Pathway to Japanese Literature

Two Boys

Everyone, allow me to introduce Jimmy and Sam. The splendid adventure these two boys carried out during their summer vacation trip to the Tropical Archipelago Sea will certainly please you all.

Now then, let's have Jimmy begin that story. Ah, everyone. Don't forget to bring a handkerchief and gather over here. Why, you see, as you listened to this story, you'd likely find yourself gripping hot sweat in your palms and feeling clammy perspiration oozing down your spine. But wait—there was more. There might even come moments when your very belly button would sweat.

Now then, Jimmy. Please….

To the Tropical Archipelago Sea!

There's nothing as boring as summer vacation.

My friend Sam shares the same opinion as I do about that matter.

When summer vacation finally loomed just five weeks away, Sam and I felt such great terror that every single hair on our heads stood straight up. The two of us held daily discussions about what we should do to escape the dreadful boredom of summer vacation. As a result, we finally got hold of the tail of a wonderful "idea." Unlike our usual summer vacations, this time we decided to boldly venture out to a remote location. We settled on the Tropical Archipelago Sea for that purpose.

We had studied about the Tropical Archipelago Sea in school. Blazingly intense sunlight. Blue seas. White coral reefs. Red roofs. Lush jungles. Rainbow-hued fish schools. Bananas. Papayas. Soursops. Mangosteens. Sea turtles. Lizards. Crocodiles. Bluish-black snakes (I'm not too impressed with these), and palm trees. Mangrove groves. Rubber trees. Then squalls. Malaria mosquitoes. Dengue fever germs.

A canoe—a dugout canoe. Volcano. Poisoned arrows... Ah, they just keep coming. But I should stop here.

Isn't the Tropical Archipelago Sea just wonderful after all! “Alright, let’s go.”

“That settles it.” “Let’s go, let’s go!” Both Sam and I became completely captivated by the Tropical Archipelago Sea as we talked and flipped through the pages of tropical geography books. We wanted to leave as soon as tomorrow. We were both impatient. Summer vacation was still over four weeks away.

“Ah, there’s still so many days until summer vacation starts.” “It’s so boring, isn’t it?”

“Since it’s so hot this year, they could’ve at least started summer vacation a week earlier.”

Sam and I said whatever we wanted. But until departure day, we weren't too bored. This was because to enjoy sixty days in the tropics properly, we had all sorts of preparations we needed to make.

And so, when the first day of summer vacation finally arrived, the two of us boarded a flying boat and set off. Ha ha ha ha ha! This marked the glorious dawn of our grand adventure. The flying boat was wonderful! Some friends had criticized that saying "Isn't this wonderful?" had become a habit of Sam's and mine, but since we kept running into genuinely wonderful things one after another, we had no choice but to express them as "wonderful." Before taking off, the flying boat hydroplaned across the water with intense momentum. At that moment, waves rose and crashed against the windows. The windows were washed white by the waves, and we could no longer see outside. And since the flying boat revved its engine furiously, it ran with tremendous noise. The vessel looked ready to burst at any moment. Then, suddenly, that tremendous noise stopped, and everything fell silent. Then the fog on the windows cleared, and the outside scenery came into view. At that moment, the flying boat had taken off from the water.

I loved the period from when the flying boat began hydroplaning until it took off. That wonderful feeling when it lifted off—I just couldn't put it into words. Oh, darn it. Here I was trying to talk about our tropical adventure, but I'd kept going on about the flying boat.

I brought my story back on track.

That flying boat transported us to the Tropical Archipelago Sea exactly as planned in just two days. And then, we entered the small town called Gineta.

Gineta was a small city with a population of about eight thousand. However, even this was considered the foremost city in the Archipelago Sea. In the past, Gineta had apparently housed both the Archipelago Sea Governor's Office and a governor. They were no longer there. This was because three volcanoes stood right beside the town—with at least one always erupting, spewing volcanic ash, triggering earthquakes, and occasionally producing thunderous explosions where pillars of fire reached skyward with such ferocity that authorities had decided such unstable land couldn't accommodate the Governor's Office anymore, leading to its relocation elsewhere.

