Some Prefer NettlesTokyo in the 1920s and a marriage is on the cusp of disintegration, in Tanizaki's gripping novel from 1929. Kaname's marriage is disintegrating. It is the 1920s in Tokyo and he and his wife, Misako, are trapped in a parody of a progressive Western marriage. He escapes into the arms of a lover, whilst closing his eyes to the likelihood that his wife will do the same. But this unhappy arrangement can't last. Misako's father steps in, believing that