Pathway to Japanese Literature

Two Boys

Ladies and gentlemen: allow me to introduce Jimmy and Sam. The splendid adventure these two boys embarked upon during their summer vacation, when they went to play in the Tropical Archipelago Sea and pulled off remarkable feats there, is sure to delight you all.

Now, let's have Jimmy begin that story. Hold on, everyone. Don't forget to bring your handkerchiefs and gather round this way. Because mark my words—as you listen to this tale, you'll find hot sweat pooling in your palms and clammy chills oozing down your spines. Wait, there's more. Your very navels might break into a sweat!

Now then, Jimmy. Please….

To the Tropical Archipelago Sea! There's nothing as boring as summer vacation. My friend Sam held the same opinion as I did on that matter. When summer vacation finally loomed just five weeks away, Sam and I were seized with such terror that every single hair on our heads stood straight up on end.

The two of us deliberated daily about what we should do to escape the dreaded boredom of summer vacation.

As a result, we finally got hold of a brilliant 'idea'. This summer vacation would be different from all others—this time, we'd boldly venture out to some remote place. We settled on the Tropical Archipelago Sea as the ideal location for that. We had learned about the Tropical Archipelago Sea through our school studies. Scorching sunlight. Blue sea. White coral. Red roof. Green jungle. Rainbow-colored fish schools. Bananas. Papayas. Soursops. Mangosteens. Sea turtles. Lizards. Crocodiles. A bluish-black snake (I'm not too impressed with this one), and then palm trees. Mangrove trees. Rubber trees.

And then squalls. Malaria. Dengue fever germs. Canoes—dugout boats. Volcano. Poisoned arrows... Ah, they just keep coming. But I’ll stop here. After all, isn’t the Tropical Archipelago Sea simply splendid!

“Alright, let’s go!”

“That settles it.” “Let’s go, let’s go!” Both Sam and I became utterly captivated by the Tropical Archipelago Sea as we talked and flipped through pages of tropical geography books. We wanted to leave as soon as tomorrow.

Both of them were impatient. Summer vacation wouldn’t arrive until another four weeks or so had passed.

“Ah, there’s still so many days until summer vacation starts. It’s so boring, isn’t it?” “Since it’s this hot already, you’d think they could’ve moved summer vacation up by a week.” Sam and I just kept spouting whatever came to mind. But truth be told, we didn’t end up too bored before departure day. After all, to properly enjoy sixty days playing in the tropics, we had stacks of preparations to handle.

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—the splendid dawn of our grand adventure.

The flying boat was splendid. "Some friends criticize us, saying 'splendid' has become a catchphrase for me and Sam, but since we kept coming across truly splendid things one after another, we had no choice but to express them as splendid." Before taking off from the water, the flying boat hydroplaned with tremendous momentum. At that moment, waves rose and crashed against the windows. The windows were washed white by the waves, and the outside became invisible. And because the craft’s engine was roaring at full throttle, it raced forward with a tremendous noise. The craft seemed ready to burst apart at any moment. And then, suddenly, the tremendous noise stopped, and everything became quiet. Then the fog on the windows cleared, and the outside scenery came into view. That was when the flying boat had taken off.

I love the process from when the flying boat begins hydroplaning until it takes off. Especially that thrilling sensation at the moment of takeoff—it’s impossible to describe. Oh, darn it! I was supposed to be telling the story of our tropical adventure, but I ended up talking about nothing but the flying boat.

I'll get back to the main story.

That flying boat brought us to the Tropical Archipelago Sea we'd ordered up 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 the largest city in the Archipelago Sea. In the past, they say this Gineta had both the Archipelago Sea Governor’s Office and a Governor. They are no longer here. This was because three volcanoes stood right beside the town, with at least one always erupting—scattering ash, triggering earthquakes, and occasionally unleashing thunderous explosions that sent fiery pillars reaching the sky with terrifying force. Given such instability, they apparently concluded the Governor’s Office couldn’t remain in such precarious terrain and had relocated it elsewhere.

In this town, at a place called the World Hotel, Sam and I ended up staying. The name suggested an impressive hotel, but in reality, it resembled nothing more than a slightly enlarged version of a cheaply built shack. However, only the space beneath the veranda was splendid. Even if a person entered while standing upright, their head wouldn’t bump against anything. The reason the space beneath the veranda was constructed so splendidly was because this region is so hot—if they hadn’t built it this way, stifling heat would rise from under the floorboards, making it impossible to stay inside the rooms.

But even with such a space beneath the veranda, Sam and I still found it unbearably hot and couldn't stay cooped up inside our hotel room. So we promptly set out to tour the town.

