Kansuke Naka's childhood memoir, "The Silver Spoon: Memoir of a Boyhood in Japan," is a charming depiction of life in Meiji Era (1868-1912) Japan.

Its enduring status as one of Japan's most-loved accounts of life in Tokyo at the beginning of the 20th century is due not only to Naka's historical details, but also because it is a parable for our contemporary sense of isolation.