Tokyo Ueno Station - by Yu Miri

Tokyo Ueno Station is a powerful masterwork from one of Japan's most brilliant outsider writers, Yu Miri.

This surreal fable follows Kazu, a homeless ghost who haunts Tokyo's busiest train station, as he recounts his life story filled with loss and societal inequalities that led to his tragic fate.

Through Kazu's eyes, we see daily life in Tokyo buzz around him and learn the intimate details of his personal story, including moments of beauty and grace just out of reach.

This slim but sprawling tale finds a deeply sympathetic hero in a man who feels displaced and longs for connection after it's too late.

With poetic prose and a gorgeous translation by Morgan Giles, Tokyo Ueno Station is an urgent reminder of the radical divide between rich and poor in postwar Japan and a look into a marginalized existence in a shiny global megapolis.

Don't miss out on this unforgettable read that will leave you both haunted and hopeful.