I often read Japanese literature in English, so I have noticed. A frequent book buyer like myself could not refrain from buying a title like 'Beauty and Sadness'. In this 1964-novel by Yasunari Kawabata, a man visits a mistress from his past. Is he haunting lost time or is he driven by vanity and a vague sense of transience? The young woman became a celebrated artist. A typical Kawabata, serious and artistic, merciless for all too human heat.