Dying for Balance

Fresh out of college and dissatisfied with her options, Diane Blake hopes to escape the fate prescribed for her by running away to teach English in Japan. Immersed in an unfamiliar culture, she soon must face harsh truths about the nature of sex and power, and the first demons she encounters are her own desires, prejudices, and fears. Yet when one of her middle-aged English students, a “harmless” grand master of karate with a high-level government job and several grandchildren, decides that Diane would make an ideal geisha for his personal enjoyment, the naïve young American is ultimately forced to separate hard facts from her cherished ideals. In the end, she emerges a wiser albeit wounded woman — one whose self-assurance runs deep.