In this town, Sam and I ended up staying at a place called the Sekai Hotel. The name suggested an impressive hotel, but in reality it resembled a slightly enlarged shack built on the cheap. Only the space beneath the veranda showed proper craftsmanship. Even if you entered standing upright, your head wouldn't touch the ceiling. They'd constructed such a splendid area under the veranda because this region's heat required it—without that empty buffer zone, stifling warmth would rise from beneath the floorboards and render the rooms uninhabitable.

But even with such a well-built veranda foundation, Sam and I were still sweltering and couldn't bear to stay still inside the hotel room. So the two of us promptly went out to tour the town. The town had things like shells, corals, specimens of birds-of-paradise, large taxidermied lizards, and beautifully polished hawksbill turtle shells for sale, and we wanted them all. Sam nearly bought out an entire souvenir shop. I persuaded Sam to agree that we would just look around first, and after seeing everything once, we would start buying our most wanted items in order starting tomorrow. Sam reluctantly agreed to it.

However, when we reached the coast, I ended up breaking the very rule I had painstakingly convinced Sam about. I had found something I wanted so desperately. It wasn't just me. When Sam saw it and noticed how cheap it was, he became even more enthusiastic about buying it than I was. They lay scattered here and there across the sandy beach. It was a small submarine. It was a miniature submarine designed for two-person operation.

According to the seller's account, these small submarines had apparently been quite active in this area before. However, it was said that the country which had deployed these ships lost the war, abandoned them in great numbers, and fled. The miniature submarines were put up for auction but didn't sell due to lack of buyers. They held auctions repeatedly until around the tenth attempt when the current seller reportedly bought them all in one bundle—at an unbelievably low price, it was said.

Since the seller said so, it couldn't be a lie. Moreover, when we actually looked at the price tag attached to the miniature submarine, it was truly cheap. With just enough money to buy a model electric locomotive set complete with rails and signals, we could purchase one of those miniature submarines. It was practically free!

“Jimmy, let’s buy this.” “Yeah, let’s buy it!” Sam and I were said to have had our eyes wide like plates, our pupils spinning wildly at that moment. We had come across something we wanted, and our bodies were trembling with joy. We bought it!

We finally bought a miniature submarine. What a brilliant plan! The two of us went to Gineta Dockyard Company for a while to learn how to steer that Dinosaur Submarine (don't you think it's a magnificent name?). Mr. Amil, the technician—who was said to be a former naval petty officer with eight years' experience piloting submarines—proved skilled at teaching us how to steer the vessel. “Steering this thing? Nothing to it.” “Forget you’re human—just imagine you’re a fish darting through water.” “Watch closely now…”

Mr. Amil would swiftly submerge the submarine from the sea surface and then urgently bring it back up again, demonstrating it all as if he himself were swimming.

“However, what you must never forget is to always check whether the hatch to the upper deck is closed before submerging.” “Got that?” “Yes yes. We’re listening”

“Also, there’s one more precaution when submerging.” “You must check whether any items that shouldn’t get wet have been left on the upper deck—and mind that carefully.”

“What do you mean by ‘things that mustn’t get wet’…?” “Examples will make it clear,” he said. “Suppose someone remains on the upper deck. If you forget them and submerge, that person would face serious trouble.” His voice lowered gravely. “Not just trouble—they’d drown.” “Ah! We understand now.” “Second scenario.” He held up two fingers. “Say there’s flour left on deck to sun-dry—infested with weevils, mind you. Forget to stow it before diving?” A grim chuckle escaped him. “Wave goodbye to your provisions forever.”

“Ah, we understand now.” We practiced operating it with all our might. Mr. Amil praised our enthusiasm with first-rate words. There was a particular reason we were so enthusiastic. After acquiring that miniature submarine, Sam and I had come up with a brilliant plan. To carry out that scheme to our heart’s content, we needed to become far more skilled at operating the tiny sub.

