Seven Days in Tokyo is a quiet and introspective romance that sings with longing and shyness and human connection. In their debut, José Daniel Alvior bestows the story of Louie, a Filipino man awaiting his visa renewal in Tokyo, and Landan, a British expat with a coffee connoisseur tendency from his storied past. In just seven days (duh), their reunion shines with naïve love, hope, yearning, and a slowly unfolding love story. Alvior's light-handed touch to prose and dialogue perfectly suits Louie and Landan's tender, burgeoning love. It is lyrical and simple at the same time, a lovely mirror to the lyrical simplicity of Tokyo, which becomes a character of its own here.

However, I feel like a little 'oomph' was required in the pace just to develop the pair's relationship a little quicker. I found myself yearning for more, although perhaps that was the author's MO all along. I also thought there was perhaps a little too much of Tokyo embedded in here – it may exclude those who haven't visited the city, as the references are rather niche. Also, I had to knock a star off because I hated the random mention of how terrible a Chinese-American character was for no reason aside from their accent? Weird flex.

I really enjoyed the Tokyo setting in this story having recently been there, but unfortunately struggled with the story more broadly. I didn't feel the characters and their romance was believable - perhaps not enough development for them – and I didn't think the narrative arc was particularly strong. It's an easy read, and I like his writing style but sadly it just didn't deliver for me. I usually love a story with a quiet plot, but with these types of books, I need to be invested in the characters.

Slow, languid, emotive, descriptive, I could feel myself sinking into this book, time stilling.
Having been lucky enough to have visited both New York and Tokyo I enjoyed the descriptions of both of them.
It reminded me of a winding road with a junction at the end, and I was left to decide which way to turn.
Unusually but compelling 8nnits own way.

This was such a beautiful and unique read, it had me immersed right away with its vivid scenery and characters.

happy belated pub day!

seven days in tokyo is a gentle, introspective novel that explores the quiet ache of longing and the complexity of human connection. josé daniel alvior tells the story of louie, a filipino man passing time in tokyo while waiting for a visa renewal, and landon, a british expat from his past. over the course of a week, their brief reunion becomes a slow unraveling of hopes, misalignments, and unspoken truths.

the writing is subtle, with tokyo not just as a setting but as a mirror to the characters’ inner worlds—beautiful, distant, and full of quiet possibility. alvior’s style is delicate, favouring mood and character over plot, making this a thoughtful read for anyone drawn to stories of identity, memory, and what remains unsaid.

that said, it hurt to see how easy it is to chase someone even when they’re clearly not right for you and louie was no exception.

*thank you to netgalley for providing an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

It was decent but not as intriguing or impactful as I imagined it might be. Still solid, though. I'm sure some people will be more into it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (4/5)
Lush, reflective, and immersive. This story unfolds slowly, like a walk through the city itself—full of discovery, longing, and quiet magic. José Daniel Alvior evokes Tokyo vividly, creating a love letter to place, time, and unexpected connection.

I liked this one, though it wasn’t quite what I expected. It’s not a big plot-heavy story, more a reflective look at a short, uncertain moment in someone’s life. The writing was lovely and I thought the way Tokyo was described really stayed with me, especially having travelled there before and loved it. Some of the characters didn’t do much for me, but I appreciated how it explored things like home, identity and being in-between places. I wouldn't read it again, but don't regret the time I spent reading it

A seven day journey to find out if a sudden spark, felt across the world, is truly real, while in Tokyo. There were a few misses with this story. One being the writing style. Just something, I’m not used too.

Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this book. It was a beautiful exploration of cultures, love, attraction and an exploration of what home really means.

Louie is the main character and this story follows the seven days he spends in Tokyo with Landon, a man he met previously in New York as they see if they can have anything more than a brief relationship. There are a few times when we go back and forth in time to see how they initially met and then back to the present, this was sometimes not clear and took me a minute to figure out where we were.

This is the kind of story where there isn’t a strong plot in the sense of X needing to do a certain thing to achieve Y. This was more of an exploration of different issues through characters, it felt more like we were the main characters confidant or sounding board which was unique albeit harder to be invested in.

An aspect loved was the authors beautiful descriptions of both Tokyo and New York, they were described in such a way that I felt I was right there too, soaking up the atmosphere through the vivd and warming details of not only the landscape but the culture.

An issue I had was that I found that I couldn’t get invested in the romance, the love interest was very unlikeable, selfish and the main characters actions when with him frustrated me. I just felt like I wanted to skip those parts as there was zero chemistry. What I really loved were the side characters, his friendships and what each of them brought to the story, for instance, how the issues of belonging, immigration and the struggles of getting visas were discussed.

Louies situation is very difficult, he is waiting on a visa, stuck in a state of limbo, waiting to find out if he can continue with his current career. Due to this situation it adds a different perspective to his narrative and were experiencing these beautiful landscapes with grief almost as it could be the last time he’s able to be there (for a long time).

Overall I enjoyed aspects of this book but I did feel as though I was let down with the ‘romance’ storyline even if it’s not technically a romance book I still wanted something more. I really loved the beautiful writing and I look forward to seeing what else this author writes!

