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Perhaps had I been older when Japan and I met, I would not have been so arrested by it Perhaps had I been less silly and studied subwayand I was silly, and so there are these stories, and there is ether offshore, the stories and I and you and our cozy little ti out at the islands in the distance as the sun comes up

Ten years later, the shrine is gone from the house in Yoshikura-Cho I do not knohat happened to it Perhaps another A there asked for it to be removed Perhaps the wood rotted Perhaps a typhoon blew it down I have not been back to that house tucked in under the terraces I cannot say But the little Jizo I clung to no longer faces the sun in his hat and scarf I do not i across the Sanzu River, but I felt then that he watched over me with, at least, disinterested, ione, but he remains I reirl But perhaps I see, very, very occasionally, inco jewel in Jizo’s tutelary hand, through, with difficulty, with error, with aching, with deters Or at least to a better lie

Everything has a dual nature

PUBLICATION HISTORY

“The Melancholy of Mechagirl” First appeared in Mythic Delirium Issue 25, Summer/Fall 2011

“Ink, Water, Milk” Original to this volume

“Fifteen Panels Depicting the Sadness of the Baku and the Jotai” First appeared in Haunted Legends, Ellen Datlow & Nick Mamatas, eds Tor Books; 2010

Ghosts of Gunkanjima first appeared as a limited edition chapbook, Papaveria Press, 2005

“Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/ Tiust 2010

“One Breath, One Stroke” First appeared in The Future Is Japanese, Nick Maton, eds Haikasoru; 2012

“Fade to White” First appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, August 2012

“Story No 6” Original to this volume

“The Emperor of Tsukayama Park” First appeared in Apocrypha, Wildside Press LLC, 2005

“Killswitch” First appeared in Invisible Games, 2007

“The Girl with Two Skins” First appeared in Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects, Norilana Books, 2009