Hiro Arikawa · 2012 · road

Hiro Arikawa's 2012 novel, narrated largely by Nana, a self-possessed stray adopted by the gentle Satoru. When Satoru can no longer keep him, the two set off in a silver van across Japan to visit three of Satoru's oldest friends, from Tokyo to a farm to a pet inn beneath Mount Fuji and finally north to Hokkaido, each a candidate to take Nana in. Why Satoru is giving up the cat he loves becomes, slowly and heartbreakingly, clear. A road trip through the Japanese seasons and a quiet meditation on kindness, friendship and farewell.

1. 1
   Tokyo

   Satoru sets out from Tokyo with Nana the cat in a silver van, ostensibly to find the cat a new home, calling on the friends of his life along the way.

2. 2
   Mount Fuji

   They drive out past Mount Fuji to see Kosuke, the friend of Satoru's childhood, the cat watching the country roll by from the window.

3. 3
   Aomori

   The journey carries them the length of Honshu to its northern tip, the landscape and the seasons changing as the miles pass.

4. 4
   Hakodate

   Van and cat cross the Tsugaru Strait by ferry to Hokkaido, the northern island where Satoru's last and oldest bond awaits.

5. 5
   Sapporo

   They reach Sapporo and the aunt who raised him, the true destination of a trip that was never really about rehoming a cat at all.