Many of the fourteen stories in this collection explore Japan and the cultural differences between East and West as witnessed by a young traveller working and studying there. In prose of astonishing precision, elegance and emotional power Heighton examines how we recognise our own foreignness most clearly when in flight and away from home. The instability of meaning, and the difficulty of translation between generations within as well as across different cultures and nationalities, are revealed in prose that is as beautiful and polished as a Japanese proverb.
