2. What use did Kawabata make of his "palm of the hand" stories?

3. What evidence is there that Kawabata carefully planned his stories before writing them?

4. Discuss Kawabata's notion of yearning as we see it in the relationship between Shimamura and Komako, Yoko.

5. To what extent did Kawabata immerse himself in the worlds he wrote about?

6. What did Kawabata feel was the role of the artist in relation to beauty?

7. What relationship do you see between beauty and ugliness in Kawabata's work?