Daikon Samuel Hawley Reading Group Guide Introduction World War II is nearing its end when a third atomic bomb falls into the hands of the Japanese military. This third bomb, code-named "Daikon" because of its shape, could have the power to radically change the outcome of the war. It certainly changes the lives of Keizo and Noriko Kan, the couple at the heart of Samuel Hawley''s debut novel, Daikon . When the Japanese discover the Daikon, physicist Keizo is told that if he unlocks its secrets and reassembles the bomb, his wife may be released from a notoriously brutal prison. What ensues is a riveting page-turner, a love story, a thriller, and a brilliantly researched and beautifully written work of historical fiction. Discussion Questions 1. The Prologue is notably different from the rest of Daikon in many ways. Why do you think the author chose to begin with this romantic, nostalgic scene in America? Do you think the desired effect is achieved? 2.
Daikon is ultimately a story of homecoming. At the end of the book, Keizo, Noriko, and Yagi all experience coming home or rebuilding home, in different ways. Did you find yourself drawn to one of their stories more than the others? 3. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Aiko''s name, which means "child of love," is hidden within "Daikon." A "child of love" nested in a bomb. How is this symbolic of the motivations Keizo has, and the choices he makes, toward the end of the war? 4. Though they are both starkly different in many ways, both Keizo Kan and Colonel Sagara exhibit what appears to be bravery. Especially toward the end of the book, how do their shows of bravery differ? 5.
On page 111, the commander addressing the kaiten pilots is heard to say, "[The enemy] loves his country and has his own national spirit . So you must strengthen your Japanese spirit. You must love your country even more and fight even harder!" Who do you think exhibits patriotism and love of their country most profoundly in Daikon ? Are there any shows of patriotism that surprised you? 6. What literary devices does the author employ to keep suspense high throughout the book? 7. Compare and contrast Colonel Sagara and Captain Onda. In what ways are they similar, and different? 8. Further tension between Keizo and Japanese military ideals is introduced when Keizo recalls his time studying under Oppenheimer in California. How did Oppenheimer''s words to Keizo on page 197 change how Keizo thought about physics, thereby affecting his future work on the bomb in Japan? 9.
How do you think Noriko, Keizo, and Yagi would each define "home?" How might their answers vary? 10. Yagi and Keizo could easily have been enemies, but instead they gradually developed a powerful friendship that outlasted the war. At what point did their strong bond begin to form? 11. Reread Colonel Sagara''s story in chapter 8. Now that you have read the entire book, do these pages spark empathy within you or encourage you to look at Sagara differently than you did when you finished the book? 12. Throughout the book, the flashbacks are put in italics to differentiate them from the rest of the text. Why do you think the author chose to use italics in this way? What effect does it have on the reader? 13. How did you respond to finding Aiko''s name hidden in Daikon ? Enhance Your Book Club 1.
Daikon is a masterclass in writing about love: love of one''s romantic partner (Keizo and Noriko), love of one''s friend (Keizo and Yagi), and love of one''s country. Choose one of the above and make a list of techniques the author uses to bring this love to life for the reader. Once you''ve studied this, try your own hand at writing a love scene or a love letter! Set a timer for twenty to thirty minutes and borrow the author''s techniques for your own short piece of writing. Afterward, discuss this experience with the group. 2. There is a long history of people all over the world singing folk songs, songs of home, during the war to recall what they once knew (and hope to know again soon). On page 178, Yagi and Kan find comfort in singing Crossing the Hill . Choose a favorite folk song, or look up one with which you aren''t familiar, and do a bit of research--does this tune have any significant connection to wartime? The answer may surprise you! If you aren''t familiar with many folk songs, try searching one of the following: "Looking for a Home;" "Battle Hymn of the Republic;" "Amazing Grace.
