Kafuku is a professional actor who needs a driver after a minor accident suspends his license. He is a widower who recently discovered his late wife's secret affairs but avoids confronting the emotional fallout. He frequently uses his stage acting skills in real life to hide his true feelings from others.

Misaki is a skilled driver from Hokkaido who takes a job chauffeuring Kafuku. She rarely smiles and smokes heavily. Her smooth driving creates a quiet environment that allows Kafuku to practice his lines and reflect on his past.

Tanimura is a university student from Kansai who consciously adopts standard Tokyo-style Japanese to distance himself from his past. He acts as a quiet observer in the lives of his friends, often fielding their complex emotional dilemmas. He appears as the narrator in both "Yesterday" and "An Independent Organ."

Kitaru is Tanimura's coworker and friend who repeatedly fails his university entrance exams. Though born and raised in wealthy Tokyo, he insists on speaking in a Kansai dialect he picked up from baseball fans. He is a rigid thinker who struggles to adapt to the changing dynamics of his long-term relationship.

Tokai is a 52-year-old bachelor and successful plastic surgeon who pursues casual arrangements with married women. He intentionally avoids deep emotional attachments until he unexpectedly falls in love. The intensity of this new romance completely upends his carefully maintained detachment.

Habara is a man living under a form of house arrest, completely isolated from the outside world. He spends his days cooking and reading long books. He finds deep comfort and intimacy in the stories his support liaison tells him, fearing the loss of her narratives more than the loss of human contact.

Scheherazade is a 35-year-old housewife assigned as a support liaison to an isolated man. After providing groceries and companionship, she shares long, captivating stories about her past, including a teenage obsession that involved repeatedly breaking into a classmate's home. She claims to remember a previous existence as a lamprey resting at the bottom of a lake.

Kino is a former middle-distance runner who opens a quiet bar after leaving his corporate job. He attempts to bury his feelings about his failed marriage, projecting an attitude of total indifference. He follows cryptic advice to travel when strange occurrences happen around his bar.

Kamita is a mysterious, steady patron of Kino's bar who steps in to protect Kino from rowdy customers. He acts as an enigmatic guide, eventually instructing Kino to close the bar and leave town for his own safety.

Gregor Samsa is a being who suddenly wakes up in a human body inside an empty house. He struggles to coordinate his new limbs and finds his fleshy form weak and unprotected. He experiences human attraction and physical desire for the first time when a repair worker arrives.

She is a lock-repair worker who travels through a dangerous, soldier-filled Prague to fix a broken door. She is wary of Gregor's odd behavior but ultimately engages with his clumsy attempts at connection.

He is an unnamed man who is awakened by a late-night phone call bearing news about his first love. He processes this information by reflecting on his youth and theorizing about the nature of loneliness. He views himself as a permanent member of a lonely class of men who have lost the women they loved.

She was a successful actor who shared a seemingly happy 20-year marriage with Kafuku. She conducted secretive affairs with other men during their relationship, leaving Kafuku with unresolved questions.

He is a younger actor who briefly worked with Kafuku's wife. He shares a deep grief over her loss, becoming an unlikely drinking companion for Kafuku as they both mourn the same woman.

He maintains Kafuku's car and connects him with a new chauffeur. He vouches highly for Misaki's abilities behind the wheel.

Erika is Kitaru's childhood friend and long-term girlfriend who has successfully entered university while Kitaru remains at a cram school. She feels a growing distance between herself and Kitaru, leading her to seek advice from Tanimura about her desire to move forward in life.

A woman Tanimura dated before attending university. He regrets his past treatment of her and eventually attempts to send her an apology letter.

He is the efficient assistant at Tokai's clinic who manages the surgeon's complex personal and professional schedule. He becomes highly concerned when Tokai begins missing work and refusing food.

She is a married woman sixteen years younger than Tokai, with whom he conducts an affair. Her presence in Tokai's life triggers an overwhelming and obsessive emotional response that changes his entire worldview.

He is married to the woman Tokai falls obsessively in love with. He attempts to make amends for his own past infidelity, which originally prompted his wife to stray.

He is a high school classmate of Scheherazade who becomes the object of her intense adolescent fixation, though he remains completely unaware of her break-ins.

She is the observant parent of Scheherazade's teenage crush. She secures her home after noticing disturbances in her son's room.

She is Kino's former partner whose affair with his coworker prompts Kino to completely change his life. She encourages Kino to find someone new and move forward.

He works at the same sports equipment company as Kino. His relationship with Kino's wife sets the events of the story in motion.

She is Kino's unmarried aunt who trusts him to take over her property behind the Nezu Museum. She provides him with mystical interpretations of the strange occurrences at the bar.

She is a jazz enthusiast who shares a brief, intimate encounter with Kino. She reveals numerous cigarette burns on her body, exposing a hidden layer of pain and isolation in her life.

An older man who frequently accompanies the woman with scars. He casts jealous glances when she interacts with others in the bar.

A skinny gray alley cat that adopts Kino's bar as its home. Its presence brings good luck and customers, and its sudden disappearance acts as a warning sign.

A tradesman in Prague who normally handles lock repairs. He stays behind due to the dangerous soldiers and blockades in the city, sending his sister in his place.

M is the narrator's former girlfriend from his teenage years. She loved elevator music, claiming it made her feel like she was in heaven. Her memory profoundly influences how the narrator views his own past and youth.

He is the grieving spouse of the narrator's former girlfriend. He inexplicably reaches out to the narrator to deliver the news of her passing, maintaining an eerie calmness throughout the call.

She is married to the narrator and notices his disturbed demeanor following a mysterious early morning phone call. She represents the present reality the narrator struggles to engage with after hearing from the past.