Author Description

Divorced American mom Lauren Murata has stumbled into a university job teaching Home Economics at a conservative Japanese women's college with a dwindling student population. Although she has achieved success as a "domestic goddess," she is actually a scholar of gender studies. She meets widower dad Kazu Mori at her daughter's international school holiday bake sale. Mori manages talent, including a famous pop star who has just broken away from a popular all-male J-pop group. They discover that their children are good friends. The couple - and their kids - start going on playdates to iconic sites around Tokyo. They visit the pandas in Ueno Zoo. They go ice skating at Tokyo SkyTree. As their attraction to each other grows, they both try to figure out how to get out of the "friend zone" and move from playdates into real dates. But when a hashtag about Kazu's famous client goes viral, putting both and Kazu's and Lauren's careers at risk, their relationship begins to crumble.