Josan

About the Book

Josan, a spy/love story set in Japan during the Korean War, parallels the conflict about limited war as it interweaves with the lives of four josan: Akai, hotel girl; Murasaki, club hostess; Momo, Inn proprietress; Midori, salesperson. It's also a cautionary tale since North Korea has been designated as one of the "axis of evil" countries.

A rogue operation that Alan Barclay, a civilian U.S. Army intelligence analyst, has committed to, unravels when the Chinaman, then the Russian cut off contacts with Alan. Then the Colonel, ordered by the General, who conceived the rogue operation, sends yakuza assassins to kill everyone involved in the operation, and Counter Intelligence Corps agent Okuma confronts Alan. After violent encounters, Alan and Midori, Alan's josan, evade the yakuza and the Colonel, then Alan, enroute to Saigon, flys by military plane to Hong Kong with Chao, a Psywar employee who becomes a dangerous liability. Meanwhile, the General searchs for Alan. When Alan and two Chinese friends go to the Hong Kong airport to meet Midori, who is arriving from Japan, there is a shoot-out with Chinese gunmen.

About the Author

After graduating from Ohio State University in 1942 with a major in chemistry, the author served as a U.S. Army chemical warfare specialist in Panama, an infantry training officer in Alabama, and a Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) subregion commander in Germany. After the war, he worked as a merchandise supervisor for the Haverfield Company, Columbus, Ohio, then studied languages at UCLA. In 1951, recalled to active duty in the Army, he conducted cases in the Washington D. C. CIC detachment. Then he took a civilian job in Tokyo, Japan as an Army supervising military intelligence analyst. Back in the States, he was employed by JPL, Caltech as an editor on projects re the unmanned exploration of space.