Summary

Mayako is a young Japanese girl who has evacuated the city of Hiroshima, where her family still lives, during World War II. In first-person, Mayako narrates their daily activities in the Temple. All night they listen to the radio. They have school lessons, exercise, and play games, sometimes imitating combat. Mayako repeats the phrase “We are safe here” (163) but often feels hungry and lonesome for her family. She expresses the desire to “serve the Emperor and be a shattered jewel” (175).

The Temple’s shiny wood floors remind Mayako of her father’s stories about tree spirits. She recalls her sister saying that “you don’t become a spirit until you die” (163). Mayako’s sister has stayed behind in Hiroshima, although she is only a few years older than Mayako, and has joined the war efforts by lying about her age. Mayako mentions how her...