Wayne P. Lammers, Japanese-English Translator
Spinning Tropics
by Aska Mochizuki.
Vintage Books, 2009. ISBN 9780307473691.
This is Aska Mochizuki's debut novel, which was awarded the first Knopf Kodansha Prize in 2007 (also known as the Random House-Kodansha Prize). The action takes place in Vietnam, centering on a Japanese language school where Vietnamese come to learn the language to get a leg up on job opportunities with Japanese firms in Vietnam, or to prepare for a government "trainee" program that will send them to Japan as low-cost laborers. When Japanese instructor Hiro first arrives, a language student named Yun befriends her and helps her get acclimated. Both women find themselves drawn to each other in ways they have never experienced before with a member of their own sex, and soon they become lovers. But then an older Japanese businessman named Konno befriends Hiro, and the complications begin....
by Aska Mochizuki.
Vintage Books, 2009. ISBN 9780307473691.
This is Aska Mochizuki's debut novel, which was awarded the first Knopf Kodansha Prize in 2007 (also known as the Random House-Kodansha Prize). The action takes place in Vietnam, centering on a Japanese language school where Vietnamese come to learn the language to get a leg up on job opportunities with Japanese firms in Vietnam, or to prepare for a government "trainee" program that will send them to Japan as low-cost laborers. When Japanese instructor Hiro first arrives, a language student named Yun befriends her and helps her get acclimated. Both women find themselves drawn to each other in ways they have never experienced before with a member of their own sex, and soon they become lovers. But then an older Japanese businessman named Konno befriends Hiro, and the complications begin....