HIGASHIMURA Akiko

From Kodansha: Rinko has done everything right. She hustled her way through her 20s to make it as a screenwriter, renting her own office in a trendy Tokyo neighborhood. Everything should have gone according to plan. So at 33, she can’t help but lament the fact that her career’s plateaued, she’s still painfully single, and she spends most of her nights drinking with her two…

This is an autobiography that tells the story of Akiko Hayashi, the author as she was in her third year of high school at the beginning of the story. Through her friend Futami, Akiko starts going to an art class led by Kenzou Hidaka, an intimidating teacher who spends much of his time yelling at his students and keeping them focused on drawing with the use of a bamboo sword.…