Satoshi Azuchi's 1981 classic Supermarket is an engrossing representative of the Japanese business novel genre. Kojima leaves a safe, cushy job at a large bank for a position in his cousins supermarket business, Ishiei Stores, with the hopes of improving and building up a smaller company in the burgeoning supermarket industry in 1970s Japan. While this genre might seem strange to Americans, the workplace is one of the places where people spend most of their time and efforts. As such, it offers many interesting dynamics explored in a somewhat suspenseful story arc as Kojima tries to bring his romantic ideals to fruition. I enjoyed it as a peek at another culture and behind the scenes in the supermarket industry.

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