A sad read about a man looking back on his difficult life, from trying to make ends meet as a labourer in Tokyo in the 1960s to a homeless resident of Tokyo's Ueno Park in the present day, who has recently died..

It was amazing to read this one while in Tokyo, having visited a lot of the places referred to in the book.

Yu Miri's writing — combined with Morgan Giles' translation — is excellent. It's clear and succinct, and yet filled with just enough descriptions and metaphors that were so simple, but also effective and emotive.

Tokyo Ueno Station makes you reflect on just how many people out there have fallen on bad times due to unfortunate luck, and how they have no choice but to struggle to navigate a society that doesn't empathise with them, but hastily judges and rejects them instead.