Japan

Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much and his dream of becoming a writer is but a distant memory. With only the blossoming of cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a confectionary shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Until, that is, Tokue comes into his life. An elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past, she makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. The unlikeliest of friendships blossoms, but it will take all of their resolve - and plenty of pancakes - to protect themselves when Tokue's dark secret comes to light. A tale of friendship, love and loneliness in contemporary Japan.

From the beginning of summer to early spring, I lived at the Morisaki bookshop. I spent that period of my life in the spare room on the second floor of the store, trying to bury myself in books. The cramped room barely got any light, and everything felt damp. It smelled constantly of musty old books. But I will always remember the days I spent there. Because that's where my real life began. And I know, without a doubt, that if not for those days the rest of my life would have been bland, monotonous and lonely. The Morisaki Bookshop is precious to me. It's a place I know I'll never forget.

Ren has nearly completed his degree when he receives news of his sister's violent death. She was on her way home one night and there are no leads. He heads to Akakawa to conclude her affairs, failing to understand why she left Tokyo and their family years ago. But when, in a bizarre turn of events,  he is offered her teaching job and lodgings, he decides to stay in an  attempt to better understand her life and what took place the night she died.

Contemporary fiction. On a windy hill in Japan, in a garden overlooking the sea stands a disused phone box. For years, people have travelled to visit the phone box, to pick up the receiver and speak into the wind: to pass their messages to loved ones no longer with us. When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she is plunged into despair and wonders how she will ever carry on. Hearing of the phone box, she decides to make her own pilgrimage there, to speak once more to the people she loved the most. But when you have lost everything, the right words can be the hardest thing to find . . .Then she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. This is their story. Inspired by a real phone box in a real place.