The Amberglow Candy Store

The Amberglow Candy Store / Hiyoko Kurisu
trans. from the Japanese by Matt Treyvaud
NY: Scribner, 2025, c2022.
208 p.

I enjoyed this unusual read! It falls into the same genre of Japanese novel that I've been reading a lot of lately, but it's a bit different. It features life lessons, a shop, melancholy friendships, for example, like many others, but it also includes a main character who is half-fox - a part of the otherworldly element of Japanese folklore. 

Kogetsu owns the Amberglow Candy Shop on Gloaming Lane, a strange shopping area that humans only stumble upon when they need it. Most of the shops are closed up, and people wander down this street until they find the candy store with its very handsome proprietor. They choose a candy that promises something - luck, confidence, relationship help and so on - and when they return to their normal lives they find that eating the candy really helps them. Most of the time it's a placebo effect, though: the solution has been in their grasp the whole time and the candy gives them the confidence to solve their own problem. 

Like many of these books, it's told in short chapters dealing with each character's encounter and resultant life lesson. It's a bit quirky, with some light humour thanks to Kogetsu's misunderstandings of human behaviour. And the magical element actually felt quite magical and ancient. I thought that this book had more of the feel of Miyazaki films or folklore inspired characters than any other Japanese novel I've read recently. I really enjoyed the feel of this one, it had a great atmosphere. And seeing people learn life lessons softly and without a lot of conflict was nice too. The final chapter gives more of Kogetsu's own story, and was a nice way to tie up this book, with an opportunity for him to also learn more about life. Enjoyable though a quiet and light read.