The narrator introduces us to a young girl named "Marina" who has just returned from a trip to Japan. She asks the narrator if she would like to go with her to meet a girl she knows. The girl is named "Shizuka" and she is a little shy at first, but then she tells the narrator that she knows the girl by her first name, "Gozen" . The narrator tells her that she is sorry that she was so shy, but that she hopes they will get to know each other better. She tells the girl that she likes knowing more about Japan than she does, and that she wants to learn more about her mother, who is a Japanese-speaking woman. She says that listening to the girl's talk makes her happy, and she hopes that they will meet at a place called "the meet-ing place" so that she can go there with her friend.