How To Use 3,000 Yen
Japan

How To Use 3,000 Yen

by Hika Harada

Family & Heritage Literary Fiction Fiction 2026

Summary

How to Use 3,000 Yen follows three generations of women in the Mikuriya family as they navigate the financial and emotional challenges of everyday life. At the heart of the story is Miho, a young woman beginning her independent life and learning to manage her money. Her experiences connect with those of her older sister, Maho, their mother, Tomoko, and their grandmother, Kotoko, each of whom faces different questions about financial security, family responsibilities, and the future.

For the women of the Mikuriya family, money is more than a practical concern: it reflects their hopes, fears, relationships, and ideas about happiness. As they encounter unexpected expenses and major life changes, each must reconsider what it means to save wisely and live well.

With warmth and gentle humor, Hika Harada explores the relationship between money and personal freedom, showing how financial decisions shape the lives of women across generations. The novel offers a thoughtful portrait of contemporary Japanese society, where economic pressures intersect with family expectations and the desire for independence.

Reviews

Login to leave a review.

No reviews yet. Be the first!

You might also like

The Friday Bookshop
The Friday Bookshop
Sawako Natori
Revenge
Revenge
Yoko Ogawa
Secrets of the Sun: A Memoir
Secrets of the Sun: A Memoir
Mako Yoshikawa
So We Look to the Sky
So We Look to the Sky
Misumi Kubo
Country
Japan
Asia
About the author
Hika Harada
Hika Harada

Hika Harada is a Japanese novelist born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1970. She began gaining recognition as a writer in 2005, when she won the NHK Creative Radio Drama Grand Prix for Little Princess No. 2. In 2007, she received the prestigious Subaru Literary Award for her work The Tea Time That Never Comes, establishing herself as a distinctive voice in contemporary Japanese fiction. Harada has written numerous novels exploring everyday life, family relationships, work, money, and the challenges faced by women in modern Japanese society. Her novel How to Use 3,000 Yen (2018) became a major bestseller in Japan and won the Miyazaki Book Award. Its exploration of personal finance and family life resonated with readers across generations and led to a television adaptation in 2023. Other works by Harada include Dinner at the Night Library, The Coffee Man, and The Wallet Dances. Her fiction is known for finding emotional depth in ordinary experiences, combining accessible storytelling with thoughtful observations about economic uncertainty, human relationships, and the search for happiness.

View author page
Details
Published
2026
Author
Hika Harada