Kuniko Mukoda (1929–1981)

Another slightly offbeat Japanese book. 5 short stories to leave you wondering what most of them are about but having that curious thing where you are willing to be lead rather than reading as an activity.

It is known the Japanese culture has emotions that we do not have in the West. Not the same emotions but with different names but alien emotions that we have nothing inside us to even approximate.

Having read a few Japanese works of fiction now, I am slowly becoming convinced that these show more alien emotions are the backbone of some of these stories and hence their emotional opacity.

Sometimes it’s like being half asleep and half awake in that sublime place where there is no real requirement for things to make sense show less