西日の町

A young mother and her ten-year-old son have followed the evening sun west to a town in Kitakyushu, where they live close together in a small apartment. One day the boy's grandfather, known as Tekojii, appears unannounced. He has lived a life of utter lawlessness, and now he huddles motionless at the edge of their six-mat room, telling scraps of old stories. The boy is slowly drawn to the enigmatic old man, while it becomes clear that his mother, too, keeps things hidden, and the story follows the grandfather's last years and the mother's doubts and grief.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novella

Length

133 pages in the original

Genres

Family, Coming of age (assigned by AI)

Set in

Japan, 1960s

First published

2002 by Bungeishunju

Author's age

43 when first published

ISBN

9784163211909 (original)