Sanaka Hiiragi

Fiction 2019 | 199 pages

This is another delightful book given to us by our former book club Pam, written by a Japanese author and translated into English.

Mr. Hiraaka holds the position of the keeper of the door to the afterlife.  People who die wake up on his couch, where the after-life FedEx person delivers a box of photographs to Mr. Hirasaka.  People die and enter his chambers.  They must choose one photograph for each year they were alive, and then he puts them on a lantern, and they see their entire life on display.  They can travel back unseen to one of the days of their life and take another photograph.  Once they have see their entire life, they can enter the afterlife and move on to heaven or wherever.

He shepherds three people through this process.  The first is Hatsue, who is 92 and has spent her life being a nursery school teacher.  Then we meet Wanigichi, a criminal who also has compassion.  Finally, we encounter Mitsuru, a nine-year old little girl who dies at the hands of her abusive parents.

Charming, whimsical, easy to read, uplifting, this is a fine short read.  I recommend it completely!

February 2026