In case you missed it, Jeff Kingston wrote a wonderful review of Goodbye Madame Butterfly, which ran in this Sunday's Japan Times. Here's a taste:

Why do women put up with jerks? After reading about the abusive and philandering men in these women's lives it is amazing what they tolerate. They literally roll with the punches and just ask their men to be more discreet in their affairs.

Misa confesses she wishes her husband's mistress was much younger or at least a sex worker, saying, "This is a pride thing, I know, but I couldn't get over the fact that she was not a pro and was almost the same age as me." And so in her prime she resigns herself to a sexless marriage, a bleak trudge through life shared with someone she can no longer love.

And for good measure:

Sumie Kawakami is an experienced and intelligent reporter who manages to get her subjects to bare their souls and share their anxieties in a book I found hard to put down.