This is a beautiful evocative coming of age story as Tomoko goes on an extended visit to her uncle's house following the death of her father. Her cousin Mina, aunt and grandmother all have a part to play as Tomoko finds her place in the family and becomes a valuable companion for Mina.. The story is strange and wonderful, the pet hippo, hidden matchboxes and mysterious uncle all contribute to the atmosphere, and it is a pleasure to read.

Mina's Matchbox is a unique novel which dropped me squarely in 1970s Japan. A surprising little find full of joy, new adventure and the power of adapting to life beyond the ordinary, I loved it.

Newly arrived to live temporarily with her aunt, uncle, grandmother and sickly cousin Mina, 12 year old Tomoko arrives in Ashiya not knowing how it will change her life. Learning to navigate among these intriguing individuals, along with Pichiko the pygmy hippo, opens Tomoko's eyes to a world far different from what she knew with her mother in Okayama.

The beauty of this story feels a bit like watching a party through a key hole. Though you observe the happenings it feels less understood as we experience it from a distance with limited capacity, through the eyes and mind of 12 year old Tomoko. It's freeing and freshing to enjoy this new world with naivety and openness as the story rolls through the seasons and life evolves gradually. I could empathise with Tomoko as she learns more of life in Ashiya. She is both of it yet separate. Sweet, full of wisdom, this isn't exactly a coming of age story but it is one that has stayed with me well after reading the last page. A pure, gentle joy.

"Mina's Matchbox" could be just a whimsical tale about a delicate young girl who writes stories inspired by quirky matchboxes in Ashiya, Japan in the 1970s, but it is much more than that.

Tomoko, our narrator, goes to live with her uncle, his family, and their pet pygmy hippo, Pochiko. She also encounters Kobayashi-san, the gardener, and Yoneda-san, the housekeeper, Grandmother Rose, of German descent and Ryuichi, the son, studies in Switzerland and only returns home for holidays. Tomoko cherishes living in a house rich with mystery and history.

Mina, Tomoko's cousin, is a fragile girl who is often sick and unable to travel. Despite her health struggles, Mina maintains a positive outlook on life. She collects matchboxes, each of which inspires a unique story - tales of elephants, playful lost children, and seahorses.

Mina seeks solace in reading, convincing Tomoko to obtain a library membership to borrow books for her. Nothing dramatic really happens, they go to school (with Mina atop her hippo), share meals, read together, discuss current affairs of the time, watch the Munich Olympics. All very ordinary, however Yoko Ogawa infuses poetic melancholy and tenderness into the narrative, capturing the essence of life. Stephen B Snyder does a commendable job of the translation.

If you enjoy cozy reads and historical fiction, "Mina's Matchbox" will captivate you.

"Mina's Matchbox" is like a gentle hug brimming with depth and emotion.

Very grateful to Vintage and Netgalley for this arc

'But perhaps because they are now so completely removed from reality, nothing in the world can dim my memories.'

After the death of her father, and with her mother struggling to balance a job and looking after her daughter, twelve year-old Tomoko is sent to spend a year with her aunt and uncle. It is, to Tomoko, an exotic and exciting household; a German grandmother, a housekeeper and a gardener, and two cousins, one of whom is a year younger than her. This is Mina, an asthmatic and fragile girl who has an imagination as vivid as anyone. And then there is Pochiko, the pygmy hippopotamus, the last remainder of a zoo that used to exist in the gardens.

Over the course of a year, as the seasons pass quietly in the background, Tomoko is welcomed as part of the family. She starts school, but it is her developing friendship with her cousin that is at the heart of the book. Mina keeps a collection of matchboxes under her bed, and has created vivid stories in her imagination about each one. Tomoko visits the library to collect books for Mina, and as time passes the new experiences and family dynamics of this strange and wonderful household leave a lifelong impression on her.

