ent the first volume (of two) of Moto Hagio's Otherworld Barbara, in which Tokio discovers a phantom island named Barbara. Then there's a mysterious and missing geneticist, an eccentric clergyman, a grieving grandmother granted temporary youth, a psychologist killed by a freak tornado... Hagio offers a sci-fi explanation for these seemingly random paranormal elements, and makes it all matter with believable characters in complex and subtle relationships.This book won the"Nebula Award of Japan" (Nihon SF Taisho Award) in 2006.