Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.

| Original Title | 穴 |
|---|---|
| Author | 黒島 伝治 |
| Genre | War & Social Literature |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a remote Siberian military hospital along the Ussuri Railway, a young nurse soldier’s routine is shattered when a counterfeit 5-yen note surfaces among his forced savings. Accused of forgery by merciless Military Police, he faces invasive interrogations and public humiliation, his innocence drowned in bureaucratic suspicion. As investigators fixate on his vulnerabilities—a photograph of a local woman, casual interactions—their hunt for a scapegoat leads them to a frail Korean opium peddler, whose desperate pleas for mercy are silenced in a gruesome spectacle. Yet the discovery of more counterfeit bills after the execution reveals a chilling truth: corruption festers deeper than any pit dug in the frozen earth. Amidst the bleakness of wartime duty and moral decay, this haunting tale probes the cost of complicity and the shadows where humanity fractures under authority’s boot. |