Hiruko and Susanoo are the only two characters from the “land of sushi,” but while Hiruko craves conversation, Susanoo loses the ability to speak. What do these contrasting responses reveal about the experience of displacement and statelessness?

Food plays an important role in the exploration of globalization in the novel. How do the different foods mentioned in the novel demonstrate globalization and the interaction of different cultures?

This novel has six narrators. How do the many different narrators impact the plot, and is there any suspicion that any may be unreliable?