Summary

In “Abundant Nature,” Parry praises the natural beauty of some of Japan’s least-known regions, especially the glorious natural land close to Oppa Bay in the Tohoku region, known by Japanese city-dwellers to be somewhat mysterious, ritualistic, and archaic. After the tsunami in 2011, Parry travelled back and forth to that part of the country, as it was hit hardest by the tsunami. On this particular trip, six months after the tsunami, he was on his way to the area to hear more about the infamous tragedy at Okawa Primary School from a woman named Naomi Hiratsuka whose daughter, Koharu, had been a student there and was killed in the tsunami.

“The Mud” tells the story of Naomi’s search for Koharu’s body. Naomi’s father-in-law is an old-fashioned man who holds absolute authority over the household when...