The Twelve Kingdoms (1991- ) is a series of fantasy novels, written by Fuyumi Ono, and one of the bestsellers in Japan. The Twelve Kingdoms are islands and their societies are similar to ancient China. In The Twelve Kingdoms, there are some people called “Kaikyaku”（海客）, who were blown to the Twelve Kingdoms from Japan by a magical storm. Interestingly, the large level of changes frequently happened to Japan, such as wars, famines and the student activism, every time when Kaikyaku comes to the Twelve Kingdoms. Also, when they were in Japan, most of them had experiences of expulsion from society. They could also be called “the people omitted from the authentic history”. Additionally, politics are indispensable to establish the nation in the Twelve Kingdoms, and women have authorities to govern their kingdoms as the ruler. It can therefore be said that The Twelve Kingdoms is a political fantasy.

This study will consider the Twelve Kingdoms as the parallel universe of Japan, and it would lead us to recognize that the author Ono is putting the keen criticism and casting doubt on modern Japanese society throughout The Twelve Kingdoms. From the viewpoint of gender, minority and politics, this study will focus on the roles people who left Japan play in this story, and reading through their words and descriptions would prove that The Twelve Kingdoms series could be one of the methods to reconfirm the current issues of Japan in a critical way.