I'm a coward when it comes to matters of the heart. That is my fatal flaw.

let the wind change direction a little bit, and their cries turned to whispers.

I'm not trying to imply I can keep up this silent, isolated facade all the time. Sometimes the wall I've erected around me comes crumbling down. It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes, before I even realize what's going on, there I am--naked and defenseless and totally confused. At times like that I always feel an omen calling out to me, like a dark, omnipresent pool of water. ~page 10

Before I became a writer, I was running a jazz bar in the center of Tokyo, which means that I worked in filthy air all the time late into the night. I was very excited when I started making a living out of my writing, and I decided, 'I will live in nothing but an absolutely healthy way.'

Why do I act like this, agreeing when I really disagree, letting people force me to do things I don't want to do?

Sex is an extremely subtle undertaking, unlike going to the department store on a Sunday to buy a thermos.

Life: I'll never understand it.