Ladies and gentlemen, can you guess what my grand plan was?

Let me go ahead and tell you there. You see, we were going to use the miniature submarine to release a dinosaur into the sea. Dinosaur! Everyone knows about them, right? The giant reptiles known as dinosaurs that were said to have lived on Earth tens of millions of years ago. A fearsome dinosaur that was said to measure thirty-some meters from head to tail. There was a time when that dinosaur had appeared in a village at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains and startled the people. A dinosaur described as having a form resembling a lizard with an elongated neck and an inflated torso, which supposedly stepped lightly over a train. And then, twenty-some years ago, that primeval monster—the dinosaur—that was said to have thrust out its long neck around the middle of Scotland’s Loch Ness and been discovered by local people! This dinosaur was what we planned to release into the sea using the miniature submarine.

How on earth could we pull off such a feat? Ahem, ahem. We could actually do it perfectly. It was something Sam and I had finally come up with together. Now to explain that contraption to you all—here's how it worked. Our submarine had a mast. We attached an artificial dinosaur head to this mast. Of course, we made sure to construct it using materials that wouldn't lose their color or shape even when soaked in seawater.

By doing this, we would make the miniature submarine rise from the seabed or suddenly submerge it again—then what would happen? The giant dinosaur would appear to stick its head out from the sea and pull it back in. Now then, what if a steamship happened to be passing right in front at that moment?

Ah! The dinosaur appeared right beside the ship. T-t-t-this is bad!

And then complete chaos would erupt aboard the steamship—they'd send wireless messages shouting “A giant dinosaur has appeared in the tropical sea! The great mystery of the twentieth century!”—and it would get reported worldwide causing an enormous uproar. We planned to snap loads of photos of the steamship’s panic using the camera hidden in the dinosaur’s eyeball while pretending we knew nothing about it. Then after summer vacation ended, we’d publish those shots as “The Adventures of the Dinosaur Submarine” and have everyone on earth rolling with laughter. To tell you straight—that was every last bit of Sam’s and my grand scheme.

We designed the dinosaur head required for this plan and placed an order via airmail to our home country. I had known about the factory that manufactured such things for some time. A reply came promptly from the factory. It stated that it would be completed by the seventh day at the latest and sent to us via airmail. When Sam and I exchanged glances, we became so delighted that we broke into a dance right there.

The Dinosaur Submarine Sets Out Ten days later, we received the package containing the artificial dinosaur head.

It turned out to be surprisingly small. However, it was contained in a box measuring about one cubic meter. In a hotel room, we locked the door and took out this secret package. A superbly crafted dinosaur head emerged. As expected of that factory. And it had been finished in a much simpler, more convenient, and superior manner than our design. The material that made up this dinosaur head was a fine-meshed chain mesh. Over this had been draped what appeared to be a silk waterproof cloth colored to match dinosaur skin, with eyes and mouth on its upper portion. When folded up, it could easily fit into a box measuring just one cubic meter, but when taken out and inflated, it became something astonishingly large.

A camera had been installed inside the dinosaur's eyes. In addition, though not part of my original design, they'd included a mechanism allowing the dinosaur head to nod up and down and swing side to side. The setup resembled a marionette's controls—multiple chains hung beneath it that you could wind or unwind using a pulley-equipped winch with a steering handle. Instructions specified these chains should run through the mast into the submarine's interior.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. We had locked it securely and felt safe inside when—with a metallic clang—the door burst open and a bellboy entered.

“Aah!” The bellboy threw down the bedsheets on the spot and fled.

“Oh no.” “We’ve been seen.” “You’re the one who locked the door, right?”

“I’m the one who locked it. “Oh dear, this won’t do.” “Because the door was ajar, even if you lock it, it’ll open, you see.” We hurriedly put it back into the box. And later, when the bellboy cautiously came to my room with the manager in tow, everything had been neatly put away. We sent the bellboy away, saying that he must have been dreaming when he came into this room and thought he saw a giant monster.

