When Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen was first published in Japan in 1988, "Banana-mania" seized th country. Kitchen won two of Japan's most prestigious literary prizes, climbed its way to the top of the best-seller list, then remained there for over a year and sold millions of copies. "Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen is an enchantingly origional and deeply affecting book that juxtaposes two tales about mothers, transsexuality, kitchens, love, tragedy, and the terms they all come to in the minds of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan." (book jacket)