A stray cat dances through Tokyo, connecting a group of apparent strangers, in this inventive literary debut.
A tattoo artist beholden to traditional methods is caught up in a mind-bending commission; a homeless man is squatting in an abandoned capsule hotel; an overworked taxi driver is still grieving his wife's death; an American translator is struggling to adjust to her new big city life; a shut-in hermit is afraid to leave his house; a video game champion is searching for romance.
What links these people is a mythical cat, shapeshifting and wonderous, that dances through the streets of Tokyo. And, as it does so, the cat brushes up against the lives of those who live there and connects them in unexpected and, at times, magical ways.