“It’s funny. No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you
still know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life. We live our
lives trying to find our way. It’s like that Santōka Taneda poem, the one that
goes, ‘On and on, in and in, and still the blue-green mountains.’ ”

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa. Trans. Eric Ozawa

Then I raise my eyes to a signboard made from styrofoam that is pinned
above the box, and experience a sudden jolt. Below the words ‘river crabs’ written prominently in red is a line in smaller black lettering that says, ‘For deep-frying! For pets!’  For pets …?

It is natural in the food section to expect that crabs would be sold for consumption, but when suddenly presented with the option of keeping them as a pet instead, I don’t know what to think. Be eaten or be loved. A lump forms in my throat at the thought of the utterly different fates awaiting these crabs huddled together in the plastic box. When I worked for the company, what kind of crab was I, I wonder? While still inside the box I was raised to be a manager, but ultimately wasn’t my fate to be eaten up by the organization?

What You are Looking for is in the Library, Michiko Aoyoma