The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura

Unlike many of the Japanese books I have reviewed recently, this one is newly published in both Japanese and English.

Part fantasy and part fairy tale, The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop is set over four seasons. The Cherry Blossom Bookshop is run by a young woman named Sakura (which means cherry blossom in Japanese). She has a calico cat named Kobako. The waft of freshly brewed coffee permeates the shop and the soundtrack to Bolero appears to be on continued repeat. Outside, an enormous cherry tree drops its petals.

Each of the four chapters opens with an interaction between Sakura and Kobako in the shop, where the calico cat indicates to her which book to choose from the shelves. This book then becomes the link to the story that follows.

In each of the four stories the characters are facing some kind of sorrow or regret. When they pick up the book and open the page at the exact time that Sakura does, they are magically transported to the Cherry Blossom Bookshop.  This is the only way to reach the shop: “to read the same passage from the same book at exactly the same time, on the same day, in the same season. And it must be a sunny day in spring, beneath the cherry blossoms in full bloom”.

Their visit to the bookshop helps them to deal with their sadness and move on with their lives.

There are detailed notes from the translator at the end, which are helpful in explaining some of the cultural customs of Japan. I found this particularly enlightening, especially the notes about how some of the names and words are written in the different forms of Japanese writing, hiragana, katakana and kanji.

There is also a playlist at the start of the book, which is perhaps the perfect background music to reading it if you can find them.

This is a lovely book, and the stories can easily be dipped into and read one at a time, which I think is probably the best way to get the benefit of each one, with time to pause and reflect.

Reviewer: Rachel White

Translated from Japanese by Yuka Maeno

HarperCollins