A BURDEN OF FLOWERS, by Natsuki Ikezawa. Kodansha International, 2001, 239 pp., 2,400 yen (cloth)

A story of two Japanese siblings' rejection of Western values, one eloquent on the dangers of being "too Cartesian in your thinking, too tied up in Western rationalism," is hardly an obvious candidate for translation into English. Nonetheless, Natsuki Ikezawa's "Hana wo hakobu imoto" ("A Burden of Flowers") is Kodansha's most recent choice for publication in its grant-assisted Kan Yamaguchi series.

One wonders whether Kodansha's selection was motivated by the book's reputation -- in 2000 it scooped the prestigious Mainichi Prize -- rather than its suitability. Yet though Ikezawa's delineation of the Western mentalite is often simplistic, he is an astute observer of the shortcomings of set-in-its-ways Japan and champions a "third way" -- closer ties with Asia -- for his troubled country.

Ostensibly the story of a brother and sister caught up in a drug-trafficking drama set against the exotic backdrop of Bali, "A Burden of Flowers" is more bildungsroman than blockbuster, as Kaoru and Tetsuro work through (literal) trial and error toward a deeper sense of self. Ikezawa clearly intends the siblings' search for direction to mirror the identity crisis of their country itself. The options open to them -- stagnation at home, escape to the West, embracing the East -- are those now facing Japan.