Pathway to Japanese Literature
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Our TownAuthor: Oda Sakunosuke
| Original Title | わが町 |
|---|---|
| Author | 織田 作之助 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the early 20th century, a perilous engineering feat unfolds in the Philippine mountains as multinational laborers—Filipinos, Americans, Chinese, and others—struggle to carve the Benguet Road. When the project stalls amid landslides, disease, and death, Japanese workers are recruited for their famed resilience. Among them is Sadoshima Tagyoku, a brash laborer whose grit is tested by lethal conditions: dynamite blasts bury comrades, monsoons destroy camps, and cholera ravages survivors. Back in Osaka, Tagyoku’s family grapples with poverty and estrangement, their lives shadowed by his absence. Years later, haunted by guilt over those lost in Benguet and failures at home, Tagyoku battles to rebuild fractured bonds while clinging to pride in Japan’s rising global stature. Yet as colonial ambitions and personal sacrifices collide, survival exacts a harrowing toll—on bodies clinging to cliffs, families fractured by distance, and spirits worn thin by unending labor. This visceral saga weaves intimate struggles with the brutal machinery of empire, where every hard-won mile of road is paved with blood and shattered dreams. |
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