“A house is more than just walls and a roof—it holds the echoes of lives lived within.” Chapter 1: The House on the Hill The story opens with […]
Japanese literature
Masks
“A woman’s heart is a deep well of secrets.” Chapter 1: The Mysterious Widow The novel opens with Yasuko, a young widow, visiting her mother-in-law, Mieko Toganō, a […]
Japanese literature
The Waiting Years
“A woman’s life is nothing but waiting—waiting for happiness, waiting for love, waiting for the end.” Chapter 1: The Arrival of Tomo The novel opens with Tomo, the […]
Japanese literature
Diary of a Mad Old Man
“Old age is a shipwreck.” Diary of a Mad Old Man follows the aging protagonist Tokusuke Utsugi, a wealthy retired businessman who keeps a diary detailing his physical […]
Japanese literature
The Key
“A woman’s diary is a mirror of her heart.” Chapter 1 The novel opens with the husband, a middle-aged professor, secretly reading his wife Ikuko’s diary. He becomes […]
Japanese literature
Quicksand
“The deeper the quicksand, the more one struggles—only to sink further.” Chapter 1: The Meeting The novel opens with Sonoko Kakiuchi, a married woman from Osaka, recounting her […]
Japanese literature
Seven Japanese Tales
“The cruelest lies are often told in silence.” A Portrait of Shunkin The story follows the blind musician Shunkin and her devoted servant Sasuke, who worships her despite […]
Japanese literature
Some Prefer Nettles
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Chapter 1: The Fading Marriage Kaname and Misako, a married couple in 1920s Japan, drift apart as […]
Japanese literature
Naomi
“She was like a doll, a Western doll—so delicate, so fragile, yet so bewitching.” Chapter 1: The Encounter Joji, a reserved and well-off engineer in his late twenties, […]
Japanese literature
The Makioka Sisters
“The cherry blossoms had fallen, and the new leaves were already darkening.” Chapter 1: Introduction to the Makioka Family The novel opens with an introduction to the four […]