65
A fishmonger, a wine shop, a variety store, and beyond them stood the gate of a temple as well as rear tenements, and in the lowland of Hisakata Machi, the smoke stacks of many factories were overflowing with black smoke.
An upstairs-room in western style in one of those factories was where he went in the afternoon every day. A big table was installed in the center of an approximately ten-mat room [each mat measures 3′ x 6′] and beside the table stood a tall European bookcase. In the bookcase various kinds of books on geography were tightly packed. He was engaged in assisting in the editing of geographical books as a part-time employee of a publishing company. A literary man editing geography books! Although he willingly engaged in this work by claiming an interest in geography, in his own mind, needless to say, he could not content himself with this kind of work. While he was aware that some day he would achieve his goal, he could not help but feel bitter when he reflected on his lagging literary career, his irritation at writing only short stories, and not yet having a chance to display his capacities to their fullest, and the pains from criticism of him that appeared monthly in a youth journal. Society progressed daily. The streetcars had completely changed the traffic conditions of Tokyo. Girl students had gained influence; there was no hope of seeing an old-fashioned girl like those of the days when he had been in love. Young men of today have also changed their attitude completely in regard to the manner they talk about love, literature, and politics; and he felt that it would be forever impossible for them to find rapport with those of his own generation.
