The Sound of Silence

In Tokyo, Yoshio asks a koto player which sound she likes best. Her answer is ma, a Japanese idea associated with silence. Yoshio begins looking for it in a city filled with traffic, schoolchildren, family meals, and other everyday noise. He cannot find it at first. Later, while absorbed in a book in an empty classroom, he recognizes a quiet interval. The story follows his search for silence and his growing awareness that it can exist between the sounds around him.