Japan

First on the island of Ita Jima and then the hills of Kure, Aldred begins his recovery in Japan. It is 1947 and two years after the great fires of Hiroshima, and then Nagasaki, had traumatized the nation. Aldred is in Japan to continue research for the book he has been petitioned to write, but the book in large part gives way to other considerations. In Japan, the scorched lands and disconsolate people provide the backdrop for the relationship between Aldred and Helen.

Hong Kong

Aldred had traversed China for the year prior to his arrival in Japan, and he revisits Hong Kong at the invitation of Peter Exley. The city is overcrowded; the people live in squalor. Food and clean water are an issue. Medical care is available to those who come into the medical facilities, but practitioners will not go out into the city. China had...