>>2757951Umihara doesn't live in modern japan.
She lives in something proximate to Japan, but not. The land of summer vacations. The place where you can stand ankle deep in a small pond, looking at tadpoles. A place where the sea smells like surf and salt. Where, yes, there are seaside taverns, and their food tastes more like food than the food you eat. Colors are more vibrant, music clearer and more pleasant.
It is a hyperreality, where everything is what it is, but moreso. The thing that nostalgia aims at, but here, it is current and instant. It is out of time, out of place.
It's basically the world as it would exist for a sentient dog.