This year, the bestselling book in Japan wasn¡¯t about kimono-clad demon slayers or quiet architecture mysteries ¡ª it was about children making mistakes. ¡°,¡± from the illustrated series by Noritake Suzuki about a cloddish kid forever falling into mishaps or ¡°big pinches,¡± was the top-selling book of 2025.
In the latest edition, published April this year, the clumsy schoolboy with a bowl haircut and cowlick runs into familiar foibles of childhood, such as ¡°broke disposable chopsticks unevenly¡± and ¡°left water bottle outside during recess,¡± which are ranked relatively low on the spectrum of hiccups. Bigger crises include ¡°umbrella gets stuck inside out¡± and ¡°cat follows you home.¡±
In each book, Suzuki assigns ¡°data¡± in the style of ubiquitous Japanese product rankings to each problem. Book 1 puts ¡°ice cream starts melting¡± as a level 20 pinch, out of 100, with its likelihood at 5 out of 5 stars. ¡°While riding in the car you see a huge spider¡± is a much bigger problem (level 68), but far less likely (1 star).
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