Endo is likely to be struggling with ["the Japanese Graham Greene"] label for many years yet.

And, of course, the relation between literature and religion is one of his main themes….

But he is far more versatile than this suggests. He is one of Japan's major comic writers, for one thing, and, in When I Whistle, he explores yet another vein, a plain realism behind which lingers a discreet but clear symbolism….

Two threads run through the book. Ozu, an unsuccessful 'salary man', bumps into someone on the train who recognises him from the prewar past at Nada Middle School. Ozu cannot place him, but the incident jogs his memory, and his childhood at Nada and friendship with the grotesque and singular Flatfish unfold…. Both boys fall in love with one of the girls, Aiko….

Interwoven with this is the story of Ozu's son, Eiichi, whose life is...