floating world

Ichiro is Setsuko’s young son and Matsuji’s grandson. He is more or less a typical energetic child, and he provides comic relief over the course of the novel, though he appears increasingly worried about his grandfather’s mental state. Ichiro, as the youngest character, often serves as a kind of meter for other characters’ concerns, neuroses, and opinions. Therefore Ono tends to identify Ichiro’s resemblance to his dead son, Kenji, and becomes distressed when Ichiro is interested in American rather than Japanese heroes.