The town had shops selling shells, coral, specimens of birds-of-paradise, large taxidermied lizards, and polished hawksbill turtle carapaces—we all wanted them. Sam, for one, came close to buying out an entire souvenir shop. I persuaded Sam to agree that we’d start by just looking around, see everything all at once first, and then begin buying our most wanted items in order starting tomorrow. Sam did reluctantly agree to it.

However, when we reached the coast, I ended up breaking the very rule I had painstakingly convinced Sam to follow. I had found something so incredibly desirable that it wasn't just me. When he saw it and noticed how cheap it was, Sam became even more enthusiastic than I was about buying it. They lay scattered across the sandy beach - several of them rolling about. It was a small submarine. It was a mini-submarine that two people could operate.

According to the seller, these small submarines had apparently seen considerable action in these waters before. However, the country that had put these ships to active use lost the war, abandoning them in great numbers and fleeing, or so the story went. As a result, the mini-subs were put up for auction, but with no buyers, they remained unsold. And so they were put up for auction again and again, until apparently on around the dozenth attempt, the current seller bought them all in one bundle—and at an absurdly low price at that.

Since the seller said so, it couldn't be a lie. Moreover, when we actually looked at the price tags attached to those mini-subs, they were truly inexpensive. With the money that would buy us a model electric locomotive set with tracks and signals, we could purchase one of those mini-subs. It was practically free!

“Jimmy, let’s buy this!” “Yeah, let’s buy it!”

Both Sam and I apparently had our eyes as wide as saucers, darting them around wildly at that moment. Having encountered something they desired, their bodies must have been trembling with joy.

They bought it!

A mini submarine. They finally bought one.

The Brilliant Plan

The two of us attended Gineta Shipyard Company for a while to learn how to operate that mini-submarine Dinosaur Boat (What do you think? Isn't it a splendid name?). Technician Amil, who was a former naval petty officer with eight years of submarine piloting experience, proved skilled at teaching us how to handle the submarine.

“Ah, come on! Operating this thing’s no trouble at all. “Forget you’re human and just swim around like crazy, pretending you’re a fish.” “See? Just like this…” Technician Amil would swiftly submerge the submarine from the sea surface and then hurriedly bring it back up again, demonstrating it all as if he himself were swimming. “The one thing you must never forget when diving is to always check whether the hatch to the upper deck is closed before submerging.” “Got that?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m listening.”

“And another precaution when submerging,” he continued. “Check that there’s nothing left on the upper deck that can’t get wet.” “Like what exactly...?” I asked. “An example’ll make it clear,” Amil said. “Suppose someone’s still up on deck. If you forget them and dive, that poor soul’s in for it.” He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a grave rumble. “Worse than trouble—they’ll drown.”

“Aha! Now I get it.” “Second example. On the upper deck, flour infested with bugs is left out to dry in the sun. If you forget to bring that inside and let the submarine dive into the sea, that flour will bid farewell forever.”

“Ah, I’ve got it.” We practiced operating it with all our might. Technician Amil praised our enthusiasm with first-rate words.

There was a particular reason why we were so enthusiastic. That was because after obtaining this mini-submarine, Sam and I had come up with a brilliant plan. To carry out that plan to our heart's content, it was better that we became much more skilled at operating the mini-sub.

Ladies and gentlemen, do you have any idea what my grand plan is?

Let me just come out and tell you right here. You see, we were going to use the mini-submarine to make a dinosaur appear from the sea. Dinosaur! I suppose there's no one who doesn't know about that, right?

Dinosaurs—those giant reptiles said to have lived on Earth tens of millions of years ago. Dinosaurs—those incredible creatures reported to measure over thirty meters from head to tail. That very dinosaur said to have once appeared at a Himalayan foothill village and startled its residents. Dinosaurs—their torsos swollen like inflated lizards' bodies with elongated necks—alleged to have nimbly stepped over railway trains. And that primeval monster—the one said to have suddenly thrust its long neck from Loch Ness' waters twenty-odd years back—discovered by locals! This dinosaur—we had plans to make emerge from the sea using our mini-sub.

"How on earth could such a thing be possible, you ask? Ahem, ahem. It could indeed be done. This was something Sam and I had finally devised. The mechanism—let me explain it to you all—worked like this. Our submarine had a mast. To this mast we attached an artificial dinosaur head. Naturally, we'd constructed it from materials that wouldn't lose their color or shape even when soaked in seawater. With this setup, when we made the mini-sub surface from the seabed or abruptly submerge it again—what do you think happened? Why, it appeared exactly as though a giant dinosaur was poking its head out from the sea before ducking back under! Now then, imagine if a steamship had been passing right before us at that very moment."

