Akiko's Quiet Happiness: The Japan Trilogy, Vol. 1

Two lonely former classmates reconnect in Tokyo and unravel a family secret in this touching new novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats.

Still grieving the death of her mother, 29-year-old Akiko is single and lives in self-imposed isolation in Tokyo. Then one evening, she unexpectedly runs into Kento, her first love from school. Kento now leads a reclusive life as a hikikomori, only venturing out at night.

At the same time, Akiko discovers evidence that her mother had been lying to her about their family, causing her to doubt everything. She has to admit to herself that she doesn't know who she is.

With Kento's help, Akiko embarks on a journey into her own history, which takes her life in surprising directions and leads her to questions she had never dared to ask herself before: How do I want to live? And do I have the courage to love?

Author: Jan-Philipp Sendker
Publisher: Other Press (NY)
Published: 01/27/2026
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
ISBN13: 9781635425529
ISBN10: 1635425522
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Women
- Fiction | Family Life | General
- Fiction | Coming of Age

About the Author
Jan-Philipp Sendker, born in Hamburg in 1960, was the American correspondent for Stern from 1990 to 1995, and its Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1999. In 2000 he published Cracks in the Wall, a nonfiction book about China. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, his first novel, is an international best seller. He lives in Potsdam with his family.

Daniel Bowles is associate professor of German Studies at Boston College. His translation of Christian Kracht's Eurotrash was long-listed for the 2025 International Booker Prize, and his English rendering of Kracht's Imperium won the Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize in 2016.