In the short story "Shibusa," the characters are faced with their loss of innocence due to the people they loved the most. When their loved ones are killed during the war, they face a new innocent life which makes up for their loss of innocence. The wife, Goto-san, is reunited with her husband's friend Nishitani-san, whose new looks remind her of the innocent times when her husband and son were still alive. She is rediscovering a new innocence and forgetting what happen in the past when they both greet and say their goodbyes. Mary Yukari Waters' story, "Shibusa," views innocence from different perspectives.
             When Goto-san loses her husband and son, she feels a sense of loss in innocence. All of her innocence from her youth in which she took part in tea ceremonies is now gone, and she is no longer innocent of death. Goto-san's life changes throughout "Shibusa" when it seem like her life was going to be full of joy but once she realizes that she is now living in this dark world with no family, she tries to rediscover a new innocence. "I have learned since that no experience lives on in memory" (67)--Goto-san tries to say that her memory of her husband and son's death will change the way she views other events. This memory sticks to her for life and she can't bring that innocence back.
             Although Goto-san is trying to cope with a new life, the loss of innocence still flashes in her mind. As she indicates, "Over the decades, this period has faded in my memory" (67), which cause her mind to repetitively flashback making her bleed internally. As she tries to cope with a new life, Goto-san seems very hopeless and every time she is headed in the right direction, her mind gets set back to what happened in the past. She gets her mind off the loss of innocence by continuing to live as a widow. Goto-san's new innocence is to deal with a new life and be si...