Daikon

by Samuel Hawley ★★★★☆

In Daikon, author Samuel Hawley imagines a scenario in which America developed not only two atomic bombs during World War II, but three, and the third bomb fell into the hands of the Japanese prior to the bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It's a compelling premise, particularly for those with a keen understanding of the history of the time and the conflicting Japanese sentiment in the waning months of the war.

The novel opens with the scenario described—a mission in late July 1945 intending to drop the first atomic bomb on the city of Kokura that is thwarted by a Japanese kamikaze pilot. The American B-29 plane carrying the bomb crashes, and Japanese soldiers recover the bomb intact from the wreckage. It is transported to a secure location, and after disassembling the bomb, they soon come to suspect that this is a new type of weapon, a "genshi bakudan", a uranium bomb that Japan had unsuccessfully tried to create themselves.

We're introduced to the primary characters in the story: Keizo Kan, a physicist dispatched to confirm that the bomb is in fact a uranium bomb; Petty Officer Ryohei Yagi, who was among the first to find the bomb; and Lieutenant Colonel Shingen Sagara, who dispatches Kan to the site and has visions of how this bomb can avoid an imminent Japanese surrender in the war. The pace of the novel is fairly slow and deliberate; it takes quite some time before the Japanese have any certainty about the bomb's nature, and even longer to determine what they might do with it. Over this period of time, Hawley fills the space with side narratives. He introduces Kan's American-born wife, who is being held in captivity under suspicion of sedition. He also recounts the bombing of Hiroshima in harrowing and depressing detail.

It's not a happy book, and like several others I've read recently it highlights the tragedy of war. But it's also a engaging speculative scenario that examines how things might have played out if just one thing changed. In particular, Hawley delves into the split sentiment regarding surrender among the Japanese military at the time. From his afterword:

"The main point of tension in those closing days of the war was between the hard-liners, particularly in the Imperial Army, who wanted to fight on, and those wanting to surrender. Some hard-liners knew that the war was lost but rejected the terms of unconditional surrender....Others believed that some sort of victory could still be achieved; that if they continued to fight they would eventually break the Americans' spirit. For (those), millions of Japanese dead was preferable to the disgrace of surrender."

Japan having the potentially game-changing atomic bomb was one thing, but the uncertainty of which faction within Japan would take possession of the bomb adds an extra wrinkle to the story.

All of that contributes to Daikon being an entertaining piece of speculative historical fiction. While it dragged at points and occasionally seemed to get a bit lost, it was ultimately rewarding in its execution of an interesting premise.