worship in Japan - Tsujihara conveniently ignores the fact that Japanese women are far more likely to be stalked than become stalkers, an acknowledged issue in Japan. However, Tsujihara’s critique is relatively superficial, instead he crosses over into the realms of horror. The newly-independent Koharu becomes fiercely possessive, jealous of anyone or anything that might come between her and Akira. Her actions strongly reminiscent of the vengeful female ghosts or onryō of Japanese myth and legend. But her wrath isn’t directed at the man who’s wronged her but at other women. A development that underlines the questionable gender politics at the heart of Tsujihara’s novel.
Akira is represented as hapless, weak-willed, slightly deluded, his objectification of women, his focus on his own sexual pleasure reinforced by his use of Koharu isn’t presented as remarkable in any way – perhaps because Japanese men forming relationships with love dolls is a widely-reported phenomenon. But Tsujihara’s women are portrayed as duplicitous, manipulative and, in more than one instance, murderous. Kyoko’s interest in Akira is founded in his economic and social prospects, he’s decent marriage material, she closely resembles stereotypes of carnivorous women (Nikushoku-kei no josei) for whom men are prey. I also found it hard not to compare Koharu to Bae Doona’s Nozomi in Kore-eda’s Air Doll. Nozomi’s situation with her owner is markedly similar to Koharu’s with Akira. But, when she comes to life, the stress is on Nozomi’s developing sense of self, her rejection of male exploitation, and attempt at autonomy – akin to Ibsen’s Nora’s refusal to stay a doll-child. But Koharu’s depicted as having no goals beyond keeping her man, intent on wiping out the competition so she can remain his substitute “dutiful wife.” And her redeeming act is one of equally dutiful self-sacrifice reinstating patriarchal norms. Another striking feature is Koharu’s status as monstrous “other,” her Eastern European origins are highlighted throughout, forcefully reasserted at the end of the novel. This, and the emphasis on European doll stories, suggests Tsujihara’s attributing many of Japanese society’s problems to outside, specifically Western influences. So, an intriguing, readable even informative piece but, for me at least, unbalanced and highly problematic. Translated by Kalau Almony.
Rating: 2/2.5
February 12, 2026
Longlisted for the 2026 Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize
Mistress Koharu (2025) is Kalau Almony’s translation of a 2022 novel by Noburu Tsujihara.
This is the September 2025 book from the brilliant Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club, which raises funds that support the UKs most exciting annual book prize, as well as showcasing a collection of books from the vibrant small independent press scene. It is published by Honford Star, and is their entry to the 2026 Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize, the rebrand of the Republic of Consciousness Prize.
As Almony’s highly informative Translator’s Note makes clear, this required far more research than would be typical due to its unusual use of “obsessive citation” - see below.
The subject matter is also striking as the eponymous Koharu is a live-sized and top-of-the-range love doll.
The central character of the novel is Akira. Turning 40, he works in the editorial department of a large publishing house, and lives alone in an apartment. He has a form of friends-with-benefits relationship with the owner of his favourite bar, visiting her flat once a month for intense sex (techniques she learned at the hand of a Michael Hutchence to her Kylie before having a brief porn career), and, rather to her disturbance, leaving her money afterwards. But his daily and most-nightly companion is Koharu.
Akira graduated as a literature major from the humanities department of his university, with his undergraduate thesis on Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the playwright of bunraku puppet theater and kabuki plays. Even before this doll arrived, he had decided that he would call her Koharu—the name of the heroine of Chikamatsu’s The Love Suicides at Amijima.
After he began living with Koharu, Akira made a discovery. Something unrelated to the workings of sex, something to do with sleep.
The expression “Dutch wife,” the predecessor of the term “love doll,” came from Dutch-occupied Indonesia, where Dutchmen sought to improve their troubled sleep in the hot tropical nights by sleeping with body pillows made of bamboo. These “bamboo wives” inspired the name of the dolls later made for sex. And what Akira discovered was that, when he slept spooning with Koharu, she served to drastically improve his sleep.
In the opening pages of the novel we are taken on an almost Sebaldian chain of association that takes in the manga artist Tsuge Yoshiharu, a 20 year old essay collection by Tomioka Taeko “Personal Life and the i-novel”, the Gregory Peck film “In Cape Fear”, the (real-life) Orient Industries, and traditional Hungarian Mayto embroidery - with detailed references on each - and indeed it’s that chain of association, rather than his single-status libido, that we are led to believe led Akira to purchase and live with the doll.
