This thought-provoking and intriguing tale, by the Akutagawa Prize-nominated master short story writer Kanji Hanawa, revolves around the extraordinary real story of the seven-year-old boy who went missing in the bear-inhabited forests of northern Japan for six whole days in 2016, after his parents had apparently abandoned him as a punishment. In Backlight, a child is left alone at the side of a road in the mountains of Hokkaido in northern Japan by his parents. When they return moments later, the boy is gone. Ishida, a Professor of Psychology is enlisted as part of the search team. As days pass, the search goes on and the number of people involved reaches more than one thousand. Ishida and his colleagues assess, analyze and discuss mostly at a safe and comfortable distance, taking them on their own journey from theories concerning the whereabouts of the child, to the very heart of the Japanese psyche. A complex and challenging look at an unfolding emergency, a culture and a country.
