In 1995, the physical and social landscape of Japan was transformed by two events: the Kobe earthquake, in January, which destroyed thousands of lives, and the poison-gas attacks in the Tokyo subways in March, during the morning rush hour. Following these twin disasters, Murakami abandoned his life abroad and returned home to confront his country’s grief. And out of the quake come these six stories, set in the months between natural catastrophe and man-made terrorism.