Its 2040. America is on the verge of war with Japan. Despite current conditions, Joseph, an american teenager, still goes to Japan to visit his father.

He tries to save a girl who is being rapped by her drunken japanese father, and accidently kills the man.

Joseph is sent to the forgiveness camps. Because of reasons, the Japanese cannot put people to death, but there are to many prisoners. So the Japanese degrade the prisoners, and make them feel worthless enough, that they will commit suicide. It's not necissary murder on Japan's part then.

The Warden shaves Joseph's head, and tries to calmly explain that he killed a man in cold blood, and can restore his honor by commiting Hara-Kiri(stabbing himself in the belly, and dragging the knife as far as possiable through his flesh).

Joseph survives for a few years with his own teenage stubborness, but is now on the verge of giving in. Fortunately, mysterious packages start to arrive with special designs on the wrapping papper, but worthless junk inside.

Joseph, with nothing else better to do, realizes that desighns is actully a secret code.

Each day he recieves a package, and each day the writing paper has an aspiring poem, or speech from a famous person that helps Joseph to continue on living. The warden gets frusterated and starts beating Joseph everytime he declines to kill himself.

As soon as the warden starts this, Joseph begins recieving wrapping papper that is actully pages from the bible. Joseph then survives longer than any Japanese person in the forgiveness camps:24 years.

I already have the conclusion drawn out, and it is pretty solid. So I am not worried about it, and don't plan to ruin for those who truly want to read it.

Please, if you have any questions, I would be glad to answer the best I can. Hopefully, one of you will ask something I missed.

P.S., I hope this isn't prejudiced to any Japanese person. I just needed a human race that still holds onto honor.

Why aren't you posting fragments of the stories you run by us? Are you asking for our approval before you go ahead?

If so, I hereby declare that all of your ideas are good enough to be submitted for critique. Post your first 13, and let people figure stuff out from that.

And take these two pennies, while you're at it...

Next suggestion: your ending didn't grab me. 24 years is a long time, and hard to make into a breathtaking finish! How else could you end the story? (Maybe after the 24 years, or maybe instead.)

What was it about getting the Bible verses that made him survive? Could he spread this wisdom to other prisoners?

BTW I think your questions are very legitimate questions, esp if it's a novel. I wish I'd gotten a few choice bits of advice before I wrote mine!

I was at summer camp, and wrote most of this down. I have just begun writing the real thing on the computer. By the end of the week, you people will have it for your viewing pleasure.

The old Japan, the Japan of the nobility and court and hari kari...that's still alive in the modern nation. But it is the liberated Japanese peasantry that are driving things forward today. And while they understand that it isn't yet wise to cross the nobility, they haven't lost their capacity to grin and bear humiliation in good spirit.

I mean, seriously, the ordinary Japanese peasant rivals the ordinary Chinese peasant in ability to bear humiliation without complaint. I don't know how they do it. I really don't.

The era I think should be around the 1930's through about 1950's(?).

Or even make him an ambassador's kid or something and he gets in trouble and the governing body refuses to let him go because of the seriousness of his offense.