Author's Note: Urashima Taro is a legendary Japanese figure. He rode the back of a turtle to the bottom of the sea. He spent three years of pure pleasure and ecstasy in a palace there. Before he left for home he was given a box, but was told never to open it. When he arrived home, everything was changed. He knew no one and nothing. He opened the box. White smoke billowed from it. Amidst the smoke was himself, as an ancient man.
In the early morning of 5 August 1944, over one thousand Japanese prisoners of war broke out of their camp at Cowra, New South Wales. Many of the prisoners who died in the escape are buried in a cemetery there now. A number of the Japanese in the camp had given the camp authorities fictional names, to assuage the shame of being captured. In the Cowra cemetery there is a grave for Urashima Taro.
