Science Fiction

I am looking for a book about a man who was in a coma, but while in the coma he suddenly found himself living in a village as if he had lived there his whole life. He slowly got to know most of the people in the village. Neither he nor the villagers could leave the village, but everyone was content to live in the village. The man eventually figures out that he's living in a dream world, and that there is a way for him to escape and wake up from his coma. But if he does, everyone he knows in the village will cease to exist, and he has to make the choice to stay, or to wake up. Not sure, but I think the author might be Japanese. I don't remember anything about the title or author's name. Again, not sure, but I think the book was written before 1990.

That sounds like the plot of one of the Star Trek Next Generation episodes. Captain Picard spends a lifetime in a village, living as an ordinary man, learning about his neighbors and the family he finds himself part of.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inner_Light_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

>1 edkman:, sounds fantastic, and could have been influence or inspiration for the Star Trek episode, but

>2 RowanTribe:, the ending doesn't line up. Picard has it revealed to him that he's reliving history, there's no choice presented to sustain it.

I am familiar with that Star Trek episode. I read the book I'm looking for back in the late 90s. Hoping to find it again.

This reminds me of Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami, although it's a while since I read it and I am not sure if the 'dreamer' is actually in a coma. It might be the place his sub-conscious mind 'lives' all the time. Only half the book takes place there, with the rest in a more or less real-world Tokyo.

Isabelx, you got it! That's the book! Thank you so much!