6 /10 1 Votes6
Original title 絶海密室 Cover artist Kasia Bytnerowicz Editor Joseph Reeder | 3/5 Goodreads Translator Giles Murray Publication date 1998 (1st edition) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cage on the Sea (絶海密室, Zekkai Misshitsu, Distant Seas, Locked Room) is a 1998 novel, written by Japanese author Kaoru Ohno about a group of Japanese holdouts on the island of Anatahan in the Pacific Ocean. The Anatahan holdouts had also inspired a 1953 film, Anatahan.
Contents
Plot
During the Pacific War, after three Japanese supply ships are sunk off the shore of Anatahan, the survivors are taken in by Kikuichiro Higa and Kuzuko, his live-in wife, who have a small coconut plantation on the island. Commanding officer, Sgt. Junzo Itami, tries to maintain discipline, but as the group endures U.S. airstrikes and food shortages order begins to break down. Soon the men become obsessed with Kazuko, the lone woman on the island, and a vicious dynamic sets in among the survivors.
Characters
Reception
The novel received a favorable review from Tim Hornyak in The Japan Times.