The Sheltering Rain

A diverse cross-section of Japan passes through the bar Lui, and the bartender tends to them all, with all their hopes and their fears. Underneath the black suits—whether crumpled or designer—and the cosmetics, they're all people on the way to somewhere else in Tokyo's glittering boom era. The bartenders and Mama-sans who keep everything running smoothly rely on their own camaraderie, night after night.

Winner of the 1975 Naoki Prize.

This work originally appeared as a series of short stories in various magazines from 1973–74, later compiled into this book as Amayadori , with the subtitle "Shinjuku baka monogatari," which could be roughly translated as "Tales of Shinjuku naifs." Written while Japan was close to the peak of the post-War economic boom, Hanmura captures the "economic animals" of Japan, and the countless men and women in their periphery who kept the bars and cabarets running all night long to let them blow off steam.

Japan of the 21st century is vastly different, and Hanmura's depiction of a very different era is still popular among those who fondly remember "the way it used to be." While the settings have changed and smartphones provide new modes of interaction, the same archetypical salesmen, bartenders, and bargirls still haunt the night spots of Tokyo, searching for something better.