earthquake in Tokyo. He tries to phone Ai, but cannot get a line. Then he decides to run back. Nine The last chapter is empty. Main characters Eiji Miyake – A twenty-year-old Japanese student from the rural island of Yakushima, Eiji journeys to Tokyo to seek out a father he has never met. Eiji narrates the novel from the first-person perspective, and his narration mixes video game and blockbuster film-inspired waking dreams with reality, so the reader is often not quite sure about what level of reality events Eiji describes are taking place. Ai Imajo – A waitress at the Jupiter café. Eiji sees her early in the novel and is immediately smitten with her beautiful neck. Since he is too shy to engage her in conversation or even ask for her name, he refers to her as "the waitress with the beautiful neck" for much of the narrative, until circumstances pull them together. Yuzu Daimon – A womanizing final-year law student, born into money and privilege. He meets Eiji at an arcade and leads him on a night of debauchery, which ends up tying their fates closer than either of them first realize. Buntaro Ogiso – Eiji's landlord, who also runs the video rental store on the building's first floor. At first, his relationship with Eiji is strictly business, and Eiji worries that, should he not be able to make rent, Buntaro will have no qualms about evicting him instantly. But as the plot progresses, Buntaro is revealed to be very affectionate for Eiji, secretly rescuing him after an encounter with the Yakuza. Critical reaction Similarities with Haruki Murakami Several reviewers have noted that number9dream draws heavily on Haruki Murakami's fiction, especially The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. See also Haruki Murakami Number 9 Dream – a song by John Lennon The Voorman Problem – a short film produced in 2013, based upon a section of this novel The Bone Clocks – Mitchell's 2014 novel, in which the character of Crispin Hershey is revealed to be the author of The Voorman Problem Ghostwritten – Mitchell's first novel, published in 1999, in which Mr. Suhbataar also plays a role. References External links Excerpt of Chapter 1 in The Guardian The Complete Review profile Fantastic Fiction profile Reviews I think I'm turning Japanese — David Mitchell's second novel number9dream is flawed but stylish, finds Steven Poole review by Stephen Poole for The Guardian