Rakuen No INU

[Machine Translation] In 1940, just before the outbreak of the Pacific War, Kengo Asada, an English teacher in Yokohama, landed on Saipan in the South Seas. Kengo Asada, an English teacher in Yokohama, arrives on Saipan, where Japan and other countries are clashing underwater. Ostensibly, he is a general affairs officer at the Saipan branch of the South Seas Agency. However, he was secretly assigned as a spy for the Japanese Navy. Japanese control of the South Sea archipelago dates back to 1914, but it was not until 1936 that the theory of southward expansion advocated by the Navy became the "standard of national policy" and Japanese foreign policy. Later, the theory of southward expansion became popular among the general public as well. Spies of all kinds roamed the land, gathering information on Saipan, the navy's frontline base, in preparation for the outbreak of war between Japan and other countries. Asada's search for the truth behind the suicide of a fisherman who had emigrated from Okinawa led him into the darkness of the South Seas archipelago.... As the times are changing, how far can an individual go with his or her own thoughts? And to what extent can they carry out their own will? Here is an epic story set in the South Seas.

一九四〇年、太平洋戦争勃発直前の南洋サイパン。日本と各国が水面下でぶつかり合う地に、横浜で英語教師をしていた麻田健吾が降り立つ。表向きは、南洋庁サイパン支庁庶務係として。だが彼は日本海軍のスパイという密命を帯びていた。日本による南洋群島の支配は一九一四年にさかのぼるが、海軍の唱える南進論が「国策の基準」として日本の外交方針となったのは一九三六年だった。その後、一般国民の間でも南進論が浸透していった。この地にはあらゆる種類のスパイが跋扈し、日本と他国との開戦に備え、海軍の前線基地となるサイパンで情報収集に励んでいた。麻田は、沖縄から移住してきた漁師が自殺した真相を探ることをきっかけに、南洋群島の闇に踏み込んでいく...。時代が大きなうねりを見せる中、個人はどこまで自分の考えを持つことができるのか?そして、どこまで自らの意思を通すことができるのか?南洋の地を舞台にした壮大な物語がここに―。