This is a wonderful novel, slow and leisurely in its descriptions. It is a tale of family and of discovering a new world. Above all, it is a book that reveals the importance of memories. The book is framed by the older Tomoko as she looks back at this extraordinary year in her life, and the bittersweet enchantment is beautifully crafted by Ogawa, and wonderfully translated by Stephen Snyder.

Definitely one of my books of 2024, Everyone should read this. 5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

This is a delightfully charming book which has an adult Tomoko looking back and reminiscing about her childhood, specifically the year she spent with her Aunt's family. It's a bit of a change for her, moving from living in the city just with her mum, to a big house in a coastal town, living with a multi generational family with staff. But needs must and they make her very welcome. Especially Mina, her cousin, who becomes more like a sister to her. It's kinda Tomoko's coming of age story as she really blossoms from the shy retiring girl she started out being, to a wonderful confident woman. But I will leave you to discover the details as the author intends...
I will however have to mention that back in the day, the big house used to house a zoo. Only one of the animal remains in residence, a hippo called Pochiko, but he is an absolute star of the book. 1972 is also the year of the Munich Olympics, another thing that features.
It's a very character driven book and, as such, the characters have to be good enough to stand up. In this book, we are introduced to some of the most delightful characters. The two girls, the Aunt & Uncle, the Grandmother, the Housekeeper and the Gardener. All brilliant characters. All very different. All paying their parts in the whole very well indeed. I would really have loved to have been invited for tea with them, to meet them for real.
I actually though that this was my first book by this author but when I went to check out her back catalogue, I found that I had already read The Memory Police. Another book I enjoyed. As we are now 2 from 2, I am definitely going to investigate her more. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I wasn’t expecting to love this as much as I did - it seems from the blurb and the first few chapters that you’re getting a sweet but insubstantial story of a girl going to live with her aunt and uncle in a big house in the mountains, with her precocious cousin and a pet pygmy hippo. However those who have read The Memory Police and The Housekeeper and the Professor will know how quickly and stealthily Yoko Ogawa’s novels will sneak up on you with their quiet intensity.

Mina’s Matchbox is charming, bittersweet, nostalgic, moving and intriguing. Ogawa writes her characters with such heart and generosity, and even though this book has very little plot it’s so easy to get completely sucked into the world they inhabit. It left me with a feeling like intense homesickness for a place I’ve never been.

A magical year and the triumph of innocence over loss.

This novel is set mainly in the Olympic year of 1972 and this is important because whilst America and the Soviet Union saw the Olympics as a platform from which to present their competing visions for the future of the world, Japan saw the Olympics themselves as a model of the world as they might like it to be and approached the games with wholehearted and innocent enthusiasm.

The story is narrated by a young girl, Tomoko, who has lost her beloved father and has gone to stay at her uncle’s house whilst her mother retrains to be able to support them both by herself. It’s an amazing house with a big garden, complete with pet pygmy hippo, “Pochiko” and there’s a whole household of fascinating characters for Tomoko to get to know. But she’s not “living with her uncle” as she expected, because he’s hardly ever home. Indeed, he only seems to reappear when Tomoko’s asthmatic cousin, Mina, has a health crisis requiring hospitalisation. (This happens several times.)

Mina seems very weak and frail, but also proves to have developed both her intelligence and her imagination to an unusual degree and Tomoko quickly comes to admire Mina and then to love her (she has to make a effort to correct someone who assumes they are sisters). Mina collects matchboxes with little original cartoons on them, and writes a little story inspired by the cartoon on each matchbox. This is an interesting discipline, because there’s a limit on the number of characters she can inscribe on a small matchbox!

The members of the household (including Grandma Rosa, who is German) all pursue their own daily routines, not avoiding each other at all, but not necessarily being interested by the same thing until the two girls develop an interest in volleyball when they realise that some of the Japanese men’s Olympic team are by no means bad-looking! They learn the rules and imagine themselves being able to play (the reality differs a little) and the whole household, like the country, becomes interested in the Olympics and especially the volleyball!

