Tamako

"Watching his father, the young Masa would have learnt several things: the terrifying fear of destitution, the outsider’s relentless struggle for survival, the bitter truth that no one will help you but yourself, as well as the endless corner-cutting, hustle and re-invention required of an entrepreneur operating on the margins of society. By contrast, his mother Tamako is a more distant figure, absent in the literal sense (she is said to have found Mitsunori’s misogyny difficult and sometimes left the family home to stay with relatives), but also in the emotional sense. Grandma Lee, ever present, always worrying about money, left an enduring impression."