Decades ago, my Korean wife and I were driven to Yuzawa one winter by a Japanese friend. I remember how deeply moved I was when, as we emerged from the new tunnel, near Yuzawa, after the long drive from Tokyo, he pointed to the left, at the opening of the old railroad tunnel and told me that that was the place Kawabata referred to in the opening sentence of his great novel, "Snow Country". He added that every Japanese person knows that sentence. I'd read the novel years before that and it was one of my favorites. That special moment, of seeing the setting of the novel's first sentence, will always remain in my memory.
Decades ago, my Korean wife and I were driven to Yuzawa one winter by a Japanese friend. I remember how deeply moved I was when, as we emerged from the new tunnel, near Yuzawa, after the long drive from Tokyo, he pointed to the left, at the opening of the old railroad tunnel and told me that that was the place Kawabata referred to in the opening sentence of his great novel, "Snow Country". He added that every Japanese person knows that sentence. I'd read the novel years before that and it was one of my favorites. That special moment, of seeing the setting of the novel's first sentence, will always remain in my memory.