This is a novel where if a character walks down from A to B every notable building they pass is described including some facts about it. The restaurants/cafes/bars featured (and all of the characters’ social lives seem to revolve around these) are real places, again described in detail. And references to books, movies etc also abound. Almony’s translators afterword comments:
“Mistress Koharu is full of evocative images, and the plot is thrilling. But it is the book’s obsessive citation that links everything together. All the references trace out the characters and the world they live in, both physical and cultural. They also provide the reader a seemingly infinite selection of overlapping paths to wander, each offering a new view of something in the text you thought you understood.
My job as translator then was to recreate this map in all its glorious excessiveness. I had to capture to the best of my ability this wide range of references and make them legible to an English-language reader, to give them the tools to peel back the layers of reference and see what they can find in this strange nesting doll of a book. The references didn’t need to be (in fact they shouldn’t be) too blatant. That would rob the reader of the mystery and the opportunity to explore. But they did need to be there and be accessible enough to be found with some effort.”
As just one example - plucked randomly from the pages - a scene where “he was distracted by a red diesel engine pulling a line of green gasoline tankers” would have (more than) sufficed, becomes:
A brick red diesel engine pulling a long line of green Taki 1000 gasoline tankers slowly approached on a freight track. It was a freight train commonly known as the Beitan, carrying jet fuel from the US Navy Fuels Distribution Center south of Anzen Station to the Yokota Base.
Since the railway lines at the US Navy Fuels Distribution Center were not electrified, only diesel trains could make that leg of the trip. So here at Anzen Station, the load would be transferred to an electric train. The Beitan, now filled with jet fuel, would be pulled by an electric train from Anzen Station, along the Nambu Line from Hama-Kawasaki Freight Station, then along the Musashino Freight Line, rejoin the Nambu Line at Fuchu Honcho, and then passing through Haijima Station, arrive at Yokota Base. About half of the Musashino Freight Line runs underground, passing through tunnels below the Tama Hills, and whether on a street map or trainline map appears as a dotted line.
In many respects it is very effective - it creates atmosphere and perhaps also reflects the obsessive nature of almost every character in the book (one mental accuses Akira of mansplaining when he gives her the detailed history of some tea ceramics, but she is the same person who is compiling the exhaustive dictionary of every bar and restaurant in the area).
And it is done to such an extent it moves beyond mere exposition to an art. Although for this reader at least there were too many references to make the effort suggested to peel them back and explore - so whether I missed some key elements I am unsure.
The thrilling plot (per Almony) can end up taking a little of a backseat. But this is a complex - and violent - life quadrilateral with Akira juggling, and seemingly oblivious to the mutual resentment this might cause, relationships with Koharu, the bar owner and (the one where he is being manipulated) a woman (a freelance film subtitler by profession) he meets at the bar, but who has actually been stalking him for months, even moving to a flat where she could spy on him with binoculars (although she never managed to see Koharu in action).
And Koharu herself is not a passive observer in this. From the first pages, and something that slightly surprises Akira but he shrugs off, she turns out to be capable of limited speech and movement - and in a sentient not mechanical fashion. And unknown to Akira - although again he doesn’t seem as spooked as he should - she has been actually leaving the apartment when he is at work to spy on him and his female companions.
And with a stalker, at least four murders or attempted murders (from more than one character) and sexual blackmail from another bar denizen, there is enough here for the richest of Hollywood scripts - which in his book would be subtitled into Japanese by the stalker, and then discussed in detail with reference to the lead character’s and director’s filmographies by the others.
If I had a concern with the plot it is the gender politics: while Akira is ultimately at the centre of the tangle, it can come across as one ordinary man and three crazy women (or two crazy women and a crazy love-doll).
She stared at Akira’s paling face and said, “Viszlát, kedvesem,” goodbye, my dear, and returned to the burning room.
A fascinatingly different novel, if frustrating at times. 3.5 stars rounded to 4 for the distinctiveness.
The publisher - Honford Star
Honford Star is committed to bridging literary worlds, celebrating the richness of East Asian literature. Our goal is to respect the authenticity and diversity of these narratives, bringing them to a global audience through collaborative partnerships with skilled translators, artists, and designers.
Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize judge Marina Benjamin writes:
Noboru Tsjuhara is a celebrated voice in Japan and his first novel to be translated into English is a feast of clever cultural references and twisty plotting. A four-square play for power and love, it subjects a salaryman who fancies himself a philosopher and cineaste to the singular pursuit of three women—one of them a vivified sex-doll. It is a novel that circles headily around desire and frustration, intellect and attraction, and the cruelties of love.
Mistress Koharu (2025) is Kalau Almony’s translation of a 2022 novel by Noburu Tsujihara.
This is the September 2025 book from the brilliant Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club, which raises funds that support the UKs most exciting annual book prize, as well as showcasing a collection of books from the vibrant small independent press scene. It is published by Honford Star, and is their entry to the 2026 Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize, the rebrand of the Republic of Consciousness Prize.
As Almony’s highly informative Translator’s Note makes clear, this required far more research than would be typical due to its unusual use of “obsessive citation” - see below.
The subject matter is also striking as the eponymous Koharu is a live-sized and top-of-the-range love doll.
The central character of the novel is Akira. Turning 40, he works in the editorial department of a large publishing house, and lives alone in an apartment. He has a form of friends-with-benefits relationship with the owner of his favourite bar, visiting her flat once a month for intense sex (techniques she learned at the hand of a Michael Hutchence to her Kylie before having a brief porn career), and, rather to her disturbance, leaving her money afterwards. But his daily and most-nightly companion is Koharu.
Akira graduated as a literature major from the humanities department of his university, with his undergraduate thesis on Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the playwright of bunraku puppet theater and kabuki plays. Even before this doll arrived, he had decided that he would call her Koharu—the name of the heroine of Chikamatsu’s The Love Suicides at Amijima.
After he began living with Koharu, Akira made a discovery. Something unrelated to the workings of sex, something to do with sleep.
The expression “Dutch wife,” the predecessor of the term “love doll,” came from Dutch-occupied Indonesia, where Dutchmen sought to improve their troubled sleep in the hot tropical nights by sleeping with body pillows made of bamboo. These “bamboo wives” inspired the name of the dolls later made for sex. And what Akira discovered was that, when he slept spooning with Koharu, she served to drastically improve his sleep.
In the opening pages of the novel we are taken on an almost Sebaldian chain of association that takes in the manga artist Tsuge Yoshiharu, a 20 year old essay collection by Tomioka Taeko “Personal Life and the i-novel”, the Gregory Peck film “In Cape Fear”, the (real-life) Orient Industries, and traditional Hungarian Mayto embroidery - with detailed references on each - and indeed it’s that chain of association, rather than his single-status libido, that we are led to believe led Akira to purchase and live with the doll.
This is a novel where if a character walks down from A to B every notable building they pass is described including some facts about it. The restaurants/cafes/bars featured (and all of the characters’ social lives seem to revolve around these) are real places, again described in detail. And references to books, movies etc also abound. Almony’s translators afterword comments:
“Mistress Koharu is full of evocative images, and the plot is thrilling. But it is the book’s obsessive citation that links everything together. All the references trace out the characters and the world they live in, both physical and cultural. They also provide the reader a seemingly infinite selection of overlapping paths to wander, each offering a new view of something in the text you thought you understood.
My job as translator then was to recreate this map in all its glorious excessiveness. I had to capture to the best of my ability this wide range of references and make them legible to an English-language reader, to give them the tools to peel back the layers of reference and see what they can find in this strange nesting doll of a book. The references didn’t need to be (in fact they shouldn’t be) too blatant. That would rob the reader of the mystery and the opportunity to explore. But they did need to be there and be accessible enough to be found with some effort.”
As just one example - plucked randomly from the pages - a scene where “he was distracted by a red diesel engine pulling a line of green gasoline tankers” would have (more than) sufficed, becomes:
A brick red diesel engine pulling a long line of green Taki 1000 gasoline tankers slowly approached on a freight track. It was a freight train commonly known as the Beitan, carrying jet fuel from the US Navy Fuels Distribution Center south of Anzen Station to the Yokota Base.
