Nipponia Nippon

A fast-paced, darkly ironic novella from one of Japan’s contemporary luminaries—and the husband of Mieko Kawakami—making his English language debut A teenager gripped by obsession seeks to free endangered birds in this darkly funny study of solitude and toxic masculinity set in modern-day Tokyo Perfect for fans of Earthlings by Sayaka Murata and Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs Isolated in his Tokyo apartment, 17-year-old Haruo spends all his time online, researching the plight of the endangered Japanese crested ibis, Nipponia Nippon . Living on an allowance from his parents, he drops ever further into a fantasy world in which he alone shares a special connection with the last of these noble birds, held at a conservation centre on the island of Sado. His conclusion is simple: it is his destiny to free the birds from a society that does not appreciate them, by whatever means necessary. With his emotional state becoming ever more erratic, he begins sourcing weapons and preparing for a reckoning in this darkly ironic study of toxic masculinity. An off-kilter darkly ironic novella about a boy's strange obsession with the Japanese crested ibis, from a Japanese literary star Seventeen-year-old Haruo spends all his waking hours online, fixated on the endangered Japanese crested ibis, Nipponia Nippon. Alone in his Tokyo apartment, living off his parents' indulgence, he descends into a fantasy world where he alone shares a bond with the last of these noble birds, their lives caged in the national conservation centre. Haruo's destiny becomes clear. He will free the birds—alive or dead—from an undeserving civilization. As Haruo's emotional state grows increasingly erratic, he searches the internet for weapons and prepares for the night of reckoning.