The original post on this book got lost in the recent "downtime" but this article explains why the publisher's blurb I linked to last time called it "Tsunami Bar". The reviews seem generally positive.
Time: Sayonara, Tsunami Bar
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, Susan Barker had to choose Tsunami Bar as the title of her debut novel. Her manuscript was the talk of the 2003 Frankfurt Book Fair, and her publisher, Doubleday, had high hopes for it. But after the Dec. 26 tsunami devastated large parts of Asia, Doubleday felt compelled to select a new name, delay publication for a month, and go through the manuscript, changing scores of references to the eponymous Osaka hostess lounge where much of the action takes place. Despite that setback, the book has finally appeared, and it proves worth the wait. Sayonara Bar is a cocktail of astringent cultural observations, genres stirred and shaken, subplots served with a twist.
