"You'll be wrinkled yourself one day.""But some of his wrinkles are the way he's made," I said. "The back of his head is as old as the front, but it's as smooth as an egg." "That isn't a respectful thing to say about you...

"You've got an eggplant on your face, little daughter of Sakamoto."He went to a drawer and took out a small mirror to show it to me. My lip was swollen and blue, just as he'd said."But what I really want to know," he wen...

One afternoon back when I was a child in Yoroido, a little boy named Gisuke climbed a tree to jump into the pond. He climbed much higher than he should have; the water wasn't deep enough. But when we told him not to jump...

It may surprise you to hear that this was the first time in my life anyone had ever really kissed me. General Tottori had sometimes pressed his lips against mine when he was my danna; but it had been utterly passionless....

I cannot tell you what it is that guides us in this life; but for me, I fell toward the Chairman just as a stone must fall toward the earth. When I cut my lip and met Mr. Tanaka, when my mother died and I was cruelly sol...

Now, if you were to imagine that Nishioka Minoru, after already having agreed to become the Chairman's heir, had discovered some new bit of information-such as that the Chairman had recently fathered an illegitimate son ...

Dr. Miura was a very important man-or so we believed in our village. He had studied in Tokyo and reportedly knew more Chinese characters than anyone. He was far too proud to notice a creature like me. When I opened the d...

I did see Mameha frequently. We had tea together at least several times a week. Considering all that she had done for me since childhood-and the special role she'd played in my life on the Chairman's behalf-you can imagi...

I cannot tell you what it is that guides us in this life; but for me, I fell toward the Chairman just as a stone must fall toward the earth. When I cut my lip and met Mr. Tanaka, when my mother died and I was cruelly sol...

"I haven't the money, Doctor," my father said."We've all grown poorer lately. I understand what you're saying. But you owe it to your wife. She shouldn't die in that tattered robe she's wearing.""So she's going to die so...