This Japanese novel pictures happenings that take place from 11.56
pm to 6.52 am in the darkest of areas in a Japanese
city. Mari Asai, a nineteen
year old student of Chinese, is sitting in a restaurant reading a serious book.
She meets Takashaki who plays trombone in a nearby nightclub. She had earlier
met him through her sister. Takashaki is talkative and after engaging Mari for
some time he leaves to practice with his band. Mari now meets Kaoru, a woman
wrestler who is also a manager of the nearby love-hotel Alphaville. Suddenly
there is Duo Dongli, a nineteen year old Chinese illegal immigrant and a
prostitute, who is injured by one of her customers. She can only speak Chinese.
Kaoru seeks Mari’s help. With her limited knowledge of the language Mari does
her best. This help affects her in a
strange manner. She begins to feel that
Duo Dongli, who has already been taken away, is somehow trapped within her.
Another strange thing is happening elsewhere in the city. Mari’s sister Eri, is
in a coma since several weeks. An unplugged
television set beside her bed
suddenly turns on and an image of a man appears on the screen. As the man looks
at the unconscious Eri, the image of sleeping Eri appears on the Television
screen. Eri wakes up and finds that she is trapped in the television. There is
also Shirakawa, an engineer who is bored with everything around, his job, his
life and people themselves. He has a criminal mind and it was him who had
visited Duo Dongli as a customer and assaulted her. While all this is happening
Mari manages to converse with Duo Dongli and learns all about her secret fears.
The Japanese writer’s technique of narration in first person is unusual..