ひょうてん (Freezing Point)

Fresh Hamachi sashimi in London, I cannot believe this is happening...
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ひょうてん (freezing point) is the novel of a female Japanese writer, 三浦綾子. As a part-time novelist and housewife, her work had won the highest honor in literature in Japan in 1964. I got the book from Old Ho, he got them over the special sales. Strangely this book was getting popular again because a couple of the website I frequent mentioned this book at the same time. The story reveals the subtle, supressed side of Japanese culture. I highly recommend it for anyone who would like to understand Japanese society.

The story started with a prestigeous doctor's family. The beautiful wife was tempted by a handsome young physician, who works for her husband. There was not real betray and cheating occurring but the innocent daughter of the doctor went out walking along the river by herself while the mother was meeting the young physician. The tragedy unfolded when the little girl went missing and found dead the next day. She was killed by a mentally ill man, wondering around the neighborhood. Devastated, the doctor got suspicious about the secret meeting between his wife and his colleague, he pieced things together and got to his own conclusion that his wife is unfaithful to him. Furious and sad, he decided to avenge his wife by adopting the murdurer's daughter after the mentally ill man committed suicide in the prison cell. The orphan was sent by one of his best schoolmates, who is running the orphanage and was pursuing his beautiful wife before the doctor won the battle.

As story developed, we came to realise that everyone has something to hide, something against the other(s). But no one dare to break the ice shaking the seemingly ok equilibrium. Everyone is trying to preserve the small piece of the dignity he/she thinks he/she deserves and no one yell at each other to bring things out. It is really unthinkable in my world, I cannot bear the thought just to keep these emotions hidden for these many years, perhaps people in the cold north (background as in Hokkaido)behaves very differently from the hot/humid/violent south.

Another question is infidelity. Though the beautiful wife never had any thing physical with the young doctor, she has drifted away from her regularity, she was tempted, she was preparing for an affair, is it considered a more serious crime than actually having it?