Middle-aged, jaded and divorced, TV scriptwriter Harada is forced to set up home in his office, situated in a high-rise apartment block overlooking Tokyo's busy Route 8. One night, nostalgic for his lost childhood, he decides to visit the entertainment district of Asakusa, the city's dilapidated old downtown area, and there, at the theatre, he meets a man who looks exactly like his long-dead father. So begins Harada's ordeal, as he's thrust into a reality where his parents appear to be alive at the exact age they had been when they died so many years before. Although they may be apparitions, he takes solace in seeing them, in spite of the damage it seems to do to his health. Can Kei, the mysteriously fragile neighbour with whom Harada begins a tentative relationship, save him from the ghosts of his past?

Hope the book will be enjoyed :)

Thank you!

I read the blurb at the back and saw that there might be ghosts in the story. I'm not really into that kind of thing so I thought I'd send it on to the next reader.

Congratulations on winning the Author's From Unusual Countries Sweepstakes!

Thanks , this looks interesting

I never got around to completing this - will send onto the next winner of Authors from unusual countries sweep when it is drawn later this month

I'm not a ghost stories' person myself but I'll give it a go anyway. Who knows, maybe I'll get surprised and end up by enjoying it.
Thank you for sending it my way.

I've read this book back in June, but noticed only now that I didn't journal it at the time. Sorry about that...

The description of the book as a "ghost story" left me unwilling to pick it up at the beginning but then I started reading and, almost half way through the book, nothing happened similar to what I imagined as ghost books (I do not even know if I had ever read one before, in fact) and, being quite well written, is was a pleasant reading and I just kept going.
In the end I can just say that it was indeed something very, very different from what one would expect from a "ghost book". Without a trace of terror, suspense or even fantasy (in that sense that has been given to this word in the last decades). It is really just a story in which it makes sense for the parents to appear as ghosts to a man who had been an orphan since age 12... or maybe that's not quite that at all ;)
But anyway, it is an interesting enough book and an enjoyable read.

It will be available for anyone who wants to give it a try...

Releasing this one at the little free library of Menina e Moça Bar, while meeting new BCers! :)
Hope someone decides to try and enjoys it...
Have fun!

The book didn't make it into the LFL (but we were sitting right next to it) - it ended up in my bag instead and will come to Berlin with me. Thank you, conto!

I agree, calling this a 'ghost story' doesn't really hit the nail. It certainly isn't of the frightening, goosebumps inducing kind, it's rather some kind of psychological portrait of a lonely man with a lot of buried grief. It's written in that typically Japanese sparse, terse style, which then creates a great eerie atmosphere.
The translation could have been better though.

Released at the International Bookcrossing Convention 2019 or somewhere in Mainz.

Wow this book really is a globetrotter.
I don't like ghost stories but as you guys say that it's not scary gory type, I'll it a try!!

So glad I've picked this up without knowing that it's a ghost story or horror story as I would have missed out on a good story. I totally loved it, including the surprising twist near the end.

Honestly won't any man, especially one orphaned at age 12, give up part of his life to be with his parents again? To have his mother fawning over him, to play balls with his dad, enjoying your parents looking their most-robust thirties even when you are almost 50? I may very well not mind giving up my life to relive such precious time!

Great to see you, Conte and ApoloniaX. I was hoping to release this at the Little Free Library in Lisbon but didn't get to read it till on the airplane. Now it has come back with me to the U.S., will either share this in a bookbox or as a RABCK.

Mailing off to AlterEgoZoe who has this on her wishlist. Enjoy!!!

Received today-thanks. I am looking forward to reading this.

When he looked up again Tas had gone. Rising to join the others, he caught sight of something small and abandoned on the floor. "Tas you forgot your pipe." He picked it up and then saw words carved into the wood he had not seen before. Find the music, find the magic.
"Did you carve this?"
Tas did not turn. "Yes," he said, reluctantly. "I have to leave it."
"But, Tas, why?"
Tas squared his shoulders as though firming some resolve. But still he did not turn. "Because the shepherd said that it could only be used once. Thats why I can't get the pipe to play that song-or any song. I've used the magic." He took a deep breath and went on. "And he said that once I found the magic I had the pass the pipe on." he paused and then he did turn, a scamp's humor in his long brown eyes. "It's going to be a long winter. I'm going to leave it here for someone else to find." "Snowsong" by Nancy Varian Berberick

Found a book? Find the magic! Welcome to BookCrossing!! If you are already a member, "Hello!", if you have only just found this lovely site, welcome!

Congratulations on finding a released BookCrossing book! You can now register on the site, if you want to. It's free to register, but of course you can remain anon. It's up to you!

If you do decide to join, please add me as your referring member, AlterEgoZoe. Thanks!

Most of all, enjoy the book, and enjoy BookCrossing!