"Today is the longest day. I fly over frozen lakes to a country that does not exist. Below me vast plains, mountains, black sea. They glide past me slowly, like a map. Meandering glacial rivers flow from rugged summits. Empty seashores, cumulus clouds. Bering Strait.

A Japanese girl is asleep next to me. Her face framed in glossy black hair and turned slightly towards me as if she had just wanted to tell me something. The eyebrows are arches of innocence. Eyes closed, lips slightly parted. Her pale skin seems translucent. She is as still as water on an overcast day. Only her hand twitches, in a dream."

(From 'Haiiro', 2011)