A Perfect Day to be Alone: the award-winning Japanese coming-of-age classic

A twenty-year-old girl moves in with her eccentric distant relative, taking a room in her ramshackle Tokyo home with two resident cats and the persistent rattle of passing trains. They establish an uneasy alliance, stress tested by Chizu's flashes of youthful spite. As the four seasons pass, Chizu navigates a series of tedious part-time jobs and unsatisfying relationships before eventually finding her feet and salvaging a fierce independence from her solitude.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 160 pages
Publication date: 09 May 2024
Publisher: Quercus Publishing

When I arrived at the house, it was raining. The walls of my room were lined with cat photos, set in fancy frames just below the ceiling.

When her mother emigrates to China for work, twenty-year-old Chizu moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, an eccentric distant relative, taking a room in her ramshackle Tokyo home, with its two resident cats and the persistent rattle of passing trains. Living their lives in imperfect symmetry, they establish an uneasy alliance, stress tested by Chizu's flashes of youthful spite. As the four seasons pass, Chizu navigates a series of tedious part-time jobs and unsatisfying relationships, before eventually finding her feet and salvaging a fierce independence from her solitude.

A Perfect Day to be Alone is a moving, microscopic examination of loneliness and heartbreak. With flashes of deadpan humour and a keen eye for poignant detail, Aoyama chronicles the painful process of breaking free from the moorings of youth.

Weight: 128g
Dimension: 130 x 197 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529427684