A mature woman - Hardcover

The Translator: Dennis Keene, an English poet who lived and taught in Japan for many years, is known for his impressive translations of Mono Kita's House of Nire and Maruya's Singular Rebellion and Rain in the Wind, among other works of Japanese fiction.

Masako was overwhelmed to think she hadn't met this man for well over thirty years. But this wasn't just someone who had exchanged his good looks for old age. Certainly he looked older, much older, but he had a new dignity and strength, and he was also attractive in a way that didn't come across in his photographs or on television. He had the serenity of someone watching over things, and it seemed absolutely right that he should be up in the middle of the night going through his papers. He wore corduroy trousers with a rather faded shirt, a cardigan draped over his shoulders, and his casual appearance seemed to emphasise the feeling of energy he generated, the vitality of a man at the peak of his career. His hair, she saw, was not so much white as only half grey, and she felt she ought to revise her first impression that this was an elderly man.

Tamaru gestured before him with his hand (something he always did when he wasn't quite sure what to do with a visitor) and said, pointing out the obvious:

"That's the desk I work at."

On the wall behind the desk were portraits of the emperor and empress, and to one side a tripod holding the national flag, making it all look rather like a headmaster"s study, although a headmaster"s room would not have been as large as this, of course. He then pointed to another, smaller desk in the right-hand corner.

"And that telephone there," he said, "is the hot line."

Masako gave a little gasp, although she wasn"t in the least impressed, or even interested, having no idea what a hot line was.