Connection and Community

Although each chapter of the novel is written from the first person point of view of a new narrator, every member of Aoyama’s eclectic cast of characters is connected by the Hatori Community House. The author indeed uses this setting as a symbolic representation of community and connection throughout the entirety of the novel. All five of the main characters, Tomoka, Ryo, Natsumi, Hiroya, and Masao, are experiencing bouts of profound isolation at the starts of their respective narrative accounts. However, once they discover the local Community House, they find themselves creating connections and relationships with unlikely individuals and over unexpected topics and experiences.

Throughout the novel and within the context of each character’s distinct circumstances, the author uses the Community House as a physical realm which teaches the characters new things about themselves, and thus alters their outlooks on their circumstances...