An extract from Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Asa Yoneda
An inventive and immersive speculative novel about a future in which humans are nearing extinction – from the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo
Hiromi Kawakami
Hiromi Kawakami was born in Tokyo in 1958 and is one of Japan's most popular contemporary novelists
In 2001 she won the Tanizaki Prize for Strange Weather in Tokyo, which became an international bestseller and was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Asian Literary Prize and the 2014 International Foreign Fiction Prize (the precursor of the International Booker Prize). Her other fiction in translation includes The Nakano Thrift Shop, The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino, People from My Neighbourhood, and The Third Love. Kawakami has contributed to editions of Granta in both the UK and Japan. Under the Eye of the Big Bird was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
With crystalline clarity, it tells the story of humanity’s evolution on an epic scale
— The 2025 judges on Under the Eye of the Big Bird
Hiromi Kawakami on Under the Eye of the Big Bird
‘What made me decide to write this book was the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March 2011. That was a moment when we were confronted by the fact that humanity is no longer able to control the technologies we have created.’
Read the full interview here.
All nominated books
An inventive and immersive speculative novel about a future in which humans are nearing extinction – from the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo
