Pathway to Japanese Literature

1

Well now, the very existence of Dr. Kin was the greatest miracle of the modern age.

If you entreated the doctor, there was no scientific or technological problem—no matter how daunting—that he could not solve.
If you asked Dr. Kin to summon clouds, he would uncork each and every bottle lined up there.
When uncorked, billowing mists—mysterious white, red, blue, and others—would emerge from the bottles in tornado-like shapes, swaying gently as those who sought to test his wisdom watched in amusement. Before long, the room transformed into a sea of fog until even Dr. Kin’s whereabouts, the location of his workbench, or one’s own frog-mouthed purse became utterly indistinguishable. Thus it became an ironclad tradition: those attempting to verify Dr. Kin’s wisdom would find their purses emptied, ending in unforeseen and crushing defeat.

“Hey now—I thought we’d finally settled into some quiet, but here you are scribbling this drivel.”
“Since I’m conducting gas research, I’ll let the red and blue mist business slide—but this bit about frog-mouthed purses being stolen reflects poorly on me, don’t you think?”
“This implicates my integrity!”

Unbeknownst to me, Dr. Kin had been peering at my manuscript from behind my back all along.

And so I, without pausing my pen, wrote as follows:

“Dr. Kin, unless you deign to answer my repeated entreaties for enlightenment, I’m determined to keep scribbling about your factual and fanciful exploits—trading them for bread money—while digging my heels into Shanghai indefinitely!”

With that declaration, I pantomimed snapping at the desk before me.

Then Dr. Kin shook his unusually large head from side to side,

“Well now, what a troublesome man you are.
You demand sympathy as aggressively as some warlord on the march!
But I must say—having you persist in my room indefinitely is troublesome—what exactly was the matter you wished to learn?”

“Oh? Have you already forgotten that, Dr. Kin?
That simply won’t do.”

With that, I made a show of exaggerated dismay and thrust a verbal spear into the good-natured Doctor’s weak point.

“Ah, my apologies about that. Now what was that about again? Ah yes—the energy’s half-life distance of death rays, was it?”

“No, that’s not it. Doctor, what I asked you to teach me wasn’t some complicated mathematics. In other words, what form of living will we humans on the trajectory of civilized existence adopt in the ultimate future? That is what I wished to hear the answer to.”

“What’s that? Say it again.”
“What kind of incantation is this? Doesn’t make a lick of sense to me.”

“I’ll repeat it as many times as needed—in essence, what form of living will we humans on the trajectory of civilized existence adopt in the ultimate future?"
“Well?”
“Surely you’ve grasped it this time?”

“No matter how many times I hear it, I don’t seem to grasp it, I tell you.”
“In the end, it’s about what manner of living humanity will eventually adopt, I suppose?”

“Yes, well…”
“Putting it simply and roughly, that’s about the gist of it.”

“Ah, if that’s your question, the answer is simple enough.”
“We will become exactly like the Piposkora tribe.”
“And after ten thousand or twenty thousand years pass, we humans will likely be given the name Neo-Piposkora tribe.”

“Ah, I see.”
“What is this Piposkora tribe you speak of?”
“Where are they located as a people?”

“Since I doubt you’d believe me even if I told you now, I think I’ll keep that to myself.”

“Doctor, that’s cowardly of you.”
“I’ve studied ethnology and anthropology extensively, but I’ve never heard of something called the Piposkora tribe.”
“You’re just spouting nonsense, aren’t you?”

“Don’t spout such nonsense.”
“Granted, it probably doesn’t appear in those cheap pulp-made books, but I’m not lying.”

“Then explain it.”
“Or you could take me to see this Piposkora tribe in person—that would suffice as well.”

“Ahahaha! Uwahahaha!”

Dr. Kin, for some reason, raised his voice in a harsh, dry laugh that refused to subside for some time.
Eventually, when he finally stopped laughing—perhaps having laughed his fill—his expression suddenly turned as bitter as if he’d bitten into a bear’s gallbladder,

“Very well, here’s my proposal.
“Starting with the coming August 8th as the first instance, you shall compose a diary entry every ten years on August 8th thereafter and send it to me.”

“A ten-year interval seems rather long, don’t you think?”

“Not really.
“By the time you come to write your eighth letter, you’ll inevitably have to document your encounter with the Piposkora tribe.
“Until then, I shall remain silent about both the Piposkora tribe and humanity’s impending adoption of their lifestyle.”

“It’s exactly like the lines of a god in human form from fairy tales.”
“Stop with this roundabout nonsense and just tell me already—what kind of life will we lead in the distant future…?”

“Once I say I won’t tell, that’s final—this Dr. Kin absolutely will not speak another word.”
“If you keep nagging any longer, I’ll fill this room with red and blue mists!”

“Oh, I must beg you to refrain from that!”

Pressing down my frog-mouthed purse with one hand, I fled Dr. Kin’s laboratory like a startled hare.

―And so concluded the first diary entry I had sent to Dr. Kin―that is to say, my diary from August 8th of that year.

2

The second diary entry was my account from August 8th of 10×, ten years after that.
This was different from the first installment and had become much more diary-like.
Below, I reproduce it.

10X August 8th — Clear

When I got up to urinate and peered through the skylight at the dawn sky, I found a hatefully clear sky—truly wretched weather.

Just as I grew gloomy thinking there would be another fierce bombing by the Japanese Air Force today, the air raid alarm siren sounded.

“Damn! That lousy prediction had to come true!”

I spat in disgust and returned to bed.
No sooner had I grabbed the clothes on the bed and the emergency bag hanging beside it than I rushed out of the room and sprinted down the street.
The target civilian air raid shelter was five hundred yards ahead.

I arrived at the air raid shelter out of breath, but when I suddenly reached for my neck, the crucial entry pass was missing.
Damn it.
I had tied it around my neck with a string, but apparently the cord had snapped along the way. If I were to turn back now and waste time searching for it, those swift Japanese Air Force bombers would no doubt appear overhead before I knew it.
I was in the wretched state of a bee stinging my tear-streaked face.

“Please let me in. I must have dropped the entry pass somewhere around here.”

“If you dropped it around here, then you should go pick it up now, shouldn’t you?”

“Well…”

The official glared at me with spiteful intensity.
There was no helping it.
There remained no choice but to shake out my meager purse’s last contents.

I reached into the emergency bag and pulled out five thousand yuan in fiat currency.
Placing it quietly into the official’s hand,

“Just this once—grant me this today.”

“Nuh-uh.”
“Tch. Is this all?”
“This much isn’t…”

“Oh, I’ll give.”
“This is truly all I have to my name.”

And so, I grabbed another three thousand yuan in fiat currency and forced it into the official’s hand.

“Fine.
“I’ll let it slide this once.”
“Next time, anything under twenty thousand yuan won’t be overlooked.”

“Understood.”

I hurriedly ducked under the official’s arm and leaped into the air raid shelter.
Then came a thunderous boom-boom-boom-boooom—a ground-shaking tremor.
The bombing had already begun.
Had I lingered any longer, the shelter entrance would’ve sealed shut.

That was just the opening salvo.
Once it started, explosions followed relentlessly without pause.
Soil cascaded from the shelter’s ceiling and walls, pelting the heads of jostling evacuees who trembled shoulder-to-shoulder.
Piercing screams erupted from every direction.

I thought there was at least one bastard who’d managed to stay eerily composed amid this chaos when the youth pressed shoulder-to-shoulder against me spoke: “I wonder if there’s any way to eliminate those thunderous blasts and those deep rumbling tremors—hearing those makes your life feel shorter.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” I said. “As long as we’re stuck in Chongqing, there’s no way around it.”

“No—I still think there’s a way,” he countered. “If the government would actually try—digging shelters deeper or reinforcing entryways with triple doors—they could build proper shelters. Don’t you agree?”

“That’s true,” I replied noncommittally.

