1Q84 characters

Appears from the start

A thirty-year-old fitness instructor in Tokyo who also carries out carefully planned killings of men responsible for extreme violence against women. Controlled, observant, and physically disciplined, she descends an emergency stairway from a stopped expressway and begins noticing small discrepancies in the world around her.

First appears in chapter 2

A mathematics teacher at a cram school who hopes to become a novelist. Large, quiet, and more comfortable with ordered problems than emotional demands, he is asked by his editor to rewrite a remarkable but awkward manuscript submitted by a seventeen-year-old girl.

First appears in chapter 2

Tengo's forceful and commercially minded editor. Convinced that the story submitted as Air Chrysalis has exceptional power, he proposes that Tengo secretly rebuild its prose so it can compete for a major new-writer prize.

Also known as Eriko Fukada

First appears in chapter 4

The seventeen-year-old author of Air Chrysalis, known by a shortened form of her name. Beautiful, direct, and emotionally difficult to read, she speaks in an unusual flat rhythm and seems unconcerned about Tengo and Komatsu rewriting her manuscript.

Also known as The Dowager

First appears in chapter 5

A wealthy elderly woman who supports a shelter for women escaping abuse. Formal and composed, she employs Aomame to punish violent men whom the law has failed to stop.

First appears in chapter 5

The Dowager's powerfully built, meticulous security chief. He handles practical arrangements for Aomame's assignments, protects the shelter and its residents, and approaches dangerous problems with quiet professional caution.

First appears in chapter 7

A young Tokyo policewoman who meets Aomame socially. Frank, energetic, and eager for excitement away from work, she becomes one of the few people with whom the guarded Aomame forms an easy friendship.

Also known as Professor Ebisuno

First appears in chapter 10

A scholar who became Fuka-Eri's guardian after she left the religious commune led by her father. Suspicious of the commune and concerned about children still inside it, he agrees to the publication plan partly because public attention may force hidden facts into view.

First appears in chapter 12

Tengo's estranged father, who raised him while working as a subscription collector for the public broadcaster. Tengo remembers being taken door to door on collection rounds and has long doubted the older man's account of his birth and mother.

First appears in chapter 26

An unattractive, persistent man who approaches Tengo on behalf of a secretive foundation offering financial support. Polite and self-effacing on the surface, he asks unusually well-informed questions and leaves Tengo uncertain about the real purpose of his visit.

Also known as Leader

First appears in chapter 38

The revered head of the Sakigake religious community and Fuka-Eri's father. Gravely ill and surrounded by loyal attendants, he receives Aomame in a guarded hotel suite and appears to understand both her mission and the altered world they inhabit.

First appears in chapter 53

A nurse at the seaside sanatorium where Tengo's father lies in a coma. Practical and warmly attentive, she shares local stories with Tengo and offers him uncomplicated human company during his visits.