I was riding my bike in the southwest part of Fukushima, an area I don’t normally hang around in. From the road, I happened to see something interesting…

What is it? I decided to check it out.

(By the way, the houses are very typical of the sort of houses that people live in around here. I imagine my protagonist, Haruka, lives in a house like these. That is, she lives in a recently built house that did not suffer damage during the 2011 quake. When she returns home, her house is standing. Fukushima City is not on the coast, so the tsunami did not strike her house. She’s still affected by the tsunami, though because her mom had gone to the coast for work and is missing. And later, she meets a girl whose parents were killed by the tsunami. Does this sound like a book you would want to read? I hope so. I’ve put my heart into writing it.)

It seems to be a very old cemetary.

My shadow. It was late in the day.

Something I like about Japan is that I discover little surprises tucked away into secret corners. That’s one reason I like riding my bike. It’s so easy to stop and explore!