With 34 stories, the collection spans centuries of short stories from Japan ranging from the early-twentieth-century works of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa and Jun'ichirō Tanizaki up to more modern works by Mieko Kawakami and Kazumi Saeki.

The book features an introduction by Japanese writer and longtime Rubin collaborator Haruki Murakami.

[4] The Japan Times called the book's structure "a recipe for success" with categories that "best showcase ... unique tastes.

"[5] The Japan Society observed Rubin's "necessarily selective" and thematically organized collection, writing that "A reader prepared for the new and unexpected will not be disappointed.

"[6] The Asian Review of Books wrote that "the collection has a unique, often edgy, surprising quality" due to its thematic organization, as well as its inclusion of stories from lesser-known and typically underrepresented writers.