After all, when a stone is dropped into a pond, the water continues quivering even after the stone has sunk to the bottom.

I studied Japanese language and culture in college and graduate school, and afterward went to work in Tokyo, where I met a young man whose father was a famous businessman and whose mother was a geisha. He and I never discussed his parentage, which was an open secret, but it fascinated me.

I've lived my life again just telling it to you.

We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course.

Occasionally in life we come upon things we can't understand, because we have never seen anything similar.

At the temple there is a poem called "Loss" carved into the stone. It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out. You cannot read loss, only feel it.

After all, when a stone is dropped into a pond, the water continues quivering even after the stone has sunk to the bottom.