Whoa! A dinosaur appears right next to the ship! D-d-disaster!

Then complete pandemonium would break out aboard the steamship as they sent wireless messages: "A giant dinosaur has appeared in the Tropical Archipelago Sea! Proclaimed as 'The Great Mystery of the 20th Century,' it would be reported worldwide and cause an uproar." We would take numerous photos of the steamship's commotion using the camera built into the dinosaur's eyeball. And for the time being, we'd play innocent. Then when summer vacation ended, we'd release those photos titled "The Adventures of the Dinosaur Boat" and make the whole world roar with laughter. To be honest, this was everything Sam and I had cooked up for our grand scheme.

We designed the dinosaur head required for this plan and ordered it by airmail to our home country. I had known about the factory that manufactured such things beforehand. A reply came immediately from that factory. It stated that [the dinosaur head] would be completed by the seventh day at the latest and sent to us by airmail. Sam and I looked at each other, became overjoyed, and burst into dancing right there on the spot.

The Dinosaur Boat Sets Out

Ten days later, we received the package containing the artificial dinosaur head. It was unexpectedly small. But that said, it was packed in a box roughly one cubic meter in size. In a hotel room, we locked the door and took out this secret package. A superbly crafted dinosaur head emerged. That factory truly lived up to its reputation. And it had been finished far more simply, conveniently, and excellently than our design.

The material that made up this dinosaur head was a fine-meshed chain mesh. On top of that was draped what appeared to be a silk waterproof cloth; this was colored to match dinosaur skin, with eyes and a mouth positioned on its upper section. When folded, 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. What's more—though this hadn't been part of my original design—they'd added a mechanism that let the dinosaur nod its neck up and down and swivel it side to side. The whole contraption worked like a marionette, with several chains dangling down that you could wind or unwind using a pulley-equipped winch handle. An instruction note specified these chains needed to run through the mast into the submarine's interior.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

They had felt reassured because it was locked, but then the door clattered open and a bellboy came in. “Aah!” The bellboy threw down the bed sheets right there and fled. “We’re in trouble. We’ve been spotted.” “You’re the one who locked the door, right?”

“I did lock it. “Oh dear, this won’t do. “Because the door’s ajar—even locked, it’ll open!” We hurriedly stowed it back into the box. Later when the bellboy timidly brought the manager to my room, everything was neatly put away. We told him he must’ve been dreaming when he came in and imagined seeing a giant monster, then sent him away.

However, now that things had reached this point, we couldn't keep this package at the hotel much longer. So that night, we carried the package into our submarine within the grounds of Gineta Shipyard on the coast. Unfortunately, there was no moon. The moon wouldn't rise until midnight.

We slept inside the mini-sub that night.

At 3 AM, two hours before dawn, we rose. A crescent moon hung in the sky. By its pallid glow, we fastened the dinosaur neck to the mast. With dawn thirty minutes off, we clamped the Dinosaur Boat's hatch shut and submerged the moment we set sail. We surfaced only after reaching distant waters.

We decided to take turns between the two of us being captain and lookout. At first, Sam was captain and I served as lookout. The lookout would use binoculars to sweep around the entire 360 degrees of the horizon, watching for any approaching ships. In addition to that, he would occasionally look up at the sky and watch out for airplanes. We thought airplanes probably couldn’t be scared. Only ships could be scared. When a ship was spotted, we had to hurry and submerge. And when the ship finally drew near, we were supposed to abruptly surface at that moment.

On the first day, we didn’t encounter any worthy targets. After all, Gineta wasn’t a particularly bustling town, so it wasn’t unusual for there to be not a single ship entering or leaving port all day long. So we waited offshore beyond the harbor, but that day no targets showed up at all. “No luck today, huh?”

After returning, I said to Sam. Then Sam took out a nautical chart from his bag and spread it out on the table, “As things stand now, we might come up empty every day. If we go out another thirty miles offshore, we’ll hit the main shipping route—right around here. If we wait on this main route, I think some fairly large steamships will pass by. Thirty miles roundtrip will be tough going, but why don’t we give it a try tomorrow?”

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

Both Sam and I had gotten completely sunburned from standing watch yesterday and today, our skin turned dark.

“This spot’s no good either, is it?” I said. “No, we’ve got to wait patiently. It’s not like all the world’s steamships are going to gather here, so we’ve got to be more patient.”

