It is a nightly routine with little variation. After my bath, I repair to the living room, dim the lights and settle into a good book. An hour or so later, my wife, who is Japanese, emerges from her soak and switches on the main lights -- a fluorescent, halogen and neon cocktail that solarizes the room, leaving me blinking and dazed, like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an approaching truck.
