All over the world people have developed their own ideas about what's right and wrong in life, but so long as you aren't harming others or the Earth, it's your choice when you decide how you want to live your life - Yours and yours alone. Life's no piece of cake, mind you, but the recipe's my own to fool with.

What happens when people open their hearts?"... "They get better.

When I was a teenager, I thought how great it would be if only I could write novels in English. I had the feeling that I would be able to express my emotions so much more directly than if I wrote in Japanese.

And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.

In the spring of her twenty-second year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life.

I don't know how many good books I still have in me; I hope there are another four or five.

When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.