~ tracking down this book ~
"When jaded 48-year-old scriptwriter Harada visits Tokyo's old entertainment district where he grew up, he encounters a likeable working man who is the spitting image of his dead father. Lonely, nostalgic, and willing to believe the unbelievable, Harada follows the mysterious man, embarking on a bittersweet journey into the womb of a city whose living inhabitants have perhaps changed too rapidly and lost their souls. " "While the visits to his parents seem invigorating to Harada, his beautiful and strangely vulnerable neighbor Kei insists that he stop seeing them for his own good. A battle for the soul - Harada's, a tired city's - ensues in this thinking man's ghost story. "--Jacket.