[Japanese Literature 01] • L'île Des Rêves

**Hino’s novels have been compared to the work of J. G. Ballard. Available for

the first time in English: his masterpiece _Island of Dreams_.** Though it has

a lovely name, the real “Island of Dreams” is actually a hunk of reclaimed

land in Tokyo Bay where the city dumps its garbage . . . and yet, Shozo Saka,

a middle-aged widower, does indeed find the place beautiful: gravitating more

and more, since the death of his wife, toward the Island’s massive piles of

trash. One day, however, his refuge is invaded by Yoko, a mysterious woman in

black, who visits the Island on her motorcycle for no other reason than to

treat it as her own private obstacle course. Soon Yoko has lured Saka away

from his garbage-paradise, leading him back into a Tokyo far less benign than

the things it’s thrown away. Acclaimed on its first publication, _Island of

Dreams_ is a sinister satire on urban decay.