A razor-sharp, darkly funny novel about identity, appropriation and the cost of belonging, from the translator of the International Booker Prize-winning Taiwan Travelogue. 

A recent graduate calling herself ‘Rina’ moves to Tokyo, ostensibly to launch her academic career, but in truth to pursue something far more private: her obsession with Kagami, the enigmatic hero of her favourite animé.

Fluent in Japanese, a meticulous student and alert to every nuance, Rina begins to construct a version of herself that might almost pass as Japanese. She curates her name, her past and her ambitions, drawing ever closer to the industry that surrounds her idol – and to the voice that brings him to life: the middle-aged actor Fujimoto Fumitaka.

As she burrows deeper into Tokyo’s entertainment world, Rina becomes entangled with a cast of performers and outsiders – her Taiwanese idol-in-training neighbour, the eerily perfect child influencer she tutors, her favourite fan artist and an astute hairdresser – and her carefully assembled identity begins to fracture.