"Jukai is the most popular place for suicide in Japan. The question is why?"

“When I was small, there was a well in our front yard. It was near the kitchen facing north. A square concrete lid covered the well, but it was not so heavy that a ten-year-old girl couldn’t move it.”

"Since Japanese religion is an incantatory religion, beliefs in the magic of words or sacred objects are inevitable."

"The spirit of the dragon was believed to bring prosperity and symbolized the four elements of nature: earth, fire, water and air."

"If a carp ever succeeds in climbing up the Dragon Gate, the fish will turn into a dragon."