Aomame calls it “1Q84” and Tengo calls it “the town of cats”—but for both it is a symbolic staging ground for working through issues related to parental neglect and intense loneliness. It seems to exist less as a parallel universe and more like a state of mind which follows individuals around and colors their perceptions. Thus, all of the characters, lead and supporting alike, occupy the same physical space, but only Aomame, Tengo, and Ushikawa possess the heightened awareness of their own loneliness to sense what makes 1Q84 different from the world they recognize. Tellingly, when Aomame and Tengo exit 1Q84, they do not reenter 1984. Their trials and hardships change how they perceive the world—for the better—and therefore they can never go back to their pre-1Q84 lives.

Although the book is coy about characterizing the Little People as wholly evil, it is indisputable that their presence brings violence and trauma. Leader explicitly states that his rapes of young girls are done at the behest of the Little People, who seek a new heir to carry their message—though the book never explains what that message is.