Tokyo Blues

Chapter 1

Within a few days of each other, Saverio, a bored and antisocial 20-year-old, and Dr. Mario Bertini, a vain but successful family therapist in his fifties, arrive in Tokyo, quasi-fugitives from Italy.

Saverio is a student living with his single mother, who refuses any kind of commitment, and spends his time posting pictures of himself in women's clothing on a specialized social media site, under the stage name Mulan. Dressing up, putting on make- up, striking poses, to become the 'marvelous' Mulan, are the only activities in which he puts some effort.

In Japan, his promised land, he vows to study the language and hope to find his soul mate. In particular, he is following on social media a Japanese counterpart of him, who online goes by the name Yurina and dresses in cute schoolgirl uniforms. Mulan would like to get to know her, but knows, however, that this goes against the etiquette of this social media site, where you comment, joke, support, but do not try to 'pick up'.

Dr Mario Bertini was invited in Japan by a longtime Japanese colleague, Dr Kawakami Sanae, a therapist at a large clinic in Tokyo, to collaborate in her work with a family, whose son shows many symptoms of hikikomori. Dr Kawakami suspects that he is not a real hikikomori, and so far she has been able to convince the patient to go out once a week, on wednesdays, for music lessons. Mario has accepted Dr Kawakami's invitation to escape from a mid-life crisis he doesn't have the strength to solve, and because of another personal problem even more complicated - and dangerous. Due to a work permit issue, Dr Bertini will also be doing some work on making available online old medical records from the clinic, and in his free time he will attend a school of Japanese language.