Then the Israeli team are taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists and athletes are killed. This is shocking and a huge disappointment to Japanese sports fans in general, and to Grandma Rosa and her family in general, because her sister’s family died in Auschwitz. (This does not imply she was Jewish herself: about six million Jews and Roma died in the Holocaust; the concentration camp system also claimed the lives of another five million or so people selected on non-racial grounds, or who simply got in the way of the SS.)

It is a tragedy and one which wounds Rosa and her family, but the games resume and continue, and the Japanese volleyball team wins the gold and returns as heroes. Not just because they won, but because they adhered to the spirit of the games throughout.

Tomoko’s uncle continues to be an intermittent presence and the girls continue to have adventures, including a meteor-spotting expedition to a reservoir in the mountains: they take Pochiko with them so she can have a nice nocturnal swim in the lake!

Christmas looms and Grandma Rosa takes charge, but there is a forest fire and a tragedy on Christmas day. The moment for Tomoko to go back to live with her mother is also drawing near and, perhaps inspired by the barely perceptible fluttering of an angel, she tracks her uncle’s other address down and, quietly but unmistakably, lets him know that Mina needs and deserves what Tomoko herself cannot have: her father’s presence.

This was an intriguing read, although not much really happens.

As I reflect back over this book I realise that it was the beautiful writing kept me reading. There are some wonderful enchanting moments which made me gasp. You really need to be in the mindset of this being set in Japan and not the Western world.

Tomoko goes to live with her affluent family in Ashiva for a year in 1972. Apart from the obvious benefits of the lifestyle there are some quirky things that happen. Such as her cousin Mina riding a baby hippo to school each day. Mina is also asthmatic and this results in some time in hospital at various points in the book and how Tomoko finds her own way in the family without her presence.

The relationship Tomoko forms with Mina is charming and sweet. The book also charts the new found maturity that Tomoko experiences. There are a few loose ends that I wish had been explored more. I guess as it is being told from the perspective of an adult looking back on their childhood, this relfects their lack of understanding of what was happening.

Yoko Ogawa's Mina's Matchbox is a beautifully written coming-of-age story set in 1970s Japan. Following her father's death, twelve-year-old Tomoko is sent to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle in a grand mansion filled with secrets and nostalgia. The novel introduces a cast of memorable characters, particularly Tomoko's cousin Mina, whose imaginative world of matchbox stories and childhood mysteries captivates her.

While Ogawa's prose is undeniably beautiful, the novel's slow pace ultimately fell short for me. Despite enjoying the initial character introductions, the plot felt stagnant and never quite gained momentum. The detailed snapshots of the characters' lives, though charming, did not form a compelling narrative, affecting my overall engagement with the book.

Mina's Matchbox will appeal to readers who appreciate slower, character-driven stories, offering moments to be savoured and an evocative sense of nostalgia..

I think one of the things I find most fascinating about Japanese literature is how the authors manage to keep me glued to the pages of a novel in which, by and large, nothing extraordinary happens. Nevertheless, as for example in this case, the tension was such that I was expecting a tragedy at any moment.

Credo che una delle cose che trovo piú affascinanti della letteratura giapponese, é come gli autori riescano a tenermi incollata alle pagine di un romanzo in cui, tendenzialmente, non succede poi niente di straordinario. Ciononostante, come per esempio in qusto caso, la tensione era tale che mi aspettavo una tragedia da un momento all'altro.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Ogawa did it again!

Fresh and bright as a garden after the rain, this is a touching and amusing short novel but with its darker side and the fleeting nature of childhood.
Tomoko has lost her father and her mother is going back to school, so she spends a year with her aunt's family in Ashiya. There she discovers an eccentric and affectionate world, with a German grandmother, a cook who runs the household, a dandy father and Pochiko, the dwarf hippopotamus who lives in the garden! But above all there is Mina, the fragile, asthmatic and precocious cousin with whom she immediately becomes inseparable.
A year passes with the rhythm of the seasons and we fall in love with this family, feeling at home in this Western house, living with the mysterious absences of this warm-hearted father and Mina's asthma attacks, over-protected by those around her. There's the delicious food, the huge library of contemporary classics and the pampering. But there is also the loneliness and boredom of Mina's neglected mother, and Mina's hospitalisations.
Yoko Ogawa's simple, clear style, which I have just discovered, reminds me very much of that of Banana Yoshimoto, and I admire her fragile, elusive descriptions of the emotions and reflections that can dance in a cup or a curtain.

