Rating: 7.0/10.
Modern day Japanese romance novel, between a 38 year old woman Tsukiko and a former high school teacher thirty years older than her. She’s an office worker and doesn’t really have friends, and he is also lonely since his wife died. They start out as acquaintances and run into each other a lot at a sake bar, but eventually she is drawn to him out of loneliness and they fall in love. Their relationship remains mellow throughout, and as typical with Japanese literature, both maintain a calm and composed image even though there are many feelings left unsaid.
