Somehow, Crystal

A journey into the carefree, today-centric generation of Japan's economic boom years, as they enjoy the cosmopolitan lifestyle of Tokyo while exploring new dimensions in Japanese society and self-image. It won the coveted Bungei Prize partly because it was so completely different from the relatively staid, traditional literature of the time, but also because it served as a guide into the evolving world of a rich, global, commercialized nation and a younger generation who grew up never knowing war. The Japanese students inhabiting these pages pursue pleasure, fashion, and the recognition of their peers, forging new senses of identity through brand-name goods and music, but even as they drift from encounter to encounter they remain aloof from serious involvement, isolated from the essential interactions and demands of Japanese society. The book is clearly a product of the time, with a bewildering array of names and events that fix it in the young college scene of the 70s and 80s, and presents a dazzling cross-section of a generation. Winner of the 1980 Bungei Prize Finalist for the 1981 Akutagawa Prize