Touring the Land of the Dead (and Ninety-Nine Kisses)

"Natsuko lives with her husband Taichi, who was forced to stop working eight years ago by the sudden onset of a brain disease. Ever since then, they have been living on her part-time wages and what he receives in disability. But Natsuko is well accustomed to financial hardship. Before meeting Taichi, she lived with her mother, a proud woman who clung to illusions of affluence long after the family riches had dried up. Her mother and her brother are haunted by their former station in life, restless spirits unable to live according to their present realities, and uncomprehending of Natsuko's decision to marry a lowly functionary. One day, Natsuko sees an ad for a rest-and-recreation center posted on a bulletin board: February Only: Weeknights 5,000 Yen (5000 Yen = Approx. 50USD). She recognizes the place as a former luxury hotel--a symbol of that time in her mother's youth when she wanted for nothing. Natsuko's grandfather, who single-handedly built the family fortune, had taken her mother to the storied hotel when she was little. When, for the first time in years, Natsuko and her husband take an overnight trip to a spa that was once a luxury hotel Natusko remembers staying in when she and her family had wealth and prestige. However, the building triggers memories and epiphanies relating to the complicated history of her family. Natsuko's overnight trip becomes a voyage into the netherworld--a journey to the doors of death and back to life. The volume also contains a short story modeled on Junichiro Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters titled Ninety-Nine Kisses, which portrays four unmarried sisters living in an old-fashioned neighborhood in contemporary Tokyo."--Provided by publisher.