xii 326 pages. The book once belonged to Meadow Lakes Library, its stamp and a discard one are on the front end paper and a library pocket at the back end one; the boards have lightly lifted and theres a remnant sticky tape stain on the tail. The body of the book is clean, unmarked and solid. "Before the Blossoms Fall focuses on a handful of central issues: the position of women, the problems of youth, the dilemma of the aged who, as in the U.S., are forced out of their children's smaller homes and retire too early on an inadequate pension, and the familiar problems of a dehumanizing industrial society. Mrs. Keith has achieved to expose a composite of what the Japanese wish a stranger to know; along with her spontaneous observations of individuals and crowded cityscapes."