Mushroom Cloud

This translation of Saki Ryuzo's Kinokogumo examines the experience of a young boy, Kosaka Ryo, from age four to thirteen, in a suburb of Hiroshima in prewar Japan. Ryo's life in the village encompasses several central events: the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan's surrender, and the death of Ryo's father in the Philippines. Widowed at age thirty-five with four children, Ryo's mother struggled to survive by selling rice on the black market and ultimately left for Yahata in Kyushu, searching for a better life. With its unique perspective on Japan and the living conditions there during and after the Pacific War, Mushroom Cloud will appeal to history and literature students.

Autorentext

The Author: Saki Ryuzo was born in 1937 in Pyonghand, now North Korea. Originally a reporter, he wrote more than one hundred books and received prizes and awards for his work. The Translator: Tomone Matsumoto received her Ph.D. in Asian studies from the University of Arizona and has taught Japanese language and literature in Australia, the United States, and Japan. She is co-editor of The Showa Anthology (1986) and a translator of The Name of the Flower: 13 Short Stories of Mukoda Kuniko (1994).