Harmony - Project Itoh (4.2🌟)

Harmony is a science fiction novel original written in Japanese in 2008 and translated into English by Alexander O. Smith in 2010. It is a utopia/dystopia dealing with topics such as consciousness, will, suicide, revenge, good health and food.

The story follows Tuan Kirie, a 28 yo woman who works for the World Health Organisation, and who has to investigate the recent simultaneous suicide attempt by 6 thousand people. Tuan lives in a utópic Japan but travels all around the world for work. She is not the average japanese woman though. She is not happy with health/life-centric societies she is living in and often tries to escape. People live healthy, content lives following behavioural codes which have been embedded in nanotechnology within their bodies. Thus software tell them what to eat, how to keep healthy life style and when to go to the doctor. They also posses GPS, access to news and other forms of communication from brain implants. Most people agree with this kind of life except some who cannot adapt to the nanotechnology and who are refered to psychological adjustment. There are also places in the world keeping old ways of life,  disconnected from the networks. Tuan goes there for work in an (apparent) effort to make them join their utópic world. However in reality Tuan loves being disconnectedand and enjoys consuming prohibited substances like alcohol and tobacco.

Though suicide attempts in this new world still exist they are rare. The World Health Organisation is worried the 6 thousand attempts, of which half were successful, will escalate into world panic. Tuan's need to find out if there is anyone responsible for that attack to their society. She has some clues connected to her past and her own attempts at suicide. Thirteen years ago, she and two teenage friends tried to commit suicide by starvation. Two of them survived but their leader didn't. Miach Mihie had taught the other two girls that the world was not a good place to live in. A world where their lives and bodies were not theirs but the societies, where they were monitored and told what to do by software. Tuan has a hunch that the recent incidents are somehow connected to Miach.

Opinion: this is a very well written novel.  It depicts a new society in which we can see fragments of ours. Some food for thought in social criticism, ethics and use of technology and power. The setting, plot and characters are well presented and balanced. Miach and Tuan are well layered, interesting characters, though Miach is more of a mystery. I liked how the author used html tags at some points to indicate thoughts or emotions.  I thought it was cool until I got to the end and understood why it was being used. Now I thing it easy cool and clever.

My edition is a paperback published by Haikasoru in 2010. It has 252 pages.