The Travelling Cat Chronicles (Tabineko Ripôto)

旅猫リポート was originally serialized in Weekly Bunshun from 2011-2012, & later compiled into a novel in 2012

A stray cat, Nana began living with Satoru, who saved her from dying. Five years later, due to certain circumstances, Satoru has to give her up. One human & one cat in a silver wagon, Satoru and Nana set off on their last journey together. Satoru's secret is revealed as they encounter nostalgic people & beautiful scenery.

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A man named Satoru Miyawaki is on a journey across Japan, visiting old friends as he looks for someone to adopt his pet cat, Nana. After Satoru’s parents died in a car accident, he went to live with his aunt Noriko, who moved for work every few years. Although he never stayed in one place for long, Satoru was able to make a number of close friends; and, as he drives north, he visits a friend from elementary school, a friend from middle school, & a pair of friends from high school. His final destination is Hokkaido, where his aunt has settled down.

Satoru adopted a stray cat after it was hit by a car, & he gives it the name Nana because a bend in its tail makes it look like the number 7 (nana in Japanese). As a former stray, Nana has his pride, but he decides to stay with Satoru because Satoru asks him respectfully if he wants to be his cat. The reader knows this because about half of the narration in The Travelling Cat Chronicles is from Nana’s perspective. — Kathryn, JapaneseLit.net

HIRO ARIKAWA is the multi-million-copy bestselling author of THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES and THE GOODBYE CAT.

PHILIP GABRIEL is Professor of Japanese Literature at the U. of Arizona. He has translated numerous works by Haruki Murakami, including Kafka on the Shore (winner of the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize) & the short-story collection First Person Singular. He has also recently translated the novels The Forest of Wool & Steel & Lonely Castle in the Mirror.