I just couldn’t get into this. While the writing was beautiful, the plot was dull and the characters were unlikeable for me. Nothing about this was gripping me

It’s not you, it’s me. I think having read loads of shorter translated fiction recently has ruined things for me. This has such potential and I think the title was great, however, I just felt like not much happened (maybe I was looking for something more) than I should have. This book would suit someone who is after something different but they have a fond memory of their time in tokyo

"Seven days in Tokyo" is about a man from the Phillippines that lives in New York and is travelling to Japan to meet a friend. In this journey he encounters not only this long lost friend, but also some other people that were part of his life. When they meet, he visits his life from before in retrospective and considers everything that is and that could have been. It is written as a fast paced story and you can meet multiple characters in very few pages.
Although it doesn't have a very happy ending, you can really follow the way this man thinks and how he considers different aspects of life and what he could do differently to change his life from what it is. He talks about happiness and what it takes to have a happy life being an immigrant that doesn't have a stable place anywhere. I personally indetified with this part of the book because I am an immigrant myself and sometimes one can lose track of what makes us us and where we can find peace.
It's a beutiful story with just some editing mistakes, but they could be from the adaptation on my Kindle. For exemple, the beggining of the chapters have the first letter separated from the rest of the sentence and the dialogues are not formated to be in the same line.
I recommend this book to everybody that is feeling a bit lost in their 20s.

In this book we follow a Filipino man wading through the confusion and heartache of a temporary connection. As the narrative shifts back and forth from NYC a little while ago to today in Tokyo, where he has a 7 day stopover, we recount his experience of meeting someone and sorting through his feelings for him. As he waits out the limbo of his pending work visa in order to return to NYC, our main character spends time in Tokyo where he meets up with a man he has developed strong feelings for over the short time he's known him. He grapples with his impermanence and impertinence in the other man's life while the cherry blossoms in Tokyo are fading away as his weeklong journey passes.

It's a beautifully written book that meditates on the ideas of home, relationships, and one's relationship to the space they are in, whether that be as a resident or traveler. The prose and observations of this novel were absolutely stunning, and had me highlighting passages constantly. It truly cut to the quick. It relays that our relationship to where we are and who we're with is often messy and muddled with a lot of feeling. Relationships to where we live and who we love are not always straight forward, but there is always joy and beauty to be found out there in the world in the least expected places and moments. It was a slow-paced literary fiction book that is definitely more "no plot, just vibes", but done in such a way that it kept my attention rapt. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and eagerly await to see what else this author writes in the future! A fantastic debut in my opinion.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for supplying me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

This book was marvellous. I do love my happy ever after books. But every so often the lack of similarities with real life grate on me. And this story about fleeting romance, heartbreak, and disappointment full of introspection and life teachings was just the thing I needed. It is wonderfully written, mixing present and past seamlessly, with a beautiful prose that flows effortlessly. I could have read the full story in one sitting, if not because I already started reading pretty late that night. 
This story also brought me a lot of nostalgia, the story is very similar to my own experience also in Japan. With a Japanese person, although my stay in Tokyo was much longer. Curiously, the places our protagonist explores are some of the places I visited less when staying in Tokyo, but the description of the society working the streets and businesses brought back so many memories I find myself wanting to go back to Tokyo to explore some more. 
A beautiful, unassuming story, really well written, full of great thoughts about love, live, relationships and friendship. Absolutely recommend this book.

This was beautifully written and made me put Tokyo at the top of the list for dream places to visit. However I found that there was not a tangible plot to this novel (which may be a good thing for some readers) and this made me struggle to understand the motivations of the characters. Overall, it was whimsical and pretty to read.

Firstly the cover is stunning!!! I know it will look amazing on book shelves. Secondly I love that it's set in Tokyo and loved getting to discover more about the city. Unfortunately I found out I am not a fan of open/unhappy endings but I do think this was very well written and I look forward to their future work

Tokyo is the most interesting thing in this light novel

I wanted to like this more, but the narrator is wet and his yearning for romance with his one night stand is sad, sad, sad. Tokyo, however, is brilliantly rendered in a romantic light and I can’t wait to visit.

A novel isn’t simply a string of words of a certain length: there are various plots—and anti-plots—that can help to shape a narrative. And that’s what’s missing here, a discernable shape to the story, both a route and a destination, even a non-route or an anti-destination. Instead, as Louie tries to make his booty call into something more, the cracks appear in the narrative, the lack of passion or tension, just two ineffectual souls passing like ships in the night. And the ending is just cruel.

Two stars.

As a litfic enjoyer, there were elements of this short novel I liked - the beautiful rendering of busy cities, the minutiae of everyday life which can get lost in the constant rush, and a heartfelt desire to slow down and enjoy the little things. This is a love story to urban locations, the hum and roar of cities and the particular feeling of loneliness that comes with being surrounded by so many people; getting lost in the flow.

I also found that the creeping disquiet associated with the love interest resonated - and will resonate - with people who’ve felt they’ve had to claw for attention. Who’ve thought too hard about how someone feels about them.

However, I was jaded by the actual love interest, Landon, who unfortunately is exactly the sort of dislikable hot then cold Brit I’ve encountered far too many times. I didn’t find the attraction or connection between the MC and the LI believable, nor did I enjoy the way the MC hung onto him despite his unreliability.

While I appreciate the close inspection of bad habits, particularly when it comes to choice in romantic partners, I found this a little lacking on the emotional engagement side. Though as someone who finds large cities endlessly fascinating, I enjoyed how much of this is for people who both love and abhor how easy it is to lose yourself in them.

A book for travellers, perhaps, rather than a truly enjoyable romance.

The writing of this book is beautiful, reading felt like walking the streets of Japan alongside Louie. It made me desperate to visit Japan.

What I really struggled with in this book was the relationship between Louie and Landon. I likely Louie although he was a bit annoying at points, but I found Landon completely insufferable. Sure he could cook, but he was just an arse to Louie sometimes! They had barely any chemistry, but Louie’s actions did feel true to real-life.

I’d recommend this book to people who love well-written stories, or Japanese settings, it was a beautiful book to read.

Happy Reading! xx