ALLISON MARKIN POWELL is a literary translator, editor, and publishing consultant. She has translated works by Osamu Dazai, Fuminori Nakamura, and Kanako Nishi. She lives in New York City, and maintains the database www.japaneseliteratureinenglish.com.

Copyright

Copyright © 2012 by Hiromi Kawakami

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

English translation © 2012 by Allison Markin Powell

Excerpts from Seihaku Irako’s poetry appear with permission from the translators, William Elliott and Katsumasa Nishihara. The excerpts on pages 10 and 11 from “Wandering” are reprinted from The Singing Heart: An Anthology of Japanese Poems, 1900–1960 © 2006.

First published as The Briefcase by Counterpoint in 2012.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the original paperback edition as follows:

Kawakami, Hiromi, 1958– [Sensei no kaban. English]

The briefcase / Hiromi Kawakami ; translated by Allison Markin Powell.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-58243-599-2 (pbk.)

1. Women—Fiction. 2. Men—Fiction. 3. Japan—Fiction. I. Powell, Allison Markin. II. Title.

PL855.A859S4613 2012

895.6’36—dc23

2011041521

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64009-016-3

Cover design by Natalia Mosquera

Cover art © Natsumi Hayashi, “Today’s Levitation 05/24/2011”

Interior design by Domini Dragoone

Printed in the United States of America

COUNTERPOINT

2560 Ninth Street, Suite #318

Berkeley, CA 94710

www.counterpointpress.com

Distributed by Publishers Group West

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1