People Who Eat Darkness: Love, Grief and a Journey into Japan’s Shadows

by Richard Lloyd Parry

But a silent pause cannot be quoted; it cannot be photographed.

In Japan, a crime is regarded not merely as the act of a criminal; in some deep sense, it originates from within his family. Morally, if not legally, his closest relatives also bear a responsibility – hence the spectacle, surprisingly common in Japan, of a wrongdoer’s parents (and sometimes siblings, schoolteachers, even employers) bowing deeply before the cameras and offering tearful apologies for deeds over which they had no influence or control.

It’s only the ones who try to escape who suddenly become aware of the cage.

It’s true that I should ask people to help me when I need it. But the test I laid down for people was whether or not they could see that for themselves. Surely, if they knew me, they wouldn’t even have to ask – they would just be there.

The experience of bereavement is often compared to the loss of a limb, but rarely is it a neatly sutured surgical amputation.