Product Description

Rinka Kazuki is an enka singer she sings traditional ballads in Tokyo countryside retreats and old folks homes for hundred yen coins. She has high hopes: a record contract, a loving relationship, to finally get rid of her trundle trolley. Following her through the suburbs of Tokyo as she tries to avoid the pitfalls of her profession you ll find her an insightful commentator, one of the most engaging characters in Japanese fiction today and see why this entertaining and perceptive novel has been a hit in Japan.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #783154 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-20
• Original language: Japanese
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 215 pages

Review
'You might be lucky enough to find yourself with Naomi Suenaga's The Hundred Yen Singer, a novel that takes chick-lit and turns it into something mischievous and beguiling. Nothing could be further from all those bleak entertainment industry narratives than Suenaga's Joie de Vivre' , Independent --The Independent

The Japanese entertainment world described in Naomi Suenaga's novel is about as far removed from Memoirs of a Geisha as could be imagined. Rinka Kazuki is condemned to scraping a living performing traditional Japanese ballads (enka) in bathhouses and other sleazy venues, scrabbling for hundred-yen tips to make ends meet. Her professional life is built on illusion but the crushing realities of every day life; unscrupulous agents, jealous rivals, an unsupportive married lover and lascivous would be patrons, often threaten to sink her. Suenaga's own experiences of the business lend snap and crackle to this tale of feisty perseverence and she conjures some deftly drawn and amusing characters from this twilit world, intoxicated by the promise of stardom. Metro --Metro

Suenaga describes the plight of a Japanese singer trying to keep her dreams alive while working as a third rate act in a seedy industry. The reader gets right into the heart and soul of the protagonist as she battles with life's greatest problems: earning a living and finding love . Big Issue --Big Issue

About the Author
Naomi Suenaga published her first novel in 1996 after a varied career that included spells as a cartoonist s secretary, a hostess, and an enka singer. Entitled Bara No Onigokko (Roses Playing Tag), it won a literary prize and was followed by several more novels, including Ukarezakura (Floating Cherry Blossom), and Bonno Haitatsunin (The Troubled Delivery Man).