In this week’s J-Book Club we explore the work of one of Japan’s great modern masters, Kaoru Takamura.

Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses.

They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan: a poorly socialized genius stuck working as a welder; a demoted detective with a chip on his shoulder; a Zainichi Korean banker sick of being ostracized for his race; a struggling single dad of a teenage girl with Down syndrome. The fifth man bringing them all together is an elderly drugstore owner grieving his grandson, who has died suspiciously after the revelation of a family connection with the segregated buraku community, historically subjected to severe discrimination.Intent on revenge against a society that values corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan’s largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company’s corrupt financiers.

J-Book Club is online so you can join the conversation from wherever you are!

To register or learn more, email Amy Sherman at: jbookclubdc@gmail.com