An unhinged British backpacker meets 'Michi': a desperate, underemployed Japanese 'Freeter' on the communal couch of a dilapidated Osaka hostel. The pair form a close bond while exploring the regular haunts of Japan's 'lost generation, ' but while drifting through the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, the Englishman is drugged by a sinister betel nut peddler on the banks of the Thi Nghe canal. Finding himself stranded in an unidentifiable megacity saturated with multinational brands, ice-white tablet computers and uber-trendy Asian design students, he must fight his way through the city's vast...