Shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award Longlisted for the Believer Book Award
Longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation A Los Angeles Times Bestseller The
English-language debut of an exciting young voice in international fiction selling 660 000
copies in Japan alone Convenience Store Woman is a bewitching portrayal of contemporary Japan
through the eyes of a single woman who fits into the rigidity of its work culture only too
well. The English-language debut of one of Japan’s most talented contemporary writers selling
over 650 000 copies there Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story of
thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura. Keiko has never fit in neither in her
family nor in school but when at the age of eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi
branch of “Smile Mart ” she finds peace and purpose in her life. In the store unlike anywhere
else she understands the rules of social interaction—many are laid out line by line in the
store’s manual—and she does her best to copy the dress mannerisms and speech of her
colleagues playing the part of a “normal” person excellently more or less. Managers come and
go but Keiko stays at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell where the store
ends and she begins. Keiko is very happy but the people close to her from her family to her
coworkers increasingly pressure her to find a husband and to start a proper career prompting
her to take desperate action… A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and a world hidden
from view Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work
culture and the pressures to conform as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an
unforgettable heroine.
