Big Wave , The

Kino lives on a farm on the side of a mountain in Japan. His friend, Jiya, lives in a fishing village below. Kino who lives on a mountain farm, and learns about the sea through his friendship with Jiya, who lives "in the last house in the row of houses toward the ocean, and whose house doesn't have a window toward the sea" because, as Jiya tells Kino, "the sea is our enemy." Everyone, including Kino and Jiya, has heard of the big wave. No one suspects it will wipe out the whole village and Jiya's family, too. As he struggles to overcome his sorrow, he understands it is in the presence of danger that one learns to be brave, and to appreciate how wonderful life can be. His family and village swept away by a tidal wave, Jiya learns to live with the ever-present dangers from the sea and volcano.