I might say that there’s a neat little idea or observation here, eloquently and yet conversationally related. But then that neat little idea or observation easily starts to seem to me close to all-important, or at least it’s extremely resonant for me.

Meaning to expand on what I’ve just said, I started writing a list of to-my-mind fascinating questions and arguments that I’ve encountered over the years, all of which came to mind upon re-reading this story in preparation for possibly including it here. The list was fast becoming a treatise, so I deleted it. But you get the point. This story functions for me like a perfect little gateway to a series of connected topics that I’ve never properly thought about but am now, what with the steady build-up of related material at the back of my mind, absolutely primed to think about. I imagine this is a common kind of appeal that stories have for people. 

Quite apart from all that, this story has a special charm for me, as I’m sure it does for others, as a kind of urtext of the great Japanese cat obsession, with the plot here blending seamlessly into classic Ghibli and Murakami territory, for instance.

First published in Japanese in 1935 in, according to the Internet Speculative Fiction database, the magazine「セルバン」(“Seruban”). Jeffrey Angles’ English translation first appeared in Modanizumu: Modernist Fiction from Japan, 1913–1938, edited by William J. Tyler. This translation has since also featured in The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories and The Big Book of Classic Fantasy: The Ultimate Collection, both edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer