Mistress Koharu

An obsessive Tokyoite Pygmalion—thrilling and provocative literary fiction from a leading Japanese author.
Akira, a meticulous editor at a major publishing house in Tokyo, harbors a secret: he lives with Koharu, a Hungarian-made love doll. Each night, he speaks to her and finds a long-sought solace in her presence—a comfort he cannot attain even in the arms of real women in his life. Things only improve when Koharu breaks free from her role as a love doll and starts speaking and moving on her own, transformed into the perfect wife.
But when a new woman enters Akira's life, everything changes. A single confession to Koharu about his attraction sets off a chain of disturbing events that spiral into the unexpected.

Born in Wakayama Prefecture in 1945, Noboru Tsujihara has won several major literary awards including the Akutagawa Prize, the Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Tanizaki Junichiro Prize, and the Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize. His novel Jasmine was translated into English by Juliet Winters Carpenter.