However, now that things had come to this, we couldn't keep this package at the hotel much longer. So that night, we carried it into our submarine within Gineta Dockyard's coastal compound. Unfortunately, no moon shone yet. The moon wouldn't rise until midnight. We slept inside the miniature submarine that night.

At 3:00 AM, two hours before dawn, we got up. A half-moon hung in the sky. By that light, we attached the dinosaur's neck to the mast. With dawn just thirty minutes away, we tightly closed the Dinosaur Submarine's hatch and began submerging immediately upon setting out. We surfaced only after venturing far out to sea. We decided to take turns being captain and lookout between us. Initially, Sam served as captain while I took the lookout role.

The lookout used binoculars to scan the entire 360-degree horizon, checking for approaching ships. They also occasionally looked up at the sky to watch for airplanes. We figured airplanes probably couldn't be scared. Ships were our only viable targets. When spotting a ship, we hurriedly dove. And once the vessel drew near enough, our plan called for abruptly surfacing right then.

On the first day, we didn't encounter any worthy targets. After all, Gineta wasn't such a thriving town that having not a single incoming or outgoing ship in a day would be unusual. So we waited offshore beyond the port, but that day our quarry never arrived. "Today was a bust, huh?" After returning, I said to Sam. Then Sam took out a nautical chart from his briefcase and spread it across the table while,

“At this rate, we might end up empty-handed every day.” “If we go out another thirty miles offshore, we’ll hit the main shipping routes.” “So right about here.” “If we wait on this main shipping route, I think fairly large steamships will pass by.” “The thirty-mile round trip will be pretty demanding, but why don’t we give it a try tomorrow?”

“Hmm.” “Let’s try it.” So the next day, we set the engine to full speed and ventured far out.

Both Jimmy and I had become thoroughly sunburned and turned dark from standing watch yesterday and today. "This spot isn't working either," I said. "No—we've got to wait properly," "It's not like every steamship in the world gathers here—we've got to be more patient," Sam said in an adult-like tone. However, he too seemed bored, and when we set off on our return journey that day,

“Since we haven’t opened shop yet, why don’t we start scaring any small boats we come across from now on?” “Yeah, that works. Alright, I’ll find us our first casualty ship!” I took up the lookout position.

When we were about three miles offshore from port, I spotted five or six canoes with sails racing across the water. They were boats of local people returning to Gineta Port after finishing a day's fishing.

“I found them. A fleet of six ships!”

“Huh? A six-ship fleet?” “Hey, look closer.” “Wait, isn’t that an actual fleet?” “If we scare a fleet, we’ll get blasted by cannons and rockets and be blown to smithereens!” Sam was filled with apprehension.

“I looked closely. “A fleet of six ships, though...” “But—what’s wrong?” “They’re local canoes with sails.”

“Oh, it’s just canoes. “They’re just canoes—won’t make much of a scare, but since it’s our opening act, let’s give it a shot.” And then we proceeded according to our prearranged plan. Immediately the Dinosaur Submarine submerged and overtook the canoe fleet. Then the Dinosaur Submarine smoothly began to surface. The dinosaur raised its cobra-like head, swaying it rhythmically as it fixed its gaze on the locals’ canoes.

Splash, splash. Bang, bang.

"Aah!" "Aaaaaah!" It was total chaos. The local people threw away the oars they were holding and hurriedly jumped into the sea. We watched this spectacle through the periscope, finding it so funny that tears streamed down our faces and wouldn't stop. If we kept the Dinosaur Submarine visible for too long, there was a risk our true identity would be exposed, so we finally began to submerge.

The Prank's Curse

We encountered the large steamship Gloria the very next day. “Oh! Here it comes! Here it comes! It’s coming this way. It’s a huge steamship. It’s a giant ship over ten thousand tons!” Sam was on lookout duty but let out a tremendous shout. So they hurriedly began to submerge. After that, we were only watching through the periscope.