And with that, Sam spoke in an adult-like tone.

However, he too seemed bored, and when they started their return journey that day, "Since we haven't opened shop yet, why don't we try scaring any small boats or whatever we find from now on?" he said.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Alright, I’ll find us our first target!”

I took up the lookout.

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

“Found them. “A fleet of six vessels!” “Huh? A fleet of six vessels, you say?” “Hey, take a good look!” “That’s not an actual fleet, is it?” “If we scare an actual fleet, we’ll get blasted by cannons and rockets and end up blown to pieces!” Sam was alarmed.

“I looked carefully. A fleet of six vessels, though…” “But—what’s wrong?” “They’re local canoes with sails.” “Oh, just canoes? They’re just canoes—not even worth scaring—but since it’s our opening act, let’s give it a try.”

Then they executed their prearranged plan. Immediately, the Dinosaur Boat submerged and overtook the canoe flotilla. It then smoothly transitioned to surfacing. The dinosaur lifted its coiled neck, swaying unsteadily as it glared at the locals' canoes. Splash, splash. Flap, flap.

Eek! Eek! Eek!

It was a tremendous uproar. The locals flung down their oars and hurled themselves into the sea in panic. We watched this spectacle through the periscope, doubled over with laughter until tears streamed down our faces. Keeping the dinosaur visible any longer risked exposing our ruse, so we submerged again.

The Curse of the Prank

The very next day, they encountered the great steamship Gloria.

“Hey! 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, they watched solely through the periscope.

The giant ship appeared to be approaching completely unaware.

“Hey Sam. That steamship must have a proper telescope, so we should surface way out yonder and keep our distance.”

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

In the end, the Dinosaur Boat ended up crossing in front of the Gloria's course. The distance was half a mile. At this distance, they'd notice whether they wanted to or not. We carefully raised the dinosaur from the sea surface. We vigorously shook the dinosaur's head. We made it open its mouth too. This effect was something to behold. Through the periscope, we could see the crew and passengers on the giant ship's deck scrambling about in panic. Lifeboats were readied, and the passengers scrambled aboard in a panic.

“Heh heh heh, don’t they realize this is a fake dinosaur?” “Even the captain’s panicking.”

“Oh dear, they’ve changed course.” “They seem to be trying to escape.”

The giant ship exposed its broad belly, churning white waves as it veered course. Their flustered state, along with the crew and passengers' commotion, was captured by our camera. The giant ship soon presented its stern to us and retreated at full speed.

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

The Dinosaur Boat then turned back toward Gineta. However, since the sun was still high, it wouldn’t do to enter the harbor. There we consulted with each other and decided to dock the submarine at a small uninhabited island seven miles northeast of Gineta, resting there until evening. The mangrove jungle there extended all the way to the sea, so by hiding in its shadow, we didn’t have to worry about the dinosaur’s long neck being visible from the water’s surface.

We were glad we had quickly taken shelter in the shadow of that uninhabited island. This was because, soon after, several airplanes buzzed back and forth overhead, creating an awful racket. It seemed the Gloria had been utterly astonished upon seeing our dinosaur, broadcast the news via radio, and called for rescue, prompting planes from all over to come flying in and begin an aerial search.

One after another, new airplanes came to get a look. The aircraft gradually shifted to larger models.

“Can’t be helped,” Jimmy said. “Those plane guys are still peering down there, I tell ya.” Sam frowned. “We’re in trouble here. It’ll be dark soon. We never learned night navigation—we can’t budge from this spot till morning.”

“Alright then, let’s stay here tonight.”

We ended up spending the night in the shadow of the uninhabited island. Even at night, the planes were still continuing their search. Among them were planes that dutifully dropped flares.

“This has gotten awfully elaborate, hasn’t it?” “The dinosaur incident must’ve become huge news worldwide—causing a stir everywhere!” “What a thrill! But there’s way too many mosquitoes—it’s unbearable!”

The night began to lighten.

We thought we should head back early and listened carefully to the sounds around us. Then there came the faint drone of an airplane.

“It’s no good.” “Still, those planes are persevering up there.”

“Once it’s fully daylight, it gets kinda tough for us to head out. “What a pain.”

Day broke. The number of planes increased. Now there was no way we could move.

That day we had to stay overnight, and the next day too, we were forced to spend another night. The real problem was food. We should have brought more. The water was completely gone. After landing, we drank the foul-smelling coconut water and barely managed to quench our thirst to stay alive.