“We mustn’t forget we’re humanity’s most exceptional citizens.”

The young man’s words abruptly shifted.

“Huh? Why?”

“Well, because that’s just how it is! There are no citizens in the world subjected to such intense bombings daily as we are. Therefore, nowhere else will you find people possessing air defense facilities as superior as ours combined with such mental fortitude for aerial protection. In other words, thanks to the Japanese Air Force, we’ve become the world’s foremost air defense connoisseurs. That may be so,”

“Ah, I see, I see.”
“But this prolonged war does drag on, doesn’t it?”
“I’d have thought by now the Japanese Air Force would be so strapped for iron they’d start dropping wooden or mud bombs, but no—they’re still using iron ones. The enemy really is something else, aren’t they?”

“No—
“No—by today’s bombing, they might already be using wooden bombs.”

“But if they were wooden bombs, they wouldn’t make such a robust sound.”

“You’re right.
“Today’s bombs sound… off…”

While he was saying this, a tremendous roar erupted—and in that instant, my field of vision became a sea of flames. Then I lost consciousness…

Today’s diary entry comes to an end here.
For you see, since I only regained consciousness the following morning, today’s diary had to conclude at the point where I lost consciousness…

3

Third Diary Entry to Send to Dr. Kin.

Another ten years had passed since the previous diary entry.

20XX August 8th - Clear

The radio announced that the sky was clear this morning.
Ten years ago, when dawn broke and the sky was clear, we would resent the fair weather expecting air raids.
These days whether it was clear or cloudy made little difference either way.
On any given day airplanes would come flying in and accurately bomb us.

However when we citizens were kept underground without being given a single opportunity in a month to go up to the surface and look up at the sky as had been the case lately things like the weather somehow seemed absurd and I found myself disinclined to even listen.

After finishing my meal, I boarded the Third District-bound underground rail and went to work at the company.
This morning brought an abrupt committee meeting.

Today’s agenda concerned the expansion work of the underground city and where to push out the excavated soil to the surface. If we carelessly dumped it anywhere, enemy aerial spies would immediately detect it, allowing them to pinpoint the location of our new underground city.

It was 3 PM, but during the meeting, the air raid alarm resounded sleepily.

“Here comes the American Air Force for another bombing run.”
“How very diligent of them.”

These days, bombings began and ended with mere radio announcements, making them feel unreliable.
With the underground city’s construction methods now perfected, even when bombs fell, not a single earth-shaking rumble could be heard; of course, no explosion sounds whatsoever would reach our ears even if we tried to listen.
After all, the underground city was now at a depth of a hundred meters, so we could rest assured.

I was lost in these thoughts when a tremendous roar suddenly erupted. Simultaneously, the walls shuddered violently, and a long crack split across the ceiling.

“Whoa! Now that’s a rarity—an explosion sound.”
“How’d it even stray all the way down here?”

Even Chief Liang, not yet considering that they were in such a perilous situation, was intrigued at hearing an explosion sound so nearby. However, as time passed, the assembly came to realize that today’s bombing was no mere fluke—that it hadn’t simply chanced through ground fissures to reach the deep underground. The explosion sounds gradually increased in volume and rose in pitch. Chief Liang set aside the agenda and surveyed the fiercely vibrating walls around him.

“There’s something strange about today’s bombing.”
“It’s penetrating unusually deep into the ground, isn’t it?”
“Hey you—call the Anti-Air Headquarters and find out what’s going on.”

Chief Liang commanded me.

I promptly summoned Commander Han of the Anti-Air Headquarters and inquired about the unusually deep detonation of the bombs.

Then Commander Han said to me in a hushed tone, as if wary of being overheard:

"It must be different from usual."
"The bombs the U.S. military is using today are liquid bombs."

"Liquid bombs?"
"I've never heard of such things—what exactly are they?"

"They're new bombs developed by the Americans specifically for bombing deep underground cities—divided into Type A and Type B."
"First they drop Type A bombs in rapid succession."
"When these explode underground, they release Type A liquid that seeps through ground fissures, soil gaps, and passageways, penetrating ever deeper."
"It works just like heavy rain on sandy soil—the water immediately seeps deep underground."

“I see. And when that Type A liquid seeps in, does it explode?”

“No, Type A liquid alone doesn’t cause an explosion. After allowing some time to pass and gauging the precise moment when the Type A liquid has thoroughly seeped in, the Type B bombs containing Type B liquid are then dropped. This Type B liquid also seeps deep underground like the earlier Type A liquid, but when it encounters Type A liquid that’s already seeped in somewhere, a violent chemical reaction occurs instantly, causing a massive explosion. Liquid bombs are a terrifying invention, I tell you.”

“Hmm, that’s quite an idea.”
“So that means even we can no longer rest easy just because we’re at a depth of 100 meters underground, as we have until now.”

“That’s right. Oh, reports have come in that Type A liquid bombs have already been dropped on your current area too—they’re seeping straight toward the depths right now. If Type B bombs get dropped on top of this, things’ll go south fast. You need to exercise extreme caution.”

“You keep telling us to be careful—but what exactly are we supposed to do?”

“Well, it’s about drainage—no, liquid drainage—improving it.”
“The liquid seeping down from above should be channeled into gutters or sewer pipes and rapidly drained away.”
“However, if Type A and Type B liquids are drained together, they’ll explode as I said earlier. So before that happens, you must install filters to separate them and channel each into different drainage pipes.”

“That sounds like a real hassle.”
“It won’t be ready in time for this crisis.”

“But if you don’t implement that, it’ll cost you your lives.”

“I understand it’s life-or-death, but how can we start gutter construction or order filters now that Type A liquid has already seeped into the ceiling area?”

“That’s true.”
“Well then, there’s no helping it.”
“From here on out, I’ll be praying for your souls’ peace.”
“Namu Amida Butsu!”

“Hey, don’t say such a heartless thing.”
“Hey! Do something to help us!”
“Oh! I mustn’t hang up…”

As I was saying this, unwelcome guests—decked out in tremendous roars and flashes—came crashing down upon us from above.
From that moment onward, I fell unconscious, my entire body covered in burns, and drifted through a twilight between life and death until the following morning.

4

Ten more years passed.

Today is August 8th.
To Dr.Kin，as promised，I sent my fourth diary.
What followed was a transcript of that diary.

August 8th, 30XX. Indoor temperature, humidity, and lighting levels all showed no abnormalities. Rations distribution remained accurate.

Today marks the three-year anniversary of our conquest of the thousand-meter depth and the completion of this Gokuraku Underground City where we now reside; thus, the radio has been blaring cheerful music since morning.

Has it already been three years since then?

We humans too, pressed by the overwhelming force of aerial bombings, were gradually driven deeper underground. Initially, it was said that 250 meters underground marked the limit for human habitation—beyond that depth, the heat became unbearable, making life impossible and structures unsustainable. Yet we could not afford to wait as prey for depth bombs reaching 400 to 500 meters underground. Mobilizing the National Research Institute for desperate research into heat-resistant architecture, we finally solved what had been deemed an impossible challenge, culminating three years ago in the completion of this radiant Gokuraku Underground City.

I finished my meal, immediately entered the compressed air rail tube, and three minutes and forty-five seconds later found myself standing in the bustling crowd at Neo-Gokuraku Plaza, the commemorative celebration venue.

Chief Liang’s massive frame appeared on the platform.

We all raised our hands in unison.

“On this commemorative day, it is my foremost honor to report to you all that since the beginning of this year, the enemy nation’s air force has nearly ceased replenishing new aircraft.”
“No—not only have they stopped deploying new planes, but they’ve even left their existing military aircraft to rot over this past year.”
“This stems directly from our nation’s construction of this robust underground city within a thousand-meter stratum beneath the earth’s crust and anti-air hardened ceiling—both endowed with complete air defense capabilities—through which the enemy has verified aerial bombs’ total ineffectiveness, driving them at last to reduce military aircraft maintenance.”
“In short, by fully submerging underground, we’ve successfully neutralized their air force entirely, thereby securing our nation’s path toward safe and wholesome development.”
“First, let us raise our glasses to celebrate today’s great victory—I propose a toast!”
“Everyone, raise your glasses to…”

I got drunk on unfamiliar liquor for the first time in ages, and after that, I couldn’t remember anything clearly.

5

And then another ten years passed.

This was the fifth diary.

40XX August 8th

When I wake up, the first thing that comes to mind is wondering what I'll do today to stave off the boredom.

Gokuraku life left us no want for food or drink, provided ample clothing, and spared us any fear of foreign invasion—everything existed in overabundance. Yet the sole vexing problem remained: how to endure the boredom that plagued each passing day.

However, what auspicious morning was this? I had suddenly recalled the name of that puzzling tribe I'd heard from Dr. Kin forty years earlier.

The Piposkora tribe!

What kind of people could the Piposkora tribe be?
At that time, we were fighting under air raids, so I hadn’t had the chance to investigate what kind of tribe they were.
Alright—today I would go to the ancient library and investigate that matter.
I suddenly felt invigorated.

At the ancient library, I spent time until late at night.
However, what exactly the Piposkora tribe was ultimately yielded no clues.
I decided to continue my investigation even after proceeding to the next day’s calendar section.
However, since that would no longer be part of the August 8th diary entry, I ceased writing here.

6

And then another ten years passed.

The date had come to August 8th, 50XX.
The diary of this day, breaking with previous conventions, was never delivered to Dr. Kin.
The reason for this was that the government had suddenly issued a nationwide order to sever all communications.

What was the reason?

As for the reason—at the time, I had no inkling of its meaning—but after about a year and a half had passed, only its vague outline came into focus. This was because intelligence had been received that the White Empire was secretly aiming to conquer our nation with an encircling army, which led to a state of high alert and ultimately resulted in a strict communications ban.

In that case, what exactly was this encircling army?
Had that been understood, the government wouldn’t have needed to panic so much.
But since they didn’t, the commotion only intensified.
The full extent of that encircling army would first become clear in the next diary.

7

August 8th, 60XX. We had been driven into a minimal existence; my appetite had become strangely ravenous and proved difficult to control—though given these extraordinary times, there was nothing to be done…

Since last night we had been desperately climbing the vertical shaft with backpacks on our shoulders; but as an old man my arm and back strength were too weak making no progress at all.
It took a full hour just to climb five meters—the absolute limit of my endurance.

Moreover if we let our guard down even slightly we would be treated as obstacles by violent citizens climbing up from below and our bodies would be cast into the abyss—like knocking a gecko clinging to a wall down into depths.

If one were to fall into the abyss, either way, there was only death.
If you were to smash your head against a rocky ledge, or if by some chance you didn’t die and instead fell all the way back to Gokuraku Underground Street, the White Empire’s subterranean tank corps would be waiting there, ready to flatten your body like a rice cracker in an instant.
Therefore, either way, you cannot escape the jaws of death.

Ah, there was no use grumbling about it now, but why had our authorities failed to anticipate the encircling army’s tactics? Shouldn’t even an amateur have realized that once we—the very targets of attack—avoided the enemy forces’ aerial bombings by going underground, and once they had realized their air raids had become ineffective, those same enemy forces would inevitably change tactics and assault our residential areas from deep beneath the earth? What was the use now—having fifty thousand enemy subterranean tank corps beneath our feet and then making a frantic fuss about it?

“Citizens, evacuate to the surface immediately.
“The damage would still be lighter if you go out to the surface.”

Having said that, the Guard Commander issued a proclamation—but it soon became clear that this too was a half-baked measure. For no sooner had citizens stuck their heads above ground for the first time in decades than the White Empire’s air corps, as if they had been waiting for this very moment, pounced upon our fellow citizens. Bombing after intense bombing—the carnage was unbearable to hear about.

