Long-term Japan resident and writer Suzanne Kamata juxtaposes the charming and the unappealing in an understated elucidation of flawed humanity with her collection of short stories, "The Beautiful One Has Come."
As Kamata cleverly reveals with her restrained prose, humanity possesses a wabi sabi charm, a tarnished imperfection that nevertheless gleams with muted beauty.
In "Havana," the opening piece, Kamata softly reveals this dichotomy of human nature. Alicia, a young American, journeys to Cuba to visit her former college roommate, a Japanese woman living overseas while her husband works as a guard for the Japanese Embassy.