Shifting Land Prices and Other Stories

A farmer believes land will outlast every other possession. When a proposed electric railway crosses his fields, that belief seems about to pay off. Prices rise, neighbors envy one another, and a survey line becomes a promise of rescue. Then the route changes.

In the second story, Japanese soldiers stationed in Siberia share their leftovers with hungry Russian children. They visit nearby homes, hoping for warmth and affection beyond the barracks. An officer’s jealousy turns a private grievance into an order with consequences for an entire company.

Kuroshima Denji follows ordinary lives through the workings of money, property, and military power. His details are concrete: bells set to guard mushrooms, a dim electric lamp, a mother’s hidden banknotes, boots sinking into snow. Through them, two sharply observed stories reveal how decisions made above people’s heads enter their bodies and homes.