If we descended underground, there was the enemy’s subterranean corps; if we emerged above ground, there was the enemy’s air corps. Caught in attacks from both above and below by this encircling army, we could neither ascend nor descend—truly trapped between a rock and a hard place.

“Oh no!”

Ah, it hurts.
While voicing these absurd complaints, I slipped and fell back down the vertical shaft—all eight meters I'd painstakingly climbed over two days.
But fortunately, where the underground passage bent horizontally kept me from falling further.
I'll stop complaining now.
And I abandoned both climbing up and descending.
I no longer have the strength for it.
All that remains for my future hope is to quietly starve to death here...

I was sunk in these thoughts when someone suddenly jabbed my shoulder.
My eyes flew open in surprise.
Before me leaned a young man with rugged features, peering intently into my face.

“Oh! You’re Hong-kun!”

“Yes, it’s Hong.”
“Professor, there’s no time for dawdling!”
“Please escape with me.”

“I appreciate your kindness, but it’s already far too late.”
“If going up or down means being killed, I’d rather quietly end my life here.”
“Leave me be.”

“Professor, such weak-willed behavior won’t do.”
“As long as we don’t fall into their hands, there’s still a place left to escape to!”

“Huh, really? Where’s that?”

“In other words—we won’t go deep underground or jump back to the surface. We’ll aim for exactly the middle layer. If you think of it as a sandwich, not the bread parts but the ham in between—and keep escaping sideways indefinitely. If we escape sideways now while there’s still time, there are places to flee—nearly infinite in number. Eventually, we’ll settle down somewhere and begin our cave-dwelling life.”

“But Hong, even if we say we’ll escape sideways, wouldn’t we have to keep digging holes?”

“That’s right.”
“We need excavation machinery.”
“What I have here is a long-range drill vehicle utilizing artificial radium.”
“Now then, rest assured and please get on top of this.”

“Is that so?”
“That’s really something.”

With that, I stepped onto the drill vehicle and sat down in the seat behind Hong-kun.
Just then, inside my backpack, the alarm clock struck twelve noon.

8

Ten years later—that is, on August 8, 70X—instead of writing a diary entry, I wrote the following letter to Dr. Kin.

To Dr. Kin of Keen Insight,
First and foremost, I report that your prophecy has at last proven true and marvel at it.

Dr. Kin,
I finally met with the Piposkora tribe yesterday.
It was an entirely abrupt occurrence.

Hong-kun and I had been wandering underground aboard the long-range drill vehicle for about ten years when yesterday around noon, as we stopped to rest, an odd thing happened—a deep, resonant thudding began echoing from somewhere beneath us. We stared at each other in alarm, our faces going pale.

While I grew certain we’d finally been surrounded by enemy subterranean tanks, Hong-kun stubbornly insisted no tank unit could possibly operate in such terrain. Ultimately, following his lead, we steeled ourselves and charged the drill vehicle toward the source of those uncanny vibrations for one final assault.

Before long, with an even louder crash of collapsing rock, we burst into an unexpectedly bright room. I opened my eyes wide in astonishment. It was a large cave where strange creatures that were neither ape nor human stood gathered. Yet these creatures showed no particular signs of harming us.

I felt glad that the ancient language of past lives I had studied beforehand proved to be useful. They themselves declared they were the Piposkora tribe. They stated they had gone underground two hundred thousand years ago. At that time, dinosaurs and other terrifyingly large animals had wreaked havoc across land and sky, while deep below they were besieged by giant earth dragons (whose degenerated descendants are today's moles), until finally hemmed in from above and below, they fled sideways and discovered this safe cavern - thus becoming cave-dwelling creatures.

Everything unfolded exactly as Dr.Kin had predicted.
After consulting with Hong-kun, I resolved to continue our cave-dwelling life in this land by emulating the Piposkora tribe.
Should we ever find a suitable spouse for Hong-kun somewhere in these depths, we humans may yet forge a new species called the Neo-Piposkora tribe and prosper within this underground realm.