my job as a Tokyo ‘hostess’ shaped my latest novel

This happened quite some time ago, but very late one night, I lent a hand to a young woman who had fallen down the stairway of a pedestrian overpass. This happened in Tokyo, where a major road abuts a residential area. It was dark; there was no one around. She had tumbled down and hit almost every step; she was still conscious but was unable to speak. She was spectacularly drunk, and was crying the whole time. It didn’t seem like she required medical attention, so I had her drink some…