As an American man of the 1990s writing about a Japanese woman of the 1930s, I needed to cross three cultural divides - man to woman, American to Japanese, and present to past.
Arthur GoldenAll at once I felt so vain, like a girl posturing for the crowds as she walks along, only to discover the street is empty.
Arthur GoldenFor a flicker of a moment I imagined a world completely different from the one I'd always known, a world in which I was treated with fairness, even kindness-- a world in which fathers didn't sell their daughters.
Arthur GoldenIf Mother and Mameha couldn't come to an agreement, I would remain a maid all my life just as surely as a turtle remains a turtle
Arthur Golden