The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Nakamura gets a sore throat. It gets consistently worse, but it is not until he begins coughing blood that he goes to a doctor. He has throat cancer. He has a tumor removed, but another appears, and he requires radiotherapy: “Through this ordeal he came to recognize what an extraordinary woman Ikuko was” (335). He becomes a better man: “His wife’s goodness brought out so much that was good in him. He bore his illness with stoicism and humor” (336). He decides that he is actually a good man. 

Nakamura receives a letter from Aki Tomokawa, one of his old corporals. Nakamura has avoided contact with the other soldiers from the camp, but now he sees his attitude as paranoid. Tomokawa’s effort to reach out touches him. His letter tells Nakamura that the first locomotive to have traversed the railway is being restored and will be displayed at the Yasukuni Shrine. He decides to meet with Tomokawa in the town of Sapporo, at the annual snow festival. He visits Tomokawa and his wife at their apartment. He sits in an armchair in their living room and is suddenly tired: “He kept his eyes closed, conscious that all around him the world lived as he had never known it had lived, and, just, as he finally opened himself up to this joy, he also realized he was dying” (340).