As a huge fan of The Memory Police, I knew I had to pick up Ogawa's new release: Mina's Matchbox! Set in the haze of nostalgia, we follow Tomoko as she looks back on her 12 year old self who is sent to live with her Uncle and his family for a year in Japan, set in the 1970s. Tomoko is entranced by her family members, in particular, her blooming friendship with her cousin Mina becomes a pivotal part of the narrative, who collects matchboxes.

Ogawa (and Snyder's translation) has an amazing way of portraying so vividly a slice of life narrative, where you are instantly completely immersed in the world that she creates. If you enjoy character-driven narratives, then I highly recommend this book!

Without a doubt, the stand out character is Pochiko, the miniature hippopotamus, who lives in the long abandoned zoo at the bottom of the garden and upon whom Mina rides to school everyday. The adorable descriptions of Pochiko's stumpy legs stole my heart.

That was such a delicate and poetic novella, following Tomoko, a young girl who spends a year with her aunt's wealthy family in Japan, 1972. I loved the eccentric family, with the mysterious uncle who fixes his family's belongings at night, Mina and her matchbox collection, the German grandmother Rosa and her friendship with the housekeeper Yoneda, and of course the pet hippopotamus... It was melancholic and lovely.

This is a lovely book, made up of what feel like quirky vignettes, telling the story of Tomoko, a young Japanese girl spending a year with her aunt and rather eccentric family - and pygmy hippo - while her mother is at design school. It's gentle and whimsical but there are also some hard truths seen through her eyes as she tries to negotiate an adult world.
The only thing I found a bit jarring was the rather sudden ending.
Special mention to the wonderful translator who ensured it was easy and enjoyable to read in English.
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

A beautiful, meditative and reflective story. Loved the whimsy of the characters and story. Benefits from a longer read, where you can sit in the world and with the characters. Captures the bittersweet nostalgia of memories you are aware will be significant as you're living them, that are often the random confluence of events that brings together a specific set of people, at a specific time in a specific place.

"If you wanted to describe Mina in a few words, you might say she was an asthmatic girl who loved books and rode a pygmy hippopotamus. But if you wanted to distinguish her from everyone else in the world, you'd say she was a girl who could strike a match more beautifully than anyone."

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was an extraordinary novel, skillfullly translated from its original Japanese version by Stephen Snyder. Perhaps ‘transferred’ is a better term as the meaning and emotions appear to have been preserved, and the novel is all the richer for it. It presents a rich tapestry of human frailty, refracted through objects we hold onto for their memorial value. The novel’s main character, Tomoko, does just that, recalling her life story through an assemblage of domestic paraphernalia and photos. Among her recollections are the year of 1972, when she is sent away as a twelve year-old to lodge with her aunt’s family to allow her mother to complete a course of study that will hopefully lead to a better career. In contrast to Tomoko’s quiet, fairly minimalist home life to date, the aunt’s house has everything in abundance: charismatic people (her uncle and aunt, her great-aunt and cousin, all supported by a housekeeper and groundsman), belongings (antique furniture, ancient books and other artefacts) and new experiences. This is not a novel that builds towards a climax or an extraordinary revelation. Rather, its extraordinariness lies in its minute, nuanced descriptions of seemingly ordinary experiences: Tomako’s negotiation of the affluence she has never encountered before, the riches the local library holds, the challenges of starting at a new school – and the gradually emerging friendship and understanding that she builds with her cousin Mina.
I am always looking to discover exciting new literary voices. This novel held a lot of promise and made a lasting impact, so I was delighted to be granted a free e-ARC in exchange for the book review.

