Chie Shinkyu’s Wakako Zake began on 25 July 2011 and continues. Each chapter is short and the shape never changes: Wakako Murasaki goes into a bar by herself, chooses something to eat and something to drink, takes a bite and a sip, and is quietly satisfied.
The subject is not food information but the shape of drinking alone. The few seconds spent deciding which place to enter, the conversation audible from the next seat, the short wait before the dish arrives: that is what each chapter actually contains. The small noise Wakako makes when it lands works as the full stop, and the material keeps changing so the repetition never wears out.
That eating and drinking alone is simply enjoyable, with no defence offered for it, is part of the book’s character. Live-action and animated adaptations exist, and since chapters are short you can start anywhere.
