"i am a cat."

"As yet I have no name. I've no idea where I was born. . ."

So begins the comic social masterpiece I am a Cat, by Natsume Soseki. Published in installations during 1905-06, it's a send-up of the dynamic cultural and social changes of Meiji-era Japan. At this time many Western ways, fashions and practices were coming into Japanese society thick and fast, with varying degrees of graceful adaptation according to various observers. Wikipedia overview here; a look at a Google Books limited preview here.