With charmingly dry humor, these 11 stories take us inside the minds of ordinary women in Japan as they juggle life and work.

Minori cancels an appointment with a difficult acquaintance by telling an innocent lie. Eventually her niece Saki, Saki's university classmate Tanioka, and Minori's boss at work, Director Kojima, ask for Minori's guidance to save them from their own challenging situations.

Ms. Nakayama finds a unique way to relieve stress in the employee parking lot. Ms. Kurata struggles with the unkind attitude of her younger coworkers as well as the somber frustration of her high-school-aged son. Yokoi is responsible for organizing Mr. Maruoka's farewell party after 42 years of work. Only, what venue is best for the man who's been out to drink over two thousand times?

Kikuko Tsumura's stories are of ordinary people navigating through troublesome relationships and emotional turmoil, all in search of balance in their lives.

Kikuko Tsumura is a writer from Osaka, Japan. She is the winner of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize and numerous Japanese literary awards including the Dazai Osamu Prize, Noma Literary Prize, Akutagawa Prize, Oda Sakunosuke Prize, Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize, Murasaki Shikibu Literary Prize, Tanizaki Jun'ichiro Prize, and a New Artist award for There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job.

Yuki Tejima is a translator from the Japanese whose projects include Mizuki Tsujimura's Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon and How to Hold Someone in Your Heart, Kumi Kimura's Someone to Watch Over You, and Emi Yagi's When the Museum Is Closed, among others. Raised in California, she now divides her time between Los Angeles and Tokyo.