Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights

Reads L to R (Western Style), for audiences A Ten billion days--that is how long it will take the philosopher Plato to determine the true systems of the world. One hundred billion nights--that is how far into the future he and Christ and Siddhartha Gautama will travel into the future to witness the end of the world and also its fiery birth. Named the greatest Japanese science fiction novel of all time, Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights is an epic eons in the making. Originally published in 1973, the novel was revised by the author in later years and republished in 2001.

Born in Tokyo in 1928. After graduating from Tokyo University of Education with a degree in the sciences, he took up the study of literature and philosophy. He debuted with “Sunny Sea 1979” in 1962, and his work—which often combines Eastern philosophy with both history and hard science fiction—includes Eastern Conquest and Chinese Rule and Hei Family Story. Mitsuse made SF history when his short story “The Sunset, 2217 A.D.” was translated into English for inclusion in Best Science Fiction for 1972. With artist Keiko Takemiya, he created the manga Andromeda Stories. Ryu Mitsuse died in 1999.