Japan Sinks: A Novel - Softcover

Komatsu, Sakyo

3.56

632 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 4770020392 ISBN 13: 9784770020390

Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc, 1995

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A solitary fishing boat anchors for the night by a small island to the south of Japan. The next morning, the fishermen find themselves in the middle of an empty sea. Overnight, the island has vanished without a trace.

The Japanese weather service sends a vessel to investigate. They find convincing evidence of a horrifying geological change.

Thrust into existence millions of years ago when a strong shift in the underlying plates tore it away from the Asian mainland, the Japanese Archipelago has been moving inexorably toward an unseen force in the Japan Trench, and is set on a collision course that threatens to pull the economic superpower under--literally.

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From the Back Cover:

"A chillingly realistic work of science fiction."―The New York Times.
After dropping anchor for the night near a small island to the south of Japan, a crew of fishermen awaken to find that the island has vanished without a trace. An investigating scientist theorizes that the tiny island has succumbed to the same force that divided the Japanese archipelago from the mainland―and that the disastrous shifting of a fault in the Japan Trench has placed the entire country in danger of being swallowed by the sea.
Based on rigorous scientific speculation, Japan Sinks recounts a completely credible series of geological events. The story unfolds from multiple points of view, offering fascinating perspectives on the catastrophe's political, social, and psychological effects. Winner of the Mystery Writers of Japan Award and the Seiun Award, this prescient 1973 science-fiction novel foreshadowed the consequences of the 1995 Osaka-Kobe earthquake and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Dover (2015) republication of the edition originally published by Harper & Row, New York, 1976.
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About the Author:

Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1931 and graduated from Kyoto University with a degree in Italian Literature in 1954. He began writing in college and turned to science fiction in 1959, winning the Twenty-Seventh Annual Japan Mystery Writer's Association Award with the publication of Japan Sinks in 1973 and the Sixth Annual Science Fiction Grand Prix for his Tokyo Vanished in 1985. As a scriptwriter, director, and producer, he brought the movie version of his novel Bye-Bye Jupiter to the screen in 1984. Komatsu has participated in the production of a number of large public events, including the Japan World Exposition in Osaka (1970) as an assistant producer of the theme pavilion, the Tsukuba Science Exposition(1985), the Silk Road Exposition in Nara (1988), and the International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka (1990). His work on this last event as general producer earned him the Osaka Cultural Award. Currently, he holds a number of posts, among them that of Director of the Japan Society for Future Research.

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