Yasunari Kawabata

Just two days ago, I first heard about Kawabata and his wonderful book Snow Country. The subject-matter cropped up when I asked Rebecca why she named her son Yasu. Was it after Jesus? It transpired the son's name is not Yasu but Yasunari, named after that 1968 nobel prize winner in literature. Rebecca and her husband Cecil fell in love with Kawabata when they were in England in the 70's and they decided right there and then that should they one day bore a son, he shall be thus named.

Earlier today as I was reading Tony Parsons' Man and Boy, lo and behold, the protagonist Harry Silver was introduced to Kawabata and his book Snow Country just as I was on Saturday night.

Uncanny or what....