The giant ship seemed to be approaching, completely unaware.

“Hey Sam. Since that steamship probably has good binoculars, it would be best for us to surface far away and not get too close.”

“Yeah. But if we’re too far away, they might not notice the dinosaur’s presence.” “We should’ve prepared fireworks beforehand.” “Since when do dinosaurs set off fireworks?”

In the end, the Dinosaur Submarine ended up crossing in front of Gloria's course. The distance was half a mile. With this setup, they'd have to notice whether they wanted to or not.

We carefully brought up the Dinosaur from the sea surface. We shook its head vigorously back and forth. We made it open its mouth too. The effect proved tremendous.

Through the periscope, we could see crew members and passengers running about in panic on the giant ship’s deck. Lifeboats were prepared, and passengers hurriedly boarded them. “Heh heh, do they really not realize this is a fake dinosaur?” “Even the captain seems to be panicking.” “Oh dear, it’s changing course.” “Looks like they’re trying to escape.” The giant ship exposed its broadside, churning up white waves as it changed course. The panicked appearance along with the commotion of crew members and passengers was captured by our camera. The giant ship eventually showed its stern to us and retreated at full speed.

We clapped our hands, slapped our knees, and rolled around laughing.

The Dinosaur Submarine then turned back toward Gineta. However, since the sun was still high, it wasn’t advisable to enter the harbor. So we discussed it and decided to dock the submarine at a small uninhabited island seven miles northeast of Gineta and rest there until evening. There, the mangrove jungle extended all the way to the sea, so as long as we stayed hidden within its shadow, there was no worry that the Dinosaur Submarine’s long neck would be visible from the water’s surface.

We were glad we had quickly taken shelter in the shade of that uninhabited island. This was because, not long after that, several planes began buzzing back and forth overhead, creating a terrible noise. We surmised that the Gloria, upon seeing our Dinosaur Submarine, must have been utterly shocked, broadcast the incident via radio to request rescue, which prompted search planes from all directions to come here and begin an aerial search.

One after another, new planes came to investigate. The planes gradually transitioned to larger models.

“Can’t be helped.” “Those plane jerks are still scoping out down here.”

“This is troublesome.” “It’ll be dark soon.” “We haven’t learned night navigation, so we can’t move from here until tomorrow morning.”

“Then let’s stay here tonight.”

We ended up spending one night in the shadow of the uninhabited island. Even when night fell, the planes were still continuing their search. Some planes even thoughtfully dropped flares as they went. “This has gotten awfully elaborate.” “I bet the dinosaur incident has become huge news worldwide and is causing an uproar!” “This is exhilarating. But there are way too many mosquitoes—this is awful!”

The night began to grow pale.

Thinking we should start our return voyage soon，we listened carefully to every sound around us. Then，though faint，we heard an airplane buzzing through the air. “No good.” “Those planes are still working hard up there.”

“Once it’s fully daylight, it’ll be tough to get out.” “This is bad news.”

Dawn broke. The number of airplanes increased. With this development, they could no longer move.

That day, we had to spend the night there again, and the following day as well. What troubled us most was our food supply. We should have brought more. The water was completely gone. We went ashore, drank the foul-tasting water from coconuts, and barely managed to quench our thirst to stay alive.

Dinosaur Emerges

On the morning of the fourth day, when we woke up and went outside the ship, to our delight, there was no sound of airplanes. So I woke Sam up.

“Alright, now’s our chance to set sail.” “But first we need to gather about ten coconuts and haul them into the submarine.” “We might run into who knows what ahead, so we’ve got to make sure we’ve got water ready.” “Right.” “Then we just need to collect five each, yeah?” “Let’s go.”

Sam and I hurriedly went ashore. Then we entered a nearby palm grove and gathered as many greenish coconuts as we could find. The five coconuts could finally be carried in both arms. Sam and I exited the grove while grunting "Ugh, ugh," and staggered toward the bay where our submarine was moored.

