Winter

Winter is the season in which life on Kuro Island turns inward. The Ama leave the water for shore work, while James Bond settles into the little house and appears to recover from his injuries; beneath that calm, however, his memory remains absent and its possible return is held at a distance.

Seasonal Setting and Daily Life

When winter arrives, the Ama stay ashore. They mend nets and boats and work the smallholdings on the mountainside, exchanging the routines of fishing for necessary work on land. Bond returns to the house and makes himself useful with carpentry and odd jobs. The seasonal change thus gives him a place within the island’s ordinary labor, even as his understanding of his own former life remains incomplete.

Bond’s Recovery and Amnesia

Kissy Suzuki teaches Bond Japanese as his physical strength returns. The glazed look leaves his eyes, but they remain remote and faraway. At night, he dreams of a different world: white people, large cities, and faces he can only half remember. Kissy tells him that these are meaningless nightmares like her own, and he gradually accepts the stone-and-wood house and the endless sea horizon as the limits of his world.

The doctor is surprised that Bond makes so little progress in recovering his memory and concludes that his amnesia is total. Eventually, the doctor has no further reason to visit: Bond’s physical health is restored, and he appears completely satisfied with his life on the island. Winter’s apparent stability is therefore also a measure of what remains unresolved; outward recovery does not bring back the past.

The Coast and the Approaching Return

Kissy carefully keeps Bond away from Kuro Island’s south coast. She dreads the end of May, when fishing is due to begin again and he may see the great black wall across the straits. Winter’s sheltered routine consequently has a limit: the return to fishing could expose Bond to a sight that brings his memory flooding back. The season holds him in a present he can accept, while the coming change threatens to reconnect that present with the life he cannot remember.