Chigiri, a divorced single mother, lives in the countryside town where she grew up, caring for her swordsmith father whose trade and health are failing. Her life seems to be going nowhere. When a documentary filmmaker who worked on a piece about her father many years ago revisits the town, Chigiri, who was still a high school student back then, begins to feel like one again. Yet feelings aren’t where it ends when a half-serious offer of prostitution is floated between the financially desperate Chigiri and Go, the visitor, who has since become successful in Tokyo.
With a philosophical acumen and exaltation of passion reminiscent of Yukio Mishima, Milan Kundera, and Marguerite Duras, Translucent Tree follows the story of mature lovers for whom, despite all, innocence is never a thing of the past.
“Translucent Tree left this reader with a feeling of pure insight into Japan, not unlike the movies of Hayao Miyazaki… This is a romance, a love story, and nothing is lost in translation.”
—The Los Angeles Times
After working as an editor, 