After his wallet and phone are stolen in the Paris Metro, a Japanese university student meets a hapless fashion reporter from Kobe, and together they turn the tables on their bad luck by embarking on a tour of Normandy in a pink Citroen.

Simon Rowe grew up in small town New Zealand and big city Australia when orange Fanta came in glass bottles and AM radio was king. He now writes and teaches in the samurai castle town of Himeji in western Honshu. His stories have appeared in TIME Asia, the New York Times, the Weekend Australian, the South China Morning Post and the Paris Review.