“Generally, people who are good at writing letters have no need to write letters. They've got plenty of life to lead inside their own context.”

“It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the pieces of my crumbling life.”

“I wrote a huge number of letters that spring: one a week to Naoko, several to Reiko, and several more to Midori. I wrote letters in the classroom, I wrote letters at my desk at home with Seagull in my lap, I wrote letters at empty tables during my breaks at the Italian restaurant. It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the pieces of my crumbling life.”

“I'll write to you. A super-long letter, like in an old-fashioned novel”

“I want to write about people who dream and wait for the night to end, who long for the light so they can hold the ones they love.”

“I placed the highest priority on the sort of life that lets me focus on writing, not associating with all the people around me.”

“I was confident that I was a special person. But time slowly chips away at life. People don't just die when their time comes. They gradually die away, from the inside. And finally the day comes when you have to settle accounts. Nobody can escape it. People have to pay the price for what they've received. I have only just learned that truth.”