Since the railway lines at the US Navy Fuels Distribution Center were not electrified, only diesel trains could make that leg of the trip. So here at Anzen Station, the load would be transferred to an electric train. The Beitan, now filled with jet fuel, would be pulled by an electric train from Anzen Station, along the Nambu Line from Hama-Kawasaki Freight Station, then along the Musashino Freight Line, rejoin the Nambu Line at Fuchu Honcho, and then passing through Haijima Station, arrive at Yokota Base. About half of the Musashino Freight Line runs underground, passing through tunnels below the Tama Hills, and whether on a street map or trainline map appears as a dotted line.
In many respects it is very effective - it creates atmosphere and perhaps also reflects the obsessive nature of almost every character in the book (one mental accuses Akira of mansplaining when he gives her the detailed history of some tea ceramics, but she is the same person who is compiling the exhaustive dictionary of every bar and restaurant in the area).
And it is done to such an extent it moves beyond mere exposition to an art. Although for this reader at least there were too many references to make the effort suggested to peel them back and explore - so whether I missed some key elements I am unsure.
The thrilling plot (per Almony) can end up taking a little of a backseat. But this is a complex - and violent - life quadrilateral with Akira juggling, and seemingly oblivious to the mutual resentment this might cause, relationships with Koharu, the bar owner and (the one where he is being manipulated) a woman (a freelance film subtitler by profession) he meets at the bar, but who has actually been stalking him for months, even moving to a flat where she could spy on him with binoculars (although she never managed to see Koharu in action).
And Koharu herself is not a passive observer in this. From the first pages, and something that slightly surprises Akira but he shrugs off, she turns out to be capable of limited speech and movement - and in a sentient not mechanical fashion. And unknown to Akira - although again he doesn’t seem as spooked as he should - she has been actually leaving the apartment when he is at work to spy on him and his female companions.
And with a stalker, at least four murders or attempted murders (from more than one character) and sexual blackmail from another bar denizen, there is enough here for the richest of Hollywood scripts - which in his book would be subtitled into Japanese by the stalker, and then discussed in detail with reference to the lead character’s and director’s filmographies by the others.
If I had a concern with the plot it is the gender politics: while Akira is ultimately at the centre of the tangle, it can come across as one ordinary man and three crazy women (or two crazy women and a crazy love-doll).
She stared at Akira’s paling face and said, “Viszlát, kedvesem,” goodbye, my dear, and returned to the burning room.
A fascinatingly different novel, if frustrating at times. 3.5 stars rounded to 4 for the distinctiveness.
The publisher - Honford Star
Honford Star is committed to bridging literary worlds, celebrating the richness of East Asian literature. Our goal is to respect the authenticity and diversity of these narratives, bringing them to a global audience through collaborative partnerships with skilled translators, artists, and designers.
Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize judge Marina Benjamin writes:
Noboru Tsjuhara is a celebrated voice in Japan and his first novel to be translated into English is a feast of clever cultural references and twisty plotting. A four-square play for power and love, it subjects a salaryman who fancies himself a philosopher and cineaste to the singular pursuit of three women—one of them a vivified sex-doll. It is a novel that circles headily around desire and frustration, intellect and attraction, and the cruelties of love.
September 1, 2025
(3.5) Such a beautiful cover. Story was boring at times, I feel like the author had a little too much to say, the story could have been 100 pages shorter, there’s a lot of excessive details and summaries of movies, poems, essays, etc. Without all of the unnecessary bits it would have been a great story but like I said they just extended the book and it just went on for so long…
September 19, 2025
The worst book ever. Honestly. Dont bother spending your hard-earned money for this book. I cannot stressed enough how useless and lost this book is.
March 22, 2026
The long and short of my rating is that there's too much info-dumping that, for me personally, did not enhance the story but rather detracted from it. Probably because it was written without a western audience in mind, there were these long passages where the narrator/ characters were explaining (mansplaining?) things like the story in Freud's 'The Uncanny' or a random summary of the film 'Interstellar.' Someone out there can figure out why all this exposition is necessary but that person would not be me.
Ignoring all that, the story itself is interesting and I would have rated it higher. There are three main characters who make rather questionable life choices. Akira is a single 40-year-old office worker who buys a love doll to improve his sleep quality and meet his needs, naming her Koharu. His FWB, a bar-owner, finds herself getting harassed by a man who keeps pressurising her to film a porno and she can't get rid of him. Meanwhile, Akira himself is getting stalked by another woman who purposely bought an apartment opposite his so she can engineer their meeting and romantic development. Koharu gains sentience and decides to use her newfound agency to keep Akira all to herself by any means necessary.
