Poor 'satire' of Japanese culture...unlike St Thomas More's Utopia which used imagination mixed with social commentary, Kappa is merely a collection of all the things Akutagawa disliked in society except now performed by kappas,turtle like creatures who smoke,drink,and read Nietzsche.At points the reader actually forgets the story is about kappas which defies the point of writing a fantasy themed novel if you make all your characters satires of real people you don't like. Hugely disappointing book.