That's when it happened. Sam let out an "Ah!" and stopped in his tracks.

“What’s wrong, Sam?” I asked.

“Hmm. My eyes must be playing tricks on me. I can see two dinosaur necks.” “Ahahaha, what are you talking about?” With that, feeling how absurd this was, I looked toward the bay. “Ah!” The coconuts rolled off my arms. My knees suddenly began to tremble. My throat went bone-dry, and I lost my voice. Why? To ask why—it’s because I had seen it. Next to our dinosaur, another dinosaur was extending its long neck, opening and closing its mouth as it lumbered about. Moreover, it was immediately clear this wasn’t our artificial dinosaur. Its massive torso was pushing down the mangroves with a creaking crunch. The long tail struck the palm fronds with a loud whack. Coconuts could be seen tumbling and rolling about. It was a real dinosaur.

“Let’s run! It’s a real dinosaur!”

Sam also seemed to realize it at that moment and grabbed my arm. I wordlessly executed an about-face and started running. Into the depths of the jungle… “That was shocking. This island has a real dinosaur living on it, you know.” “So Dinosaur Island really exists after all. Will it eat people?” “Dinosaurs are reptiles, right? When you think of reptiles, that would be snakes and lizards. Snakes swallow people, you know. Therefore, I think dinosaurs eat humans.”

“What do you mean ‘therefore’? If we get eaten, that’s the end! Oh no, this is terrible!” “I’m more worried that since that beast got angry when our Dinosaur Submarine’s dinosaur didn’t respond to its attempts to communicate, it might just give our sub a swift kick into the sea and sink it.”

“Ah! That’s right. “I forgot to close the hatch!” “This is bad.” “Since the real dinosaur’s counterpart won’t talk back, it’ll surely get angry.”

“If that happens, we’ll lose the boat we need to get back.” “And we’ll end up living on this island with a real dinosaur.”

“Whoa! Just thinking about living with a real dinosaur makes me shiver-shiver-shiver-shiver!” Sam made a show of trembling all over. “Hey, Sam. Do you think dinosaurs have a good nose? Like, are they sharp at sniffing things out?” “Why do you ask?” “Because I want to sneak over to the bay and check on that real dinosaur. But if they’ve got sharp sniffers, it’ll catch my scent and gobble me up!”

"I think the dinosaur's sense of smell is weak. Because even when we went right up to our fake dinosaur, we still couldn't tell if it was real." "Then let's go see." "I'm coming too."

We crept forward cautiously, muffling our footsteps as we approached a spot overlooking the bay. "Huh? The dinosaur's gone!"

“You’re right. Let’s board the Dinosaur Submarine and escape now!”

“Alright! Hurry, quick!”

Looking back now, I have no memory at all of why we had jumped into the Dinosaur Submarine then, why we had set sail, or who had closed the hatch. In any case, with our lives at stake, we hurriedly sorted things out and fled toward the open sea. Of course we didn't submerge. We raced at full speed while remaining surfaced, churning up white waves. Our nerves were stretched thin. It felt like the dinosaur would come chasing after us any moment now...

After beaching the sub on the shallows at Gineta Bay's entrance, we thought, "Whew, we're saved." We jumped out of the sub, waded through the water, scrambled up onto the sandy beach, and in our moment of relief, both of us lost consciousness.

We hadn't known, but apparently the people nearby had been scared out of their wits. That stood to reason. For just when they thought the dinosaur was charging toward shore at full speed, it ran aground on the shallows, two boys came leaping out from inside, and collapsed onto the sand—no wonder!

At the hotel too, since we hadn't returned for three days and three nights, they apparently concluded we must have been abducted by the dinosaur and organized a search party. We fortunately managed to save our lives and were able to return to our home country. Although we suffered considerable losses, after that we produced programs like "The Dinosaur Submarine Adventure" and "The Story of Seeing a Dinosaur," published books, and made so much money we became rich.

For their next vacation, they wanted to visit Japan. He'd discuss things with Sam next time.