Translated 2012 Allison Markin Powell
Read by Allison Hiroto, ~ 6 hrs
There’s no resisting that cover! Tsukiko is a young woman on the cusp of middle age, not far from sailing into her forties. One night at her local sake bar, she puts in a order for snacks and hears an older man requesting the same exact thing. Their eyes meet, and she realized he’s familiar: he was a former teacher of hers! Though she can’t quite remember his name, Tsukiko and “Sensei” strike up a conversation and spend the next several hours together downing sake. This is the beginning of an unusual friendship between two isolated people — a young woman who does nothing but work and drink, and a retired widower who lives in a home filled with clutter he can’t get rid of. Strange Weather in Tokyo doesn’t have a formal plot, as such, but rather consists of episodes in Tsukiko and Sensei’s friendship as they continue to bump into each other at the bar and bond over long, booze-soaked conversations. As time passes and the seasons change, the relationship deepens to the point that they’re going on mushroom-hunting excursions together, and at the cherry-blossom festival Tsukiko’ unexpected jealousy towards Sensei spending the evening with a former colleague implies that for her, at least, the relationship has taken on another layer. Indeed, part of the attraction of this novel is being able to witnesses the slow, plant-light growth of the character’s affection for one another, and a relationship that feels real and substantial despite the age gap. I listened to the audiobook, and — given the fact that the novel is told in the first person — its presentation made the story even more absorbing and intimate.
Reading Freely 
I’ll add this to my list of Japanese lit. It seems to be a very popular genre ATM!
Ooh, good to know it works well as audio! Will use an audible trial for it as my audio!
One nice thing about dating a woman two hours away is that it’s giving me plenty of time to listen to audiobooks!
I read this early on for one of the Japanese Literature Challenges, and your wonderful review brought it back in perfect memory. I am not terribly fond of audiobooks, I think because I am a visual learner more than an auditory one (that, or the calming influence of a great voice puts me to sleep). At any rate, so glad you read this and are participating in the JlC18.
Might I suggest The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa, if you haven’t read it already? It is an utterly charming, and to me very poignant, short novel which I think you may like as well as I did.
They were both trapped in pending, I’m afraid! Thank you for the reccomendation!
I cannot believe my comment didn’t take (from a few days ago), and now I will have a hard time recreating it. But, I think I pointed out that although I read this book when I first began hosting the challenge, you brought it back to my memory quite vividly with your excellent post. It also put me in mind of The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa, if only for the similarity they have in examining relationships. Thank you for reading with me, and posting for the JLC18.
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I just devoured the audiobook in one setting (I always speed it up, to 1.3), on my last afternoon of vacation time, and doing a jigsaw puzzle.
I have a shoet review here: https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/01/12/sunday-post-128-ice-and-snow/
Glad you liked it!!
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