The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

The main character of this tale is Hiroto Shimizu, who narrates the tale in the first person. In flashbacks, he tells the story of trying to leave the planet with his mother and father. An asteroid is about to crash into the earth, so they are evacuating.

In Hiroto’s flashbacks, they are in a temporary camp in Kagoshima. Government inspectors come daily to tell everyone to be patient, but eventually rumors start that something is wrong with the ships. The shipbuilders took the money and built substandard ships. Everyone packs up and goes home. Hiroto’s dad gets an offer from an old college friend to save his wife, but his parents refuse. Hiroto’s father says, “That feeling in your heart, it’s called mono no aware. It is a sense of the transience of all things in life” (244).

On Christmas Day, Hiroto’s mother takes him to Dr. Hamilton, who has a place on the only American ship left and can bring one person with him. His father thanks Dr. Hamilton for taking care of his child. His last words to his son: “Remember that you’re Japanese” (247).

On board the ship Hopeful, Hiroto goes to school. He is playing Go with two other kids, Bobby and Eric, but Bobby doesn’t like the game of black and white stones on a board.