"Originally published in Japanese as Tomoe by SHINSHOKAN Co., Ltd., Tokyo Copyright (c) 2001 by Hisaki Matsuura."

Hisaki Matsuura was born in 1954. He is a professor of French literature at the University of Tokyo, with a doctorate from the University of Paris III. He first made his name as a poet before going on to become a prizewinning critic and author. His debut as a novelist came relatively late; his first collection of stories, "The Jest of Things," was published in 1996.