Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda, translated by Alison Watts (Bitter Lemon Press)

Riku Onda is the pen name for Nanae Kumagai, a Japanese writer whose novels The Aosawa Murders (Asia by the Book, January 12, 2023) and Honeybees and Distant Thunder (Asia by the Book, July 4, 2024) have been published in English in 2020 and 2023, respectively. 

Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight was originally published in the Japanese language with the title 木漏れ日に泳ぐ魚 (Komorebi ni Oyagu Sakana) in 2007 by Chuo-Koron Shinsha. It is a psychological thriller. The book was translated by Alison Watts who also translated her novel The Aosawa Murders. Watts has also translated Spark (Asia by the Book, April 15, 2021) by Naoki Matayoshi and The Boy and the Dog (Asia by the Book, January 22, 2024) by Seishu Hase. 

Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight is set in a small apartment in Tokyo over the course of one night. The main characters, Aki and Hiro, have decided to spend one last night together before going their separate ways. Their relationship had been going on a downhill slide since an incident that happened one year ago. They talk about it as if there is someone else listening to their thoughts and worries, as if they’re telling their stories directly to the reader. 

Aki and Hiro went on a hiking trip in the Japanese Alps in Nagano Prefecture along with an experienced mountain guide. However, on that trip, the guide mysteriously died. Aki believes that it was Hiro who killed him. Hiro believes that it was Aki who killed him. They are both going to try to get a confession before the night is over. Who is the murderer and why was he killed? 

Each chapter is told in the first person by Aki and Hiro and begins with Hiro talking about a photograph. What he’s about to share “is the story of a photo”. He says it’s also about “the mystery surrounding the death of a certain man, and a mountain tale as well. Plus, there’s the relationship aspect : the break-up of a couple. But the photo is at the heart of it”. 

Aki is also nervous about this evening. Ever since the incident happened, things haven’t been the same with either one of them. As Aki looks back on their life together in this apartment, she says, “That trip, and the death of that man, changed things forever for us”. Aki feels that for the past year, both of them had been walking on eggshells. She shares her thoughts about the two of them. 

“We were so close until that point, but those few days tore us apart”. It’s still hard to decipher why they drifted apart so much. Is it because they both suspect the other of having a hand in killing that man. Or was it something about the man that led them to the predicament they’re in. 

What really keeps the reader interested is the way Onda has Aki and Hiro taking turns talking about the incident. We learn when and where they met, and then we discover something much more surprising than the death of the mountain guide and why the man’s death had led to this evening. ~Ernie Hoyt