Genki Kawamura - If Cats Disappeared from the World

My father who sat for hours hunched over his desk repairing clocks, the same father who squeezed my hand tight in the movie theater, who bought me stamps, who held Cabbage, smiling, when he was a kitten, and who ran through the hot-spring town with me, looking for a vacancy. The same father who arrived late at Mom’s funeral and sat alone in a corner crying and trying to hide his tears.

On the day I left home my father left my treasure box in the middle of my empty room. Now I remember that my father had stretched out his hand to me as I was about to leave. All I had to do was take that hand. I should have taken it, as he had mine in the movie theater when I was still small.

Father—

All these years I really wanted to see you. I wanted to say I’m sorry. I wanted to say thank you, and goodbye. I felt the tears beginning to run down my cheeks. I wiped them on the sleeve of my postman’s uniform and put the letter in my bag, then I ran out of the apartment. I clattered down the stairs and got on the bicycle I’d left at the bottom. I put Cabbage in the basket and sped down the hill. It was hard pedaling and the frame of the old bicycle squeaked. The tears ran down my face as I pedaled, and soon I reached the next hill, which I had to climb.

The wind began to blow. The sky cleared and I got the feeling that spring was on its way, the warm rays of the sun enveloping me. Cabbage was enjoying the wind in his face and let out a meow. Directly below me I could see the dark blue of the ocean. My father lived on the other side of the bay. I often looked down on that town from the top of the hill. It was so close, yet I’d never gone to visit him. That’s where I was headed. To the neighboring town to see my father. I pedaled hard, and then coasted downhill, gradually speeding up. Faster and faster I went as I got closer to my father’s house.

Genki Kawamura is a bestselling author of three novels. His first novel, If Cats Disappeared From The World , has sold over a million copies in Japan and has been translated into eleven languages. His other novels are Million Dollar Man and April Come She Will. He has also written three children’s picture books, Tinny & The Balloon , MOOM , and Patissier Monster. Kawamura is a producer, director, screenwriter, and a showrunner as well.

First published in the UK in paperback 2018 by Picador

This electronic edition published 2018 by Picador

an imprint of Pan Macmillan

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ISBN 978-1-5098-8918-1

Copyright © Genki Kawamura 2012

Translation copyright © Eric Selland 2018

Cover images © 1940 Clare Turlay Newberry

Author photo courtesy of author

The right of Genki Kawamura to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Sekai kara neko ga kieta nara © 2012 Genki Kawamura. All rights reserved.

Originally published in Japanese as by Magazine House, Ltd.

Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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