" 3. Analyze the covers of a variety of novels set during WWII. What commonalities do you find? How is the cover of Daikon similar/different to these other covers? Why do you think this cover was used to represent a novel so rich with a variety of themes? A Conversation with Samuel Hawley What made you first consider writing a what-if story about a third atomic bomb? Back in the late 1990s I was doing a lot of reading about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, the story from both the American and the Japanese side. One thing that struck me was how either of these missions could have so easily failed. Neither the Hiroshima uranium bomb nor the Nagasaki plutonium bomb had been fully tested, dropped from a plane to remotely detonate over a target. What if something went wrong? What if one of the bombs was a dud? What if it fell to earth and didn''t explode and the Japanese recovered it? I was intrigued by the idea and started trying to imagine what might have happened next. How long would it have taken the Japanese to figure out what this bomb was? What would they have done with it? How would the volatile political situation in Tokyo have played out if the Japanese had possessed an atomic bomb? As I mulled over these questions, a novel became to take shape in my mind. You grew up in South Korea and taught English in Korea and Japan for many years.
How did this personal history influence the writing of Daikon ? The biggest influence my Korea experience had on Daikon was probably on my decision to make the character of Petty Officer Yagi an ethnic Korean. I probably wouldn''t have done that otherwise, and it had a big impact on the story. Beyond that, there were little things I remember from that time that influenced how I imagined Japan in the final days of the war. The references in the novel to treeless hillsides, for example, to pine trees being cut down for fuel--this is how I remember Seoul from my childhood, the hills denuded for firewood. One of the biggest shocks I experienced when I returned to Korea many years later was that there were so many trees! Colonel Sagara''s teenage memory of falling down Mt. Fuji, which I liked for its symbolic value--this actually happened to my older brother, Jim Hawley, when he was at the World Boy Scout Jamboree held in Japan in 1971. He fell down Fuji while racing down the scree on the descent and returned home with a stitched-up face and our dad''s Olympus camera broken. The Riken complex where Keizo Kan worked--the original pre-war campus of Yonsei University in Seoul was in the back of my mind when I was composing these scenes.
When Kan and Yagi are on a freight train bound for Tama Airfield and pass through Numazu, and Kan remembers the trip to Hakone where Aiko was conceived--my wife and I lived near here from 1988 to 1990, when we first went to Japan to teach English at a little language school called F.I.A., run by a jazz musician named Shoichi Kaneko. We lived in the village of Iwanami, a few stops north of Numazu on the Gotemba line, and took several enjoyable hikes to Hakone. You must have done a great deal of research into WWII in Japan and the mechanics of the atomic bomb. What did your research project look like? What part of the process did you find most exciting? I did indeed do a lot of research for Daikon . I like doing research.
I actually like it more than writing, because there''s no pressure to produce anything in the end, a scene or a chapter or a book, that has to be judged. Research is simply an act of doing . I can be pretty obsessive about it, but I find it a satisfying kind of obsession, maybe like what a squirrel feels as it busily hunts for nuts to stash away for the winter. Most of the research that went into Daikon was simply dogged, methodical work. But there were moments of quiet satisfaction along the way--finding a diagram of the thermal diffusion separator that was built at the Riken for Project Ni-Go''s failed attempt to enrich uranium, for example--and a few eureka moments too. The biggest concerned the development of Petty Officer Yagi. I didn''t like how I''d written him in earlier drafts. He seemed wooden and dull.
Then I stumbled on the little-known story of Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune''s experience in the war, and in that moment something clicked. Yagi became a young Mifune in my mind, a quirky, real person that I could imagine, right down to the way he spoke and grunted--and in that imagining, a whole new dynamic emerged between Yagi and Kan. It was like things fell into place after that. The story finally worked! It even led to the novel getting a new title, Daikon. (For anyone that''s interested, I made a video about Toshiro Mifune in the war. You can watch it on my YouTube channel.) The second eureka moment concerned the prologue, where Keizo and Noriko are together in San Francisco before the war and Keizo is too shy to propose. I was struggling to come up with a scene, something base.