★ A quiet, unflinching collection of essays from Suzuki Nao, a 47-year-old freelance writer who finds solace in cheap canned drinks and aimless walks. This is not a book that offers answers—it‘s a book that sits with you, says nothing, and lets you feel less alone.
★ “I can’t eat as much anymore. My wounds take longer to heal. I‘ve grown lonelier.” With restrained prose, Suzuki documents the slow decline of midlife—his son’s buzzer-beater victory, a friend who died suddenly on the morning they were finally supposed to meet, the diminishing pleasure of food. No clear goals. No grand resolutions. Just life, continuing.
★ Includes a special conversation with sociologist Kishigami Masahiko, titled “Living by the Slogan: ‘I Don’t Want to End Up Like That.’” Every quiet sentence carries the kind of recognition only midlife can deliver—the feeling that this was written about you.
★ For anyone aged 35 to 55, watching their bodies, relationships, and daily lives slowly change: this book will make you feel that you are not alone. That “just living like this” is also a way of living.

I can‘t eat as much anymore. My wounds take longer to heal. I’ve grown lonelier. Without any positive goals, how does one go on living?

What an ordinary middle-aged man—

A freelance writer in his late forties, whose hobbies are wandering aimlessly with a cheap canned drink in hand. This collection of essays, written specifically for this book, captures the slow accumulation of loneliness that comes with age.

At a family gathering celebrating his uncle and aunt‘s golden anniversary on a houseboat, his father hands him a seating chart. He stuffs it into his backpack, thinking that someday he might look at it and remember this evening. “And so, more pieces of paper I can’t throw away accumulate.”

A friend he could talk about dark things with, a friend he was finally supposed to see after a long time—dies suddenly on that very morning. Even now, he still feels like that friend might call out of the blue.

He watches his son‘s elementary school basketball team play their final official match. After witnessing his son’s team win with a buzzer-beater, he walks home drinking a cheap beer, tears streaming down his face.

As a freelance writer, he often visits restaurants for interviews—but recently, the amount he can eat has dropped sharply. The time he truly enjoyed food from the bottom of his heart probably lasted no more than ten years.

This book also includes a special conversation with sociologist Kishigami Masahiko: “Living by the Slogan: ‘I Don’t Want to End Up Like That.’”

Suzuki Nao was born in Tokyo in 1979. He is a freelance writer, primarily active on the website Daily Portal Z. His books include “Things I Learned After Riding the Late-Night Highway Bus About a Hundred Times,” “The Memories We Can‘t Recall Are What Make Us Family,” “Staying at a Ryokan Five Minutes from Home,” and “Going to Eat Curry at Sukiya Seen from the Shinkansen.” His co-authored works include “A Day I Can’t Go Home Until I Find the Words ‘Please Take One’” (with Parikko) and “Correspondence: Checking Answers Without Answers” (with Koga Kyoko).