First it was “Snakes and Earrings,” her debut novel, which won the Akutagawa literary prize, and shocked Japanese readers (well, those who bothered to read it) with its violent and graphic opposition to the traditional cultural expectations of how Japanese girls should behave.

Then it was her second novel, titled “Ash Baby”, which explored the friendship between a young Japanese woman and a child molester.

Now Hitomi Kanehara, all of 22, is getting ready to publish her third novel about a young person with a terrible eating disorder.

Click here to find out more about Hitomi Kanehara and how she is challenging Japan’s taboos in very public ways.