SHIOSAI - is typically translated as "The sound of waves." The first ideograph, "tide" and the second "noise," were chosen by one of Japan's most famous authors, Yukio Mishima, as the title of one of his early novels ("Shiosai," 1955). The slim volume is a seaside romance that takes place on a small fictional island in Japan's Inland Sea. The central characters, a modest, teenaged village girl and artless youthful fisherman, are heroically and sentimentally drawn. The rainy night in a mountainside shack when they first make love, the simple scenes of village life, portraits of townspeople, true and pure Japanese people, all are masterfully created. The novel is one of the first books the owners shared when they were dating.