(Translated by Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio)
* * * * *
(Fair review based on a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley UK.)
This well-crafted novel is a long and enjoyable read, even though it’s all about alienation, exclusion, poverty and injustice. Hana, of High School age but no longer going to school, has no effective means of establishing her identity, cannot have a bank account, access insurance, medical care, or any of the many things which normal citizens take for granted. And because she has no means of establishing her identity, she has no way of getting any sort of document, or card, which allows her to legitimise her existence. Nonetheless, females in this position can get grey-economy or zero-hours jobs which permit them to exist (and serve the society which excludes them) whereas it’s very hard for males in the same boat to get ANY legal or even gig-economy position without the help of organised crime; the price of which is constant obedience and never-ending obligation.
As ever, in any part of the world and not just in Japan, the existence of a mandatory means of proving your entitlement to be part of society is, first and foremost aimed at the exclusion from society of those whom the rich and powerful despise, or those that they fear. That is a universal truth and it is why this novel will speak to any thinking resident of the United Kingdom in 2026. It will, however, be lost on the unthinking, whether they actually constitute a majority or not.
Having said all that, what makes this an enjoyable read is the relationship which develops between Hana and an older woman, Kimiko, who’s been in a similar bind for many years. Kimiko’s hopeless situation has destroyed any ability she might once have had to scheme her way out of her situation, but at the same time she has no qualms about sharing any resource that she has access to with anyone who needs it. If someone is thirsty, Kimiko tries to find something for them to drink, if they are sad she tries to cheer them up. From a position of being unable to help herself in any useful way, she helps others, especially Hana, even if it’s only to get through one more day.
They get some breaks from atypically generous landlords who fell into wealth and are not hugely worried about IMMEDIATE payoffs, and much more sustained assistance from a seasoned and remarkably cautious gangster who has realised, from the experience of his elder brothers, that ambition and greed are very dangerous things if you are part of organised crime! Organised crime exploits societal greed: its foot soldiers are in mortal danger the moment they cease to be content with what they are given. He helps Hana and Kimiko as far as his own survival permits and is perhaps the only man Hana loves; certainly he’s the only man in Hana’s world worthy of her trust.
One of Hana’s older female friends falls into the hands of a more typical gang member (he mistakenly thinks he is upwardly mobile) and pays the inevitable price, causing a crisis which breaks up the friendship group, perhaps forever, but certainly until the Coronavirus pandemic puts the whole of Japan into the sort of state which has been normal for Hana all her life.
Somewhat ironically, Hana’s greatest financial success (this doesn’t last long) comes from the exploitation of cloned debit and credit cards: the very instruments of her exclusion from law-abiding society! At the end, Hana has lost everyone she loves, but that loss means they are always with her, which is the very last thing Kimiko teaches her. She finds peace.
Sisters in Yellow is published in the UK by Picador on 19th of March 2026
