 For their first names, each family member picks a random letter in the Japanese alphabet that will be the first letter of their name.Sun-hee chose the letter K and Tae-yul chose N, so their names became Kaneyama Keoko and Kaneyama Nobuo.As the book progresses the story switches between Sun-hee/Keoko's time in school with her friend Tomo and interest in Japanese kanji, and Tae-yul/Nobuo's interest in machinery.