Ignoring all that, the story itself is interesting and I would have rated it higher. There are three main characters who make rather questionable life choices. Akira is a single 40-year-old office worker who buys a love doll to improve his sleep quality and meet his needs, naming her Koharu. His FWB, a bar-owner, finds herself getting harassed by a man who keeps pressurising her to film a porno and she can't get rid of him. Meanwhile, Akira himself is getting stalked by another woman who purposely bought an apartment opposite his so she can engineer their meeting and romantic development. Koharu gains sentience and decides to use her newfound agency to keep Akira all to herself by any means necessary.
October 8, 2025
aimless and rambling
December 18, 2025
I've never encountered a novel so desperate to distract from its main plot, constantly trying to lose itself. The author draws out off-topic subjects at seemingly every opportunity. Examples include: a multi-paragraph explanation regarding subtitling rules when all that needed to be conveyed was that the character writes subtitles for a living, ridiculously unnecessary amounts of backstory for side characters, a whole eight pages dedicated to describing a conspiracy magazine which isn’t relevant to the plot whatsoever. You could lose a collective 150ish pages and have higher quality content remaining EASILY.
Koharu, the subject of the novel, barely features and it’s such a waste. There's definitely an obvious feminist read, but it’s all ground that’s been trodden before in many better novels and none of it gets any depth anyway. I purchased this over 'Annie Bot' (since both pertain to a love doll but I wanted to support the underdog) and feel like I chose the wrong novel. Complete and utter vapid letdown.
Koharu, the subject of the novel, barely features and it’s such a waste. There's definitely an obvious feminist read, but it’s all ground that’s been trodden before in many better novels and none of it gets any depth anyway. I purchased this over 'Annie Bot' (since both pertain to a love doll but I wanted to support the underdog) and feel like I chose the wrong novel. Complete and utter vapid letdown.
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September 23, 2025Apakah ini.
Rasa macam Akira agak charming. Dan faham je kenapa dia beli doll tu. Tapi otak ni tak boleh nak faham kenapa si Koharu tu boleh bergerak macam manusia dan pi jenjalan. Dan kenapa penulis nak create konflik antara koharu, chiyako (tak ingat tetiba nama dia chiyako ke chikoko) dan kyoko. Sebab, koharu kan doll. Dan yaaaa memang la koharu tu safe space untuk Akira, tapi apa yang susah sangat nak buang Koharu. Tak faham genre apa ni. Art berat kut eh.
Rasa macam Akira agak charming. Dan faham je kenapa dia beli doll tu. Tapi otak ni tak boleh nak faham kenapa si Koharu tu boleh bergerak macam manusia dan pi jenjalan. Dan kenapa penulis nak create konflik antara koharu, chiyako (tak ingat tetiba nama dia chiyako ke chikoko) dan kyoko. Sebab, koharu kan doll. Dan yaaaa memang la koharu tu safe space untuk Akira, tapi apa yang susah sangat nak buang Koharu. Tak faham genre apa ni. Art berat kut eh.
November 4, 2025
The story was really good. But the never ending references, movie titles, directors and back stories that were not related to the main story was very tiring.
February 19, 2026
Many viewers would get impatient at this point and press the fast-forward button, but the film proceeds coolly, giving time for a mood of artificial romance to arise between the two performers.
Longlisted for the 2026 Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize (the first year of the rebranded Republic of Consciousness Prize).
Published by the Manchester based Honford Star which” is committed to bridging literary worlds, celebrating the richness of East Asian literature. Our goal is to respect the authenticity and diversity of these narratives, bringing them to a global audience through collaborative partnerships with skilled translators, artists, and designers”.
And translated by Kalau Almony from the 2022 original written by a multi-award winning Japanese novelist – the translator providing a detailed account of the difficulties (more logistical than linguistic) of translating the novel in a Translator’s Note that together with the beautiful production of the novel (French Flaps, quality pages) was the highlight for me of this novel which otherwise is marked by its rather personally troubling plot and extreme attention to digression.
In reverse order.
