Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (light novel)

Unable to get around without a wheelchair, a young woman named Josee leads a solitary, housebound existence. Her key to the outside world is her friend Tsuneo, a recent college graduate and her so-called “caretaker.” The titular story, “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish,” depicts the precarious, at times sensual relationship that blossoms between these two young people still learning what it means to be happy. This anthology also includes eight short tales centering on working women and their myriad loves and partings sure to stir the heart and soul.

Born in 1928 in Osaka, Seiko Tanabe was the author of many award-winning books, among them the novel Sentimental Journey, recipient of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1964 as well as her biography of the poet Suifu Kishimoto which won her the 1998 Izumi Kyoka Prize for Literature and the 1999 Yomiuri Prize. Tanabe was designated a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government in 2000 and then awarded the Order of Culture eight years later. She died in Kobe, Japan in 2019 at the age of 91.