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    Nippon 2357: A Utopian Ecological Tale
    Nippon 2357: A Utopian Ecological Tale
    Nippon 2357: A Utopian Ecological Tale
    Ebook299 pages4 hours

    Nippon 2357: A Utopian Ecological Tale

    By Alex Shishin

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Thomas Redburn, American expatriate living in Japan, falls down drunk off his bicycle one night and wakes up onboard a time machine flying to 24th century Japan. His benign abductors take him to a nearly perfect ecosocialist world. War, poverty, inequality and all forms of discrimination no longer exist. The ecological crisis that brought down the old order has been reversed. In this classless and peaceful world made of cooperative communities should make Thomas Redburn happy. Yet, separated by centuries from his wife and children, his grief multiplies as he faces universal happiness. A classic utopian novel with a Japanese twist.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlex Shishin
    Release dateJul 18, 2010
    ISBN9781452362267
    Nippon 2357: A Utopian Ecological Tale
    Author

    Alex Shishin

    Alex Shishin has published fiction, non-fiction and photography in Japan, North America, and Europe in print and online. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Shishin is a permanent resident of Japan. Shishin is the author “Nippon 2357:A Utopian Ecological Tale,” and five other ebooks published exclusively by Smashwords and available for free. He is co-author with Stephan F. Politzer of “Four Parallel Lives of Eight Notable Individuals,” also published by Smashwords. Shishin's short story "Mr. Eggplant Goes Home," first published in “Prairie Schooner” received an O. Henry Award Honorable Mention and was anthologized in “Student Body: Stories About Students and Professors” (University of Wisconsin Press). His short story "Shades," originally published in “Sunday Afternoon” (Kobe) was anthologized in The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan (Stone Bridge Press) and reprinted by invitation in “The East” (Tokyo).  Shishin’s book “Rossiya: Voices from the Brezhnev Era” (a Russian-American memoir of a train odyssey through the Soviet Union and Poland) was published by iUniverse. It is available as a print-on-demand book and an ebook. Shishin has also published a collection of photographs entitled “Ordinary Strangeness” with Viovio in conjunction with his joint exhibition at the Twenty-first Century Museum of Art, Kanazawa, Japan. It is available from the publisher online. Alex Shishin holds degrees in English from the University of California, Berkeley (BA, Phi Beta Kappa) the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MFA) and the Union Institute and University (PhD).

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    • 4/5
      Nippon 2357: A Utopian Ecological TaleThis was not the easiest book to get behind and cheer. It was start and stop, start and stop. When it clicked however, holy shit did it click.Nippon 2357 follows Thomas Redburn. Tom is an American expatriate, Japanese citizen, married man, photographer, bicyclist drunkard who is riding in the pitch black of the Japanese countryside totally sloshed. After wrecking his bike in a ditch, he finds himself aboard a vessel manned by several bizarre individuals, each with a modgepodge name (example, Kropotikin Tsuda, aka Kro-chan). The craft is named Doug, and Doug is a Time Machine, Doug is flying through time space to 24th century Japan. Tom was historically found as ready to die, and minimally impacting on history, so they grabbed him and brought him to the future, an ambassador from the past. Drunken Redburn begins the long and confusing journey to sobriety and grief over his now dead and long buried family.Do we have your attention? Because we are past the part I was stuck during..24th century Earth has been destroyed by Ecological, Pathogen, and Wartime folly, bringing everything to an utter standstill. Humanity is driven to a logical survival methodology, presented and maintained for several generations. True, unforced, unrewarded Socialism. No big brother watching over, dictating or leading. Just people working for happiness and survival.Redburn spends more than half of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop, watching for the wizard behind the curtain to pop out and say boo. Instead of a wizard he finds a world populated with bizarre collectives, new customs, and strangers who feel genuine and amazing.The trouble reading this book was getting used to the language used by the future rooted characters. They speak of We and Us and Society in manners that are unusual to us readers, as we are in a world where socialism is just waiting to be shown as a shameful greed factory for a handful of people. Once used to the language however, this novel is a treasure trove of social theory. Some areas can feel repetitive as similar theory are discussed, but none so much that you choose to give up reading.There is a subtle character arc that is followed as Thomas Redburn pushes back the deep ingrained cynicism of modern life and embraces the future that he feared but comes to champion.This is not a medium for Socialist recruitment, but more a vehicle for bitchslapping people into ecological and political wakefulness. In reading this, each chapter closer to the end left me feeling a little high, giddy for the experience Redburn is enjoying. I was found to be smiling and excited for him, and frankly, a bit more angry and jealous at the world i live in for not being open to community.Good book for everyone? No. Absolutely not.Good book for thinkers and dreamers? Yes. Absolutely.Oh yeah, and it is free for e-readers. Sooooo yeah, no excuses.This is a self published novel and there are a handful of typographical editing errors, overall one of the cleanest, most well put together self pubs I have read in ages. Excellent work, and kudos to the author.Get this book for free on smashwords.Also free on itunes and B&N, among other retailers.
    • 4/5
      Nippon 2357: A Utopian Ecological TaleThis was not the easiest book to get behind and cheer. It was start and stop, start and stop. When it clicked however, holy shit did it click.Nippon 2357 follows Thomas Redburn. Tom is an American expatriate, Japanese citizen, married man, photographer, bicyclist drunkard who is riding in the pitch black of the Japanese countryside totally sloshed. After wrecking his bike in a ditch, he finds himself aboard a vessel manned by several bizarre individuals, each with a modgepodge name (example, Kropotikin Tsuda, aka Kro-chan). The craft is named Doug, and Doug is a Time Machine, Doug is flying through time space to 24th century Japan. Tom was historically found as ready to die, and minimally impacting on history, so they grabbed him and brought him to the future, an ambassador from the past. Drunken Redburn begins the long and confusing journey to sobriety and grief over his now dead and long buried family.Do we have your attention? Because we are past the part I was stuck during..24th century Earth has been destroyed by Ecological, Pathogen, and Wartime folly, bringing everything to an utter standstill. Humanity is driven to a logical survival methodology, presented and maintained for several generations. True, unforced, unrewarded Socialism. No big brother watching over, dictating or leading. Just people working for happiness and survival.Redburn spends more than half of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop, watching for the wizard behind the curtain to pop out and say boo. Instead of a wizard he finds a world populated with bizarre collectives, new customs, and strangers who feel genuine and amazing.The trouble reading this book was getting used to the language used by the future rooted characters. They speak of We and Us and Society in manners that are unusual to us readers, as we are in a world where socialism is just waiting to be shown as a shameful greed factory for a handful of people. Once used to the language however, this novel is a treasure trove of social theory. Some areas can feel repetitive as similar theory are discussed, but none so much that you choose to give up reading.There is a subtle character arc that is followed as Thomas Redburn pushes back the deep ingrained cynicism of modern life and embraces the future that he feared but comes to champion.This is not a medium for Socialist recruitment, but more a vehicle for bitchslapping people into ecological and political wakefulness. In reading this, each chapter closer to the end left me feeling a little high, giddy for the experience Redburn is enjoying. I was found to be smiling and excited for him, and frankly, a bit more angry and jealous at the world i live in for not being open to community.Good book for everyone? No. Absolutely not.Good book for thinkers and dreamers? Yes. Absolutely.Oh yeah, and it is free for e-readers. Sooooo yeah, no excuses.This is a self published novel and there are a handful of typographical editing errors, overall one of the cleanest, most well put together self pubs I have read in ages. Excellent work, and kudos to the author.Get this book for free on smashwords.Also free on itunes and B&N, among other retailers.

    Book preview

    Nippon 2357 - Alex Shishin

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