About the Book: Kitchen
Kitchen juxtaposes two tales about mothers, transsexuality, bereavement,
kitchens, love and tragedy in contemporary Japan. It is a startlingly original
first work by JapanS brightest young literary star and is now a cult film.
When Kitchen was first published in Japan in 1987 it won two of JapanS most
prestigious literary prizes, climbed its way to the top of the bestseller lists,
then remained there for over a year and sold millions of copies. Banana
Yoshimoto was hailed as a young writer of great talent and great passion whose
work has quickly earned a place among the best of modern