Yasunari Kawabata coined the term 掌の小説 ("Palm-of-the-Hand Story" not giving the Japanese reading because it's apparently up for debate lol) which is a concise story that fits into 2-3 pages. He wrote over 100 of these. I'd estimate (due to the way publishing and translation works) I've read about 70 of them. This is not about him, exactly.

This is Hiromi Kawakami following in that tradition, all variations on a theme. Admittedly, my memory is shoddy, and I just SAID I didn't get to read all of Kawabata's stories, but all of these Palm-Of-The-Hand Stories involved the same characters and location. Some are about schools made of sweets, some are about angry farmers. Some are about the lottery to loan out an expensive kid.

I recommend it.