In The Miso Soup

A novella by Ryu Murakami
translated by Ralph McCarthy

Kenji is a 20-year-old guide to foreigners wanting to explore the seedier side of Tokyo night life. Frank is a 35-year-old American tourist staying in Tokyo as the New Year approaches. He answers an advertisement placed by Kenji in a sex rag, and so begins a chilling and revealing relationship between the two.

At face value the story is a psycho thriller with enough slash and gore to satisfy the most ghoulish desires of readers who enjoy that genre but the perceived values of modern Japan - the despair, isolation and loneliness of such a large portion of the population, which Frank forces Kenji to face, is what leaves the reader pondering. It is also a frightening look into the values of present-day Americans - recognisable to an observer, but largely ignored.

The book offers no answers to the questions it raises. But it does make you think about your own life and those occasional dark thoughts we may all have. If only for that, this book is a worthwhile read

Ryu Murakami wrote his first book, Almost Transparent, while still a student. The book, about sex and drugs near an American base in Japan, won him the respected Akutagawa Prize in 1976 and earned a cult following among young readers in Japan. He continues to shock all these years later.