“Every one of a hundred thousand cities around the world had its own special sunset and it was worth going there, just once, if only to see the sun go down.”

“The song was the late Ishihara Yujiro’s “Rusty Knife,” and Sakaguchi’s singing was so bad that itgave the lyric a strange new pathos and poignancy. Listening to his version, Suzuki Midori wasreminded that no one ever said it would be easy to go on living in this world; Takeuchi Midoripondered the noble truth that nobody’s life consists exclusively of happy times; Henmi Midorivowed to remember that it’s best to keep an open heart and forgive even those who’vetrespassed against us; and Tomiyama Midori had to keep telling herself that hitting rock bottomis in fact the first step to a hopeful new future.”

“But for all we’ve lost, hope is in fact one thing we Japanese have regained. The great earthquake and tsunami have robbed us of many lives and resources. But we who were so intoxicated with our own prosperity have once again planted the seed of hope. So I choose to believe.”

“I don't need to eat the stuff now because now I'm here-right in the middle of it!The soup I ordered in Colorado had all these little slices of vegetables and things, which at the time just looked like kitchen scrapings to me. But now I'm in the miso soup myself,just like those bits of vegetable. I'm floating around in this giant bowl of it, and that's good enough for me.”

“They don't realise that they've changed; they think it's the world that changed.”

“He invited me to his apartment in the wee hours one morning and pulled out a set of children's building blocks. It seems he used to ride around and around on the Yamanote Line with them, building castles on the floor of the train.”

“Just before I fell asleep, I had a moment of panic ...”