Plot wise the novel’s main character is Akira – around 40, seemingly resigned to single life (but certainly not celibacy), an editor at a large publishing house, with a widowed father about to go into care, and then three women around him. The first Chikako who owns a nearby bar and who he sleeps with – leaving her money – at regular intervals, she plotting potential murder to cover up a porn movie past. The second Kyoko – a subtitle translator - who he ends up going out with but only after she has been, unknown to him, stalking him for ages. And the third – the titular Koharu a sex doll who appears to develop sentience and then psychopathic tendencies.
So one man and three women all slightly unhinged all obsessed with him in different ways …. in 21st Century literary fiction … really ? (although I suspect I just have a literary-culture difference here … Murakami is also problematic for me these days).
And the digressions are many – pretty well every detail is deliberately expanded in a series of chains of associations or often trainspotter type detail (literally in some cases such as a dour diesel digression), the exacting detail of which made the translator’s role challenging but this reader’s enjoyment even more so. I think it might have just about worked if it had been a quirk of one character but its wider than that – Chikako’s dubious past for example includes frequent diversions into movies and her job into various restaurants.
I found myself skipping through the personally troubling plot to get to the digressions, and then skipping the digressions to get back to the plot – which made the reading experience a little curtailed.
Not a novel for me.
March 30, 2026
At first, I didn't know what to think of this book. The writing style is like nothing I've read before, and the slow start did initially make it hard to stay engaged. However, as I kept reading, I found it increasingly harder to put down. I truly enjoyed this book, it was such a good book to sit down and waste time with, and I am thankful to the friend who lent me his copy.
The characters were fun to read, and I enjoyed everyone's perspectives. While Akira did read as a little boring, I could look past it as that was likely an intentional choice. Akira is simply just a man who is lonely and doesn't really know how to handle himself, and he reads as such, which is why I enjoyed the more laid-back chapters from him. Chikako's perspectives were the most entertaining for me, I absolutely adored her. She was someone who had thought processes with which I could relate to and she just honestly had some of the most enjoyable plot points. Kyoko was likely my least favourite, her being a stalker the main reason, but I still found her insight was enjoyable and interesting.
My complaints lie mainly with the pacing of the book, it just felt very slow and sometimes the endless onslaught of information got overwhelming and slightly boring. The ending was also paced oddly, seemingly coming out of nowhere. While I liked how it ended, I believe it was a fitting ending, I just wish it had been slightly more drawn out, which is not something I thought I would say about this book. It is the only time where the writing feels slightly rushed and doesn't go into enough detail about what is happening. The ending of a book should not be able to fit on 3 pages and I just feel that it would benefit with just a bit more substance to it.
Overall, I truly had such a fun experience with this book and would recommend it to others. I enjoyed having it as an excuse to take a break from my studies and simply get lost in a book which had such a unique writing style that I find fascinating.
The characters were fun to read, and I enjoyed everyone's perspectives. While Akira did read as a little boring, I could look past it as that was likely an intentional choice. Akira is simply just a man who is lonely and doesn't really know how to handle himself, and he reads as such, which is why I enjoyed the more laid-back chapters from him. Chikako's perspectives were the most entertaining for me, I absolutely adored her. She was someone who had thought processes with which I could relate to and she just honestly had some of the most enjoyable plot points. Kyoko was likely my least favourite, her being a stalker the main reason, but I still found her insight was enjoyable and interesting.
My complaints lie mainly with the pacing of the book, it just felt very slow and sometimes the endless onslaught of information got overwhelming and slightly boring. The ending was also paced oddly, seemingly coming out of nowhere. While I liked how it ended, I believe it was a fitting ending, I just wish it had been slightly more drawn out, which is not something I thought I would say about this book. It is the only time where the writing feels slightly rushed and doesn't go into enough detail about what is happening. The ending of a book should not be able to fit on 3 pages and I just feel that it would benefit with just a bit more substance to it.
Overall, I truly had such a fun experience with this book and would recommend it to others. I enjoyed having it as an excuse to take a break from my studies and simply get lost in a book which had such a unique writing style that I find fascinating.
December 13, 2025
Mistress Koharu is unquestionably one of the strangest books I've read, it's fascinating, a little too much, and impossible to describe. It's about Akira's loneliness, and how one day he decided to find a "partner" in the form of a doll. It's not your usual doll, it's been humanised to the point where it can talk, walk, and even express emotions.
It's completely silly at one point, and I'm wondering how the main character can simply dismiss the foolishness of it.
This is definitely a magical realism genre, or a demonic thriller with possessed characters, lol just joking. However, as the narrative progresses, a woman appears in his life.
