Territory of Light Quotes

“Why were children the only ones who ever got to melt down?”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“During the night, there had been a sound of water on the other side of the wall. In my sleep I was looking out from the fourth-floor bedroom at nearby buildings bathed in rain, gleaming with neon and streetlamp colours.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“But my daughter, not minding, scampered off towards the pond. I ran after her, out of breath. A weeping willow stood at the point where the side path joined the main one. As it caught the rays of the sinking sun full on, its brightness was dazzling to eyes grown accustomed to the shadows. My daughter was jumping up and down, trying to grab one of the willow’s dangling branches. All right, I would wow her by grabbing a whole bunch. Shading my eyes with one hand, I approached my daughter in the light.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“Quick now, give up this idle pondering!
And let’s be off into the great wide world!
I tell you: the fool who speculates on things
is like some animal on a dry heath,
led by an evil fiend in endless circles,
while fine green pastures lie on every side.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“At daycare the next morning, I learned of the boy's accidental death. My throat tightened at the thought of the scream I'd heard: so it was him. It seemed he had been playing alone on an outside walkway, and he had gone over the railing. What was he seeing as he fell with that cry? It was nighttime; the glow of streetlamps, lighted windows, and neon signs must have streamed like water around his falling body. Perhaps he gazed in amazement at the unfamiliar torrents of lights, wondering where he was going.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“At Christmastime I had got out the little artificial fir tree from deep inside the closet and assembled and decorated it with my daughter. That tree, its tiny lights twinkling. Her, motionless before it for a long time, rapt in its multicoloured drops of light. And me, standing back, looking on. To her, it was the most beautiful of sights, countless joys shimmering invitingly in their splendour. It was a cheap tree that Fojino had bought at a local supermarket when she was a year old, saying, 'This'll do for now, won't it? It'll only get broken with her touching it. They're really quite expensive.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“No deberíamos haber crecido. Si hubiéramos sabido que ser un adulto es tan aburrido, habríamos jugado mucho más de pequeñas.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territorio de luz

“I couldn't shake the feeling that deaths lay in wait for me at every turn.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“Estas mañanas se repetían cada semana, pero yo no me rendía y seguía quedándome en la cama los domingos. Quería ganar aunque solo fuera un minuto más de sueño. «Un poquito más. Ya casi me he deshecho del cansancio»,”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territorio de luz

“Y, finalmente, me llegaba un sonido desde el fondo, como el ruido de un cristal roto. No, algo más bello y agudo. Para mí, era el sonido de los huesos humanos al quebrarse. Y, una vez que recibía ese eco, por fin me quedaba tranquila.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territorio de luz

“Los padres son solo padres, no son nadie especial. Hay padres a los que hay que abandonar por el bien de uno mismo.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territorio de luz

“Anche quella domenica sarebbe trascorsa senza che succedesse niente? Sentivo che ero in attesa più che mai di qualcosa. E capivo anche che quell'attesa sarebbe stata delusa inevitabilmente.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“Eppure forse esistono legami per cui è necessario convincersi di odiarsi a vicenda, non potei fare a meno di pensare. Sia Fujino sia io eravamo esseri umano che ancora non volevano morire.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“My husband was still studying for his MA and I hadn’t been working long at the library. Though we each had our own apartment, half the time he spent the night at mine. I had a call from him one day at the library: ‘We have an apartment. It’s new, and quiet, and sunny. It’s fantastic. I said we’d move in on Sunday. OK?’
It had been only the night before that we’d raised the subject of needing to look for a place for the two of us.
‘That was fast. You said we’d take it?’ Though astonished, I was also delighted by the effortlessness of the decision. I was not annoyed at having had no say in where I was to live. I was enjoying the feeling of being swept along by a man.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light

“Once, in my early or mid-teens, I too had dozed off on a stranger’s shoulder on the train: not the usual wobbly nodding off, but a deep, refreshing sleep. It was only when I was eventually woken by a tap on the head that I realized my pillow had been my neighbour’s shoulder. So that was why I’d felt so good: there was a moment’s letdown on finding the cause was so simple. When I struggled upright and looked him in the face, stammering an apology, I met with a grin of obvious amusement. In the middle of my muddled apologies the young man stood, smiling, and got off the train. As my gaze followed his departing back in the knowledge that he must have been aware of my body, through its weight, for some time, I felt a self-consciousness and an attachment that were akin to love.”
― Yūko Tsushima, Territory of Light