Pathway to Japanese Literature
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| Original Title | 白い月の世界 |
|---|---|
| Author | 中谷 宇吉郎 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a world of extremes, two realms stand in stark contrast: a barren volcanic wasteland and an immense frozen desert. The latter—a vast, lifeless expanse of ice six times Japan’s size—covers Greenland’s heart, where glaciers seven thousand feet thick conceal ancient secrets. This “white moon world” holds no trees, no creatures, not even bacteria; only layers of snow compressed over millennia into crystalline archives. Scientists brave blizzards and crevasses to extract ice cores, each layer a time capsule preserving air bubbles from eras when samurai roamed Japan. These frozen relics may unravel mysteries of Earth’s shifting climate—and humanity’s role in its warming. Yet Greenland’s ice cap is retreating, its meltwater surging in torrents that hint at apocalyptic futures: submerged cities, rising seas. Amid perilous expeditions and fragile equipment, researchers race to decode this icy ledger before it vanishes, balancing awe at its primordial beauty against dread of its fragility. What truths lie entombed in ice older than civilizations? And what calamities might its thaw unleash? The answers, like the glaciers themselves, flow inexorably toward revelation. |
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