Universal Themes

1.Loss of love: Almost everyone has a situation they regret in their lives or they feel miserable because a relationship didn't work out. In this case it was between Stephen and Keiko, because their families were on opposite sides of the war their relationship wouldn't work out.

2.Illness: Sickness causes problems in lives, some problems are bigger than others. Leprosy came up a lot in this book. The village of Yamaguchi that sits above Tarumi is a village of exiles, they became so because of everyones fear of the disease. It tore apart families, some would commit suicide so as not to soil their families pride.

3.Wealth and the easy life: Some people are lucky and don't have to do much work to live a good life. In this case I'm referring to stephen's situation. Though he's still a student and the war is going on he belongs to an extremely wealthy family. They have servants and a summer house that was rarely used. While Stephen is extremely lucky, he is exceptionally caring and thoughtful along with his sister Pie who tells him about her volunteering for the Red Cross against their mom's wishes in her letters.

4.Death: People inevitably die and it's never an easy thing for the people close to them. In this story Kenzo, Hiro, and Keiko's brother die, you can easily see the effects the deaths have on the characters. Kenzo's death almost closed Matsu completely off from Stephen again. Keiko's brother was a reminder of the problems war causes, all it leads to is more loss.

5.Hobbies: Nearly everyone has a hobby or something they do in their free time. Matsu and Sachi both had gardens which they took care of. The gardens were a place of peace and calm away from problems. Stephen liked painting, though this wasn't touched on as much as I'd expected it helped him gather his thoughts.