One Love Chigusa is the sixth and last book of the Red Circle Mini series. It is also the first book I read by Soji Shimada. Shimada, one of the most famous mystery authors in Japan and even the world, tells a strange love story which takes place in 2091 in this book.
One Love Chigusa starts with a terrible accident that Xie Hoyu had. Although his body is torn to pieces, he returns to life thanks to advanced medicine and technology. But now he has to live in a cybernetic body. Trying to adapt to his life and new body after the accident, Xie begins to see the world completely different.
People’s faces start to look horrible to him as he questions why he’s still alive. As he was about to disappear into all this sullen crowd and voices, he sees Chigusa. And his life changes from then on.
One Love Chigusa is a futuristic love story, which questions love, life, technology and why we exist in the general sense. I think Japanese literature enthusiasts will like it very much. Enjoy!
One Love Chigusa
A love story that explores the mechanics of the heart and humankind’s inevitable evolution. One Love Chigusa by Soji Shimada, one of Japan’s most famous authors, is a tale of obsessive love in a world where technology has crept into the very heart of humanity.
The year is 2091 AD. A horrendous motorcycle accident leaves Xie Hoyu coming to terms with his new cybernetic body. Reconstructed from the latest biomechanical prosthetics, he is discharged from hospital and tries to return to his life as an illustrator after many weeks in recovery. While surgery saves his life, existence for Xie has lost all meaning. His saviour comes in the form of a girl with whom Xie falls hopelessly in love. But not all is as it seems.
Translated by Sir David Warren, a retired diplomat and former British ambassador to Japan, One Love Chigusa offers a glimpse into a possible future and questions the purpose of humanity in a manner that only Japan’s master of the postmodern whodunnit can do.
Red Circle Minis: Original, Short and Compelling Reads
One Love Chigusa is part of Red Circle Minis, a series of short captivating books by Japan’s finest contemporary writers that brings the narratives and voices of Japan together as never before. Each book is a first edition written specifically for the series and is being published in English first.
Soji Shimada
Born in 1948 in Hiroshima prefecture, Soji Shimada has been dubbed the ‘God of Mystery’ by international audiences. A novelist, essayist and short-story writer, he made his literary debut in 1981 with The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, which was shortlist for the Edogawa Rampo Prize. Blending classical detective fiction with grisly violence and so elements of the occult, he has gone on to publish several highly acclaimed series of mystery fiction. He is the author of 100+ works in total. In 2009 Shimada received the so prestigious Japan Mystery Literature Award in recognition of his life’s work.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
