in the miso soup

by ryū murakami

Twenty-year-old Kenji is a Japanese "nightlife" guide for foreigners—he navigates gaijin men around the sex clubs and hostess bars of Tokyo. On December 29 he receives a phone call from an American named Frank, who seeks three nights of his services. While Kenji has promised to spend more time with his girlfriend, sixteen-year-old Jun, the money is too good to pass up. He finds himself closing out the end of the year accompanying Frank around Shinjuku, wondering if his strange, plastic-skinned patron could be responsible for the gruesome events recently reported in the news. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Miso_Soup">Wikipedia</a>).