Dinosaur Emergence

On the morning of the fourth day，when I woke up and went outside，to my delight，there was no sound of airplanes. So I woke Sam up. “Alright，let’s depart now while we can! But before that，we need to gather about ten coconuts and bring them into the submarine. We’ve gotta make sure we’ve got water ready—who knows what we’ll run into next!” “Makes sense. So five each，right? Let’s go.”

Sam and I hurriedly went ashore. Then we entered a nearby palm grove and gathered the greenest coconuts we could find. Five coconuts could finally be carried in both arms. Sam and I emerged from the grove with labored grunts, staggering toward the bay where our submarine was moored.

At that moment. Sam said “Ah!” and stopped in his tracks.

“What’s wrong, Sam?” I asked. “Hmm.” “Hmm. It seems my eyes are playing tricks on me.” “I can see two dinosaur necks.” “Ha ha ha, what are you talking about?” With that, I thought it was absurd and looked toward the bay. “Ah!” The coconuts tumbled from my arms. My knees suddenly gave way. My throat went bone-dry, and my voice vanished. Why? Why? Because I had seen it.

Beside our dinosaur, another dinosaur was extending its long neck, opening and closing its mouth as it lumbered about. Moreover, it was clear at a glance that this was no artificial dinosaur. A massive torso was crunching through the mangroves, flattening them beneath its weight. A lengthy tail loudly smacked against the palm fronds. Coconuts could be seen tumbling and rolling across the ground. It was a real dinosaur.

“Let’s get out of here - that’s a real dinosaur!”

Sam too seemed to realize it then and grabbed my arm. I wordlessly executed an about-face and started running. Deep into the jungle...

“That was a shock,” I said. “There are real dinosaurs living on this island!” “So Dinosaur Island… it really exists,” Sam murmured. “Do you think it eats humans?”

“Dinosaurs are reptiles, right? When you talk about reptiles, snakes and lizards come to mind. Snakes swallow humans, you know. Therefore, I think dinosaurs eat humans.” “What’s with the ‘therefore’? If we get eaten, we’re done for. Oh no, this is bad.” “What I’m worried about more than that is how that beast over there got mad ’cause our Dinosaur Boat’s fake dino won’t talk back to it, y’know? I’m scared it’ll just punt our sub into the sea and sink it!”

“Oh right! “I forgot to close the hatch!” “This is bad.” “Since the real dinosaur’s opponent doesn’t talk back, it’ll definitely get angry.” “If that happens, we’ll lose the boat we need to get back home.” “And we’ll end up living on this island with real dinosaurs.”

“Whoa! Living with real dinosaurs? Just thinking about it gives me sh-sh-sh-shivers!” Sam’s entire body quivered minutely.

“Hey, Sam. “Do dinosaurs have a good sense of smell? “Like, how keen are they at picking up scents?” “Why’re you asking?”

“Because I’m thinking of quietly heading over to the bay now to see how the real dinosaur’s doing.” “But if its nose works well, it’ll sniff me out and gobble me up if I get close!” “I think their sense of smell’s weak.” “’Cause even when it came right up to our fake dino, it still couldn’t tell if it was real!”

“Alright, let’s go check it out.”

“I’m coming too.”

We stealthily and cautiously made our way to where we could see the bay.

“Oh! The dinosaur’s not here!”

“You’re right. Now’s our chance—let’s board the Dinosaur Boat and escape!”

“Alright, hurry! Quick!” Looking back now, I have no memory at all of why we jumped into the Dinosaur Boat then, why we set sail, or who closed the hatch. Anyway, with our lives on the line, we hurriedly wrapped things up and made a break for the open sea. Of course we didn’t even think about submerging. We raced across the surface at full throttle, churning up whitecaps. We were beside ourselves with anxiety. At any moment, the dinosaur might come chasing after us...

After running our boat aground in the shallows off Gineta Bay, we thought, "Whew, we made it." We jumped out of the boat, waded through the water, ran up onto the sandy shore, and with the easing of tension, both of us fell unconscious.

We had no idea, but apparently the people nearby were scared out of their wits. That made sense. For just as they thought a dinosaur was charging toward the shore at full speed, it beached itself in the shallows, and two boys came leaping out from inside before collapsing onto the sand.

At the hotel too, since we hadn’t returned for three days and nights, they apparently split up to search, convinced we must have been snatched away by dinosaurs.

We were lucky to escape with our lives and managed to return to our home country. Though we suffered heavy losses, we later made a fortune by broadcasting programs like "The Adventures of the Dinosaur Boat" and "Tales of Seeing a Dinosaur," and publishing books about them. Next vacation I want to try going to Japan. I'll try talking to Sam about it next time.