Kyoko, the compulsive stalker translator, and Chikako, the pub owner, who he occasionally has an affair. Additionally, each has a unique narrative and is not the typical type of woman he considers. As I read this, there is simply too much information about films, books, locations and the history of the doll that connects the stories from each of the characters. However, if I had to sum up the plot of the book, you can actually sense where it is going and ends.
To be honest, I think I would have liked a shorter version in which Akira's life was impacted by the excitement of the unhinged women's actions. If you can relate to all of the authors' tales and facts, this is probably a much more enjoyable read. It's the kind of book where you will sort of go into a rabbit hole.
Giving this 3.8/5 ⭐️
Thank you @honford_star for sending this my way.
It's completely silly at one point, and I'm wondering how the main character can simply dismiss the foolishness of it.
This is definitely a magical realism genre, or a demonic thriller with possessed characters, lol just joking. However, as the narrative progresses, a woman appears in his life.
Kyoko, the compulsive stalker translator, and Chikako, the pub owner, who he occasionally has an affair. Additionally, each has a unique narrative and is not the typical type of woman he considers. As I read this, there is simply too much information about films, books, locations and the history of the doll that connects the stories from each of the characters. However, if I had to sum up the plot of the book, you can actually sense where it is going and ends.
To be honest, I think I would have liked a shorter version in which Akira's life was impacted by the excitement of the unhinged women's actions. If you can relate to all of the authors' tales and facts, this is probably a much more enjoyable read. It's the kind of book where you will sort of go into a rabbit hole.
Giving this 3.8/5 ⭐️
Thank you @honford_star for sending this my way.
January 20, 2026
This is an opportune and relevant absurdist novel about power grabbing and greed, related to lust.
The Koharu of the title isn’t the usual sort of mistress, she is a ‘life-sized love doll’, owned by a single man of 39 years old, Yano Akira, who works in the editorial department of a large publishing house.
As the novel begins, Akira has owned Koharu for a year, and their relationship has grown. She is a soundboard for his problems, ‘an excellent listener, would nod her head, give simple responses, and touch his body at just the right moments’. He sleeps better, spooning with her, though any sex he has with her is not mentioned.
The local bar he attends is run by Ukai Chikako, who has several times made approaches towards Akira. Eventually he joins her for one evening. Things are further complicated by a third woman, Akaneya Kyoko, who has been watching Akira, in a stalking fashion, for a year before she closes in to snare him. Hence, Akira finds himself in three relationships, each of which, once established, alternate in the text.
This is an entertainingly strange novel, and perhaps not in the way the reader would think. It’s the doll that remains in the background with the other two women with more prominent presence.
The Koharu of the title isn’t the usual sort of mistress, she is a ‘life-sized love doll’, owned by a single man of 39 years old, Yano Akira, who works in the editorial department of a large publishing house.
As the novel begins, Akira has owned Koharu for a year, and their relationship has grown. She is a soundboard for his problems, ‘an excellent listener, would nod her head, give simple responses, and touch his body at just the right moments’. He sleeps better, spooning with her, though any sex he has with her is not mentioned.
The local bar he attends is run by Ukai Chikako, who has several times made approaches towards Akira. Eventually he joins her for one evening. Things are further complicated by a third woman, Akaneya Kyoko, who has been watching Akira, in a stalking fashion, for a year before she closes in to snare him. Hence, Akira finds himself in three relationships, each of which, once established, alternate in the text.
This is an entertainingly strange novel, and perhaps not in the way the reader would think. It’s the doll that remains in the background with the other two women with more prominent presence.
February 7, 2026
There's an interesting story somewhere in this book, but it's buried deeeeep underneath a massive info dump about roads, routes, boats, books, and a hundred different names a chapter. Everything felt so unnecessary to the point of being confusing, and jarring. At times it felt like I was missing the point, and that perhaps the author wanted to draw a comparison to the mundaneness of everyday life, and the secret lives our MCs live. But like, it mostly felt like filler to pad what could have otherwise been a novella (though I did just notice it was only 256 pages. It felt so much longer.)
I slogged through what was ultimately a complex sexual/emotional thriller broken up by someone's travel itinerary and thesis paper? idk I had to skim so many full paragraphs of inane details about fuel trucks, and Japanese ceramics? It bogged down the story and the tension being built. Sans automotive manual, the story gets 4 stars.
