if you pick up the sjogren's city you can smell the tofu fermenting and hear the click in the shops. can even feel the chills in the country. this is the one of the most gorgeously written examples of the historians craft that you will read. in this marvelous book, amy tells the story of a frustrated, stubborn thrice married to japanese woman in the early part of the 19th century who runs off to the big city, the predecessor city to today's tokyo. this is the tale of migration, the lure of the city, aspiration, the constraint on women's lives and the indefinable force of personality. in this year and a half of tragedy, the immersion that this book offers in a different world is iconic. it won the 202110 prize for biography and the 2021 national book critics circle award for biography and it was a finalist for the pulitzer and for britain's most prestigious nonfiction prize, the daily gifford. amy and i will talk for about t20, 25 minutes and then open p for questions. so, can we start by talking about what your first encounter was? >> i would like to say that i met in some place in t