Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan.
Hooked
What you need to know before your trail
Eriko’s life appears perfect – devoted parents, pristine apartment and a high-flying job in the seafood division of one of Japan’s largest trading companies. Her latest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile perch fish into the Japanese market, is characteristically ambitious. But beneath her flawless surface she is wracked by loneliness.
Eriko becomes fascinated with a popular blog written by a housewife, Shōko. Shōko’s posts about eating convenience-store food and her untidy home are the opposite of the typical Japanese housewife’s manicured lifestyle. When Eriko tracks Shōko down at her favourite restaurant and befriends her, Shōko is at first charmed by her new companion. But soon Eriko’s obsession with Shōko begins to spiral out of control, threatening her carefully laid plans. How far will she go to hold on to the best friend she’s ever had?
Travel Guide
Tokyo
It is said that the locations are posh and normal – to illustrate the social and psychological divide between the two very different women in the novel.
There are no real street names or fixed locations in the novel and this is to give it a sense of urban isolation.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Hooked
Destination/location: Tokyo Author/guide: Asako Yuzuki Departure Time: 2000s
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