Introduction

For those who carry an inner child. For anyone searching for meaning in life.

A true story about finding one’s real self and beginning again.

Recommended by Dr. Rika Kayama
“Do not despair because you cannot go back to who you were. You can become stronger, and kinder.”
General physician and psychiatrist

Recommended by Motoko Arita
“To listen is a gift. Human beings are not meant to live alone.”
Supervisor, Yokohama Inochi no Denwa / Clinical psychologist

Recommended by Prof. Shuichi Takeuchi, Sophia University
“A story that begins with the dignity of life. Every life is passed on, and in life itself, all lives become one.”
Professor, Sophia University / Director, Institute of Grief Care

Overview

Drop+Kiss…+ was written by Nana Hinase from her teenage years onward. It is a true record of one woman’s life through illness, loss, and the search for something beyond herself.

What did she come to find after twenty years of sincere searching?

This book is a nonfiction work based on the diaries and poems Nana Hinase left behind in Drop+Kiss…+.

It is a true story for those who wish to meet the “inner child” within themselves, and to begin again.

This first volume contains Part I and Part II of the work.

For Readers Who Are Interested In

People who carry an inner child, and their families or partners

Researchers and professionals in clinical psychology or child psychology

Readers interested in inner growth, spiritual search, and the meaning of life

Features of This Book

Based on primary materials, including approximately 10 million Japanese characters of diaries written over twenty years, and about 700 pages of clinical records.

A rare nonfiction work that follows one person’s long journey with her inner child.

Related Books

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

Strait Is the Gate by André Gide

Grace and Grit by Ken Wilber

Reader Comments

Woman in her 20s
Nana’s journey deeply moved me. It felt as if she was speaking to me the whole time. After I finished reading, I held the book to my chest. I could not help feeling how precious it was.

Woman in her 40s
I think more and more people are living with an inner child. I feel this book may become something like a bible for them.

Woman in her 30s
I do not know many books that can be read in so many different ways. Because it is based on diaries, each reader may see something different in it. I would like many kinds of people to read it—as mothers, as daughters, as teachers, and simply as human beings.

Male clinical psychologist in his 50s
It is rare to find such a detailed record of how things appear from the client’s side. The primary materials left by a client and a clinical psychologist over twenty years are extremely valuable.

It felt as if I were reading one beautiful story. The unique beauty of the writing and the philosophical commentary cross each other, and by the end I understood that everything had been connected. This book gave me the courage to try to put my own suffering into words.

What I felt through this book was something deeply transparent. The struggle of facing one’s own emotions in order to overcome trauma, the wishes that come from the deepest part of the heart, the things that do not go as one hopes, and the feeling that something truly needed is still missing. Even so, the act of continuing to walk forward on one’s own feet felt like a pure and transparent kind of hope.

I think many readers will see something of themselves in this book, no matter what situation or emotion they are living through. I did too. For people who carry an inner child, this book may feel like both a bible and a protective charm. I hope people who feel some discomfort or pain in their heart will pick up this book.