Mina's Matchbox is about 12-year old Tomoko and the year she lives with her aunt's family in the 1970's in rural Japan. Told by an older Tomoko, we meet her cousin Mina as well as her aunt and uncle and Grandmother Rosa and learn about a pivotal moment in her young life.

I initially enjoyed the story and meeting Tomoko and her family. There were interesting dynamics between them all, particularly her uncle who disappears for months at a time and her aunt who is depressed and drinks too much. Unfortunately, I felt that many of the interesting threads of the story weren't taken further into the narrative and lost interest around the midpoint.

The prose is beautiful and it did remind me of Kazuo Ishiguro and his style, particularly as its about nostalgia and loss but I felt it ultimately lacked depth and direction.

A vivid and evocative novel, Mina's Matchbox is a beautiful coming of age story set in 1970s Japan.

Not a lot happens, but it's wonderfully atmospheric. Ogawa's use of Ghibli-esque imagery and subject matter conjures up the same bittersweet beauty often found in Ghibli's work. The characters are vividly imagined, and the relationship between the narrator and her ethereal cousin Mina is utterly enchanting. It's beautifully paced with some really poignant moments towards the end.

Mina's Matchbox is a tender novel of family and imagination, laced with childhood magic.

Thank you Penguin Random House, Vintage Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

It's the spring of 1972, 12-year-old Tomoko leaves Tokyo and her mother behind and travels to Ashiya, a coastal Japanese town, to live with her aunt and uncle for a year. The home is magnificent - seventeen rooms filled with German-made furnishings... and a pygmy hippo living in the gardens. Centre of this home is Mina, Tomoko's cousin. Mina is a clever young girl, but at 13 her body often limits her as she struggles with asthma. The two girls form a close bond as Mina lets Tomoko into her little world of secrets, stories, and some rather special matchboxes.

Mina's Matchbox is a coming-of-novel focusing on this year of Tomoko's life as she looks back as an adult - the memories a snapshot in time she holds very dear.

This story was enchanting in many ways. A nostalgic tale about friendship, family hardships, memories, the beauty that can be found in the mundane.

"If you wanted to describe Mina in a few words, you might say she was an asthmatic girl who loved books and rode a pygmy hippopotamus. But if you wanted to distinguish her from everyone else in the world, you'd say she was a girl who could strike a match more beautifully than anyone."

I'll start by saying this is not a plot-book. It's observational of day-to-day life, and very character focused. Not for everyone, but I really enjoyed Tomoko's voice and the way she viewed the world and those around her which made for a really enjoyable read.

I particularly enjoyed Tomoko and Mina's relationship. Tomoko was so grateful to be let into Mina's world and genuinely savoured every secret.

Tomoko's observations of the adults around her were also really interesting. She made for an interesting narrator as she, as an adult, recalled her childhood experiences and how she felt about the behaviour of the adults around her. It was nice to get a glimpse of what Tomoko and Mina's relationship looked like as adults.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. A narrator looking back on memories from childhood through an adult lens is always interesting and I think this was done really well.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this if you need a book to make you slow down and appreciate the small things. ...and probably make you wish you had a pet pygmy hippo.

There were so many beautiful quotes in this book, so below are a couple of mine. Thank you again Penguin Random House, Vintage Books for the arc.

"Mina, who gave me so much and asked nothing in return, was born in the winter of 1960. Mina, the darling of the whole family, whose body was too weak to travel but whose soul never stopped voyaging to the ends of the earth."

"Beyond the page lay an unknown world, and the open book was a portal to that world that should not be thoughtlessly disturbed lest Mina be unable to find her way back."

Written from Tomoko's perspective, this is the account of her year living with her (very) rich cousin in the 1970s. Not a lot happens. The 2 girls go to school, read books, spend time with the pet hippo and become fangirls of the Japanese volleyball team. There are things which could turn tragic, but they don't. Then, once the year is up, there are a few concluding remarks and it stops. Not one I can recommend. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.