The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino

Over the course of his life, Mr Nishino falls hopelessly in love again and again. One woman is a colleague, another a chance encounter/one is the girlfriend of a classmate, another the best friend of Nishino's latest conquest. Some are entranced by Nishino, others care more for their freedom, their children (or their cats).
As we come to learn of the torments, desires and delights of each woman, a portrait emerges of a complicated man whose great capacity for love may well be the cause of his downfall.

Born in 1959 in Tokyo, HIROMI KAWAKAMI is one of Japan's most popular contemporary novelists, famous for her literary, off-beat fiction. She is the author of The Nakano Thrift Shop and Strange Weather in Tokyo, which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.
ALLISON MARKIN POWELL's translations include works by Osamu Dazai, Fuminori Nakamura, and Kanako Nishi. She was the guest editor for the first Japan issue of Words Without Borders and she maintains the database, Japanese Literature in English, at http://www.japaneseliteratureinenglish.com.