User:Mugi-ch/The Exodus in the Land of Hope

The Exodus in the Land of Hope(希望の国のエクソダス, Kibō no Kuni no Ekusodasu) is a novel by Ryu Murakami. It had been serialized in Bungei Shunjū from 1998 to 2000, and it has been published in book form by Bungei Shunjū since September 2007 in Japanese.

Plot summary
In present Japan, there is disruption of economical activity, and people who live there feel trapped. One day, June 2001, CNN suddenly reported a 16 years old boy, abanding Japan, who engaged in landmine removal activities in Pakistan. The news caused that about 80,0000 junior high school students who despaired in such a modern society went on strike and started truancy. They formed a network organization  ASUNARO and started a new business by using such as the Internet. Finally, they purchased extensive land in Hokkaido, immigrated with 30,0000 members. And they established their urban areas and economic sphere there by themselves, then they achieved “the substantive independent from Japan”.

Explanatory
To write this novel, Ryu Murakami interviewed many experts in economics, education, and other fields. These interviews were collected in The Note of  Reporting The Exodus in the Land of Hope and published in 2010 by Bungei Shunjū in japanese.

Others
This novel’s protagonist, Tetsuji Sekiguchi (セキグチテツジ-関口哲治), appears as the main character in Old Terrorist, a long novel written by Ryu Murakami, which had been serialized in Bungei Shunjū from 2011 to 2014. The scene of the Old Terrorist is set in later years of The Exodus in the Land of Hope.