Summary

The narrator, who is also the protagonist, begins by describing “fugu” (207), an edible but potentially deadly fish. After describing how painful a death by fugu could be, the protagonist segues to a reflection on his mother’s death and his family. When his mother died, he was living in California. He only learned that her death was caused by eating fugu when he returned to Tokyo two years after her death. His father told the protagonist this information while driving the protoangist from the airport. Despite being autumn, the day was sunny; the protagonist's father commented on that fact.

When the protagonist and his father arrived at the father’s home, the father told the protagonist that they would have dinner when the protagonist’s sister, Kikuko, arrived. While they waited for her, they spoke about the father’s retirement, and the father...