Naoko Awa (1943-1993), a beloved Japanese writer of fairy tales, was known for
her unique style of merging elements from Japanese folklore, Western fantasy, and
mythology to create a world of ordinary enchantment. Viewed through the lens of
Marco Caracciolo’s “slow narratives,” Awa’s fairy tales demonstrate a slow and lyrical storytelling approach that uses specific motifs to convey empathetic messages about the intricate relationships among all creatures in a world that extends beyond the human realm. With reference to Italo Calvino’s idea of “narrative as a combinative process,” this study further finds that the motifs of border crossing, empathetic anthropomorphism and eco-gastronomy in Awa’s works are frequently orchestrated as slow narratives to achieve mutually restorative relations between humans and animals. Awa’s fairy tales are a vivid illustration of the fairy tale genre’s notable capacity to bring nonhuman materialities to the forefront, counter anthropocentric thinking, and enact a model of cross-species storytelling in the era of ecological challenges.