I Want to Be a Shellfish

1944 in the depths of World War II Toyomatsu Shimizu is a completely typical barber from a remote seaside town who lives frugally but happily with his wife Fusae and their fiveyearold son Eventually though the army beckons and he is drafted One day an officer on the battlefield orders him to kill a captive US soldier Although Toyomatsu lacks the spirit to kill the man and only wounds him in the arm the victorious US soldiers will not accept this and Toyomatsu is arrested and tried as a warcriminal And he receives the cruelest sentence possible