My copy. First published in 1960. This novel gives an excellent look at life in Japan in the period of transition from United States occupation. ( )

It seems like it took me so long to finish this book, only 340 pages, but dense and slow moving.

Set in post WWII Japan, during the American occupation. A group of several characters, over the span of several months. It is about "journeys" in general and specifically.

In Japanese tradition, life is a journey "without destination". Much is made of the Western (American) influence to change this to one with a destination. By this the author means money. Over the course of the book most of the characters lose there traditional morals in the pursuit of money - "filling their rice bowl" in one way or another.

Specifically one of the characters, Soroko, tries to replicate a hike that his son Akira once made thru the Japanese Alps. Akira, a soldier, had died during the war and this hike is the father's attempt to connect with the sorrow of his son's death.

Throughout the book there is a sadness for a lost Japan. The author was born in 1898 and died in 1973 so he experienced this time period first hand.
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