Convenience Store Woman

Keiko Furukura is thirty-six and has worked part-time in the same Tokyo convenience store for eighteen years. She has known since childhood that she is different, and that saying what she thinks distresses other people. The store, where every action is prescribed by the corporate manual, gives her a sense of purpose and an identity those around her can accept; she copies the dress and speech of her co-workers.

She has friends and a married sister but no interest in dating. Sayaka Murata worked in a convenience store herself and drew on the experience. The English translation is by Ginny Tapley Takemori.