Until this morning I was confident about how to use words like barbaric and moved, but now it all feels so groundless . . .
-- Naoki (A First-Rate Material)

Importance: Throughout "A First-Rate Material," Nana and Naoki's disagreements about the creation and use of products made from human body parts acts as the story's central conflict. Nana believes that the custom and the process are not only normal, but sacred and beautiful. She thinks it is better to convert deceased humans' body parts into consumable products in order to give them new life. She also believes it is better than wasting the materials, less gruesome than burning the bodies, and no different from using animal parts to make garments and furniture. Naoki, on the other hand, believes that the process is repellant and disrespectful. Despite his insistence that Nana wear and buy nothing made from such materials, as soon as his mother gives them a veil made from...