Philosopher Shunsuke Tsurumi (1922-2015) was a 19-year-old Harvard University student when Japan declared war on the United States.

Wishing to be “on the losing side,” he chose to return to Japan and became a civilian employee of the Imperial Japanese Army, which sent him to Indonesia to listen to Allied radio broadcasts and translate them into Japanese.

One late night, the voice of British poet T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) giving a lecture came from the radio.

His sublime literary discourse—such a rare thing to be heard in a combat zone where most broadcasts were propaganda-oriented—immensely pleased this young returnee from America.

“It........

© The Asahi Shimbun