Bakaya carries in its title the feeling of standing exposed in a rough field. As a Waseda Bungaku Newcomer Prize winner, it suggests anxiety in an open place and a need to measure the world through language.

Like a body exposed in a wasteland, language measures its distance from the world.

Forgetfulness Soap layers the act of washing with the act of forgetting, treating stains of memory and everyday touch in poetic terms. Beneath the light title lie bodily feeling and loss.

In the feel of washing away, the outline of what cannot be forgotten remains.

How to Measure a Sunset is a story about the near-impossible act of measuring shifting evening light, using it to explore the elusive shapes of feeling and time.

A gaze trying to measure sunset reveals the blurred outlines of time and emotion.