I slogged through what was ultimately a complex sexual/emotional thriller broken up by someone's travel itinerary and thesis paper? idk I had to skim so many full paragraphs of inane details about fuel trucks, and Japanese ceramics? It bogged down the story and the tension being built. Sans automotive manual, the story gets 4 stars.
September 22, 2025
3.5* The story itself is good and quite dark but it's lost amongst pages of over description about locations, theatre, films and philosophy. I ended up skim reading everything non core story related sadly. There is a story in there but it's only about a third of the book.
November 8, 2025
when great books with fantastic potential flop, a piece of my soul dies. unfortunately this was one of them - incredible and intriguing at times, and a total snooze fest at other points. definitely could've been a novella!! would've liked it more if it were.
September 3, 2025
4,5 porządne czytadło
January 1, 2026
Written in an interesting way with lots of tangents into things unrelated to the plot but I liked it because in real life not everything is relevant to the plot
Read
January 31, 2026Pretty good. Maybe too many references to other writers, though.
Did Not Finish
March 13, 2026DNF @ page 48. It just seems to be an endless stream of references.
March 28, 2026
I enjoyed it but it could have been a 100 page book, far too much uneccesary detail it felt quite slow going at times
April 18, 2026
The blurb of the book was not representative of the content - I wish it had been for proper expectation setting.
May 20, 2026
3.75/5⭐️
This reminded me of a horror version of Chobits (manga/anime). Decent dark read.
This reminded me of a horror version of Chobits (manga/anime). Decent dark read.
March 2, 2026
I sat and thought about my feelings on this book for a few weeks before writing a review, and I believe that was the best way for me to correctly judge my rating and thoughts. Whilst I previously rated this four stars, I have since increased my rating to five stars to account for how much space it has occupied in my mind.
Mistress Koharu has one of the most unique styles I have ever read, providing meandering detail that doesn't read entirely as a stream of consciousness, but is not too distant from the idea of front-loading the reader with every bit of information about a person's life at once. And yet, it doesn't fall into the issue of telling us too much. I found the meandering engaging, and whilst I might have found even more value had I understood any of the references, it provided a rich inner world to the characters and world. They slotted right into reality, which I feel could have been grating if I wasn't prepared for this book to touch so heavily on elements of monotony in daily life.
In general, I found the prose engaging, and whilst the story was slow at points, every key moment stood out so strongly in my mind that they haven't left. The amount of normality and daily life in this book meant that moments outside the norm stuck out so harshly that they stayed in my mind. The ending was one that I predicted, but I don't believe that a fault of the book, rather that the story came to a satisfying ending that was the natural conclusion of it all.
Chikako shone as a character for me, and I found her story and elements incredibly compelling. No point of view suffered for me, and their lives felt so rich and fleshed out.
I greatly enjoyed this book, and its very unique style, and I would recommend this as a read to anyone looking for something entirely different from what you may have read before. This is as long as you can handle a slower paced book, which does not shy from the monotony of office workers. It has stayed on my mind consistently after reading.
Mistress Koharu has one of the most unique styles I have ever read, providing meandering detail that doesn't read entirely as a stream of consciousness, but is not too distant from the idea of front-loading the reader with every bit of information about a person's life at once. And yet, it doesn't fall into the issue of telling us too much. I found the meandering engaging, and whilst I might have found even more value had I understood any of the references, it provided a rich inner world to the characters and world. They slotted right into reality, which I feel could have been grating if I wasn't prepared for this book to touch so heavily on elements of monotony in daily life.
In general, I found the prose engaging, and whilst the story was slow at points, every key moment stood out so strongly in my mind that they haven't left. The amount of normality and daily life in this book meant that moments outside the norm stuck out so harshly that they stayed in my mind. The ending was one that I predicted, but I don't believe that a fault of the book, rather that the story came to a satisfying ending that was the natural conclusion of it all.
Chikako shone as a character for me, and I found her story and elements incredibly compelling. No point of view suffered for me, and their lives felt so rich and fleshed out.
I greatly enjoyed this book, and its very unique style, and I would recommend this as a read to anyone looking for something entirely different from what you may have read before. This is as long as you can handle a slower paced book, which does not shy from the monotony of office workers. It has stayed on my mind consistently after reading.
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