This is the first book I read from Amélie Nothomb (translation here).
Daughter of a Belgian ambassador, she was born in Kobe, Japan. The book is an auto-biography of a western girl born in Japan. It fascinated me that it only covers her early years. I felt for her easy fluent, sweet, and charming writing. A fascinating description of the magic Japan she was born in through her young innocent eyes. I cannot erase two episodes from my mind: the struggle to decide the first word to pronounce, and her sadness when she learned that May 5 is Tango no Sekku (the Boy’s festival) but there is no girl’s festival at all. You can find more information about her books here.