1. Research and write about the role of women in Japanese society today.

2. Elaborate on the ways Mori taps into her strength to find her way through life in general, and her trip back to Japan in particular.

3. Compare and contrast the views that Mori came to embrace with the views she was expected to embrace had she remained in the role of a traditional Japanese wife.

4. Discuss the ways Mori derives comfort from the Japanese landscape.

5. Describe how the experience of being motherless affected Mori's views later in life?

6. Elaborate on the differences in the way Japanese women and American women define happiness.

7. Does Mori come to terms with her mother's suicide after her visit back to Japan? How did her perspective on the suicide change after this visit?

8. Compare and contrast the notion of family in Japanese and American...