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Our July Book Club selection is Lonely Castle in the Mirror (Kagami no Kojo) by Mizuki Tsujimura. Originally published in Japanese in 2019. Translated by Philip Gabriel. As of late April, it had sold more than 500k copies in Japan alone.

Mizuki Tsujimura (Þy´åÉîÔÂ) lives in Tokyo and is from Fuefuki, Yamanashi. She won the 2018 Japan Booksellers' Award for this novel. After being shortlisted several times for the Naoki Prize, she finally received the prize in 2012 for Kagi no nai Yume wo Miru (I Saw a Dream Without a Key).

A link to Alison's review in the May 10, 2021 Asian Review of Books .

I am disappointed to have found no interviews with Tsujimura, and I'm a wee bit surprised she apparently has done zero in terms of supporting the English-language release of LCITM. If anyone else finds any videos or articles, please share.

Who plans to join?

I have it lying and plan to start this week

Finished it yesterday. Went into it without having read almost anything about it, so I didn't expect it to be such an emotional and gripping read. At the end I had goosebumps.

Regardless of how good a book is, these days I rarely want to go back and read it again straight after finishing... but the moment I read the last page of Lonely Castle, my first instinct was to start again from the beginning. I didn't - things are too busy - but my goodness, I look forward to reading it again at some point this year. And can't wait to discuss it with you all.

I have just sent off for this and looking forward to reading it.

I read it a while ago, and don't have access to a copy anymore, so my thoughts will be from memory!!

In the meantime, apart from Alison's excellent review which Carol posted a link to in the first post on the thread, here's a review from Japan Times:


And a BBC article which I found quite useful to put the book in context, and in particular Kokoro's refusal to go to school and the concept of 'futoko':

Thanks for the compliment, Alan! I¡¯m looking forward to hearing y¡¯all¡¯s thoughts.

Alan wrote: "I read it a while ago, and don't have access to a copy anymore, so my thoughts will be from memory!!

In the meantime, apart from Alison's excellent review which Carol posted a link to in the first..."


Hello, I agree that Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a beautiful coming-of-age story that addresses the consequences of bullying and the repercussions it has on victims. However, I would like to add to the articles to help future readers enjoy this story. :)

The term that addresses Kokoro's reluctance to attend school is "Futoko". As mentioned in the BBC article above, "Futoko" refers to children who refuse and are afraid to attend school due to a phobia. Furthermore, "Futoko" is only a part of a Hikikomori group. Hikikomori refers to people who suffer from severe social withdrawal, as depicted in the book. People suffering from Hikikomori tend to isolate themselves from society and become 'hermits.' Hence, when reading this story, it is crucial to understand the turmoil the characters face to understand their behaviours better.

Since the English translations could not capture the Japanese cultural etiquette, readers may be confused throughout the book. As part of Japanese cultural etiquette, the Japanese have different "modes" of speech depending on the hierarchy. For instance, you may be perceived as rude when addressing another individual you are unfamiliar with.

Therefore, understanding this book's social and cultural context would make reading this novel more enjoyable! :D


Reference Links:

Definition of Hikikomori: .

Japanese Cultural Etiquette:


Different 'modes' of Japanese Speech:

This is my next audiobook. I appreciate that this forum has such a rich history. And a shout out to Carol for her previous work in developing the forum.
The audiobook publisher is Tantor Media. Inc. English narration is by Sarah Skaer. The release date is 25 April 2023.

Update: 25% through the audiobook. So far, quite good. The story impact is probably higher than text-only due to the good quality narration.

The japantimes review is now paywalled a/o 4 Nov 2024 so here is another review from the Japan Society of UK:

It was the best audiobook of 2024 for me. A wonderfully well told story. I recommend not reading much about the story before actually reading or listening to it.