The Broken Map Home - Escaping Korea 1945 by Konosuke Masuda

Written by Konosuke Masuda. Reflections and translation by Keiko Honda.

A granddaughter’s tribute to her grandfather, The Broken Map Home is a gripping memoir of a Japanese man’s journey back home against all odds during the Second World War.

Konosuke Masuda bridges past and present as he recounts his desperate journey, brought to life in translation by his granddaughter, Keiko Honda.

In Masuda's harrowing WWII memoir, he recalls Korea under 35 years of Japanese colonial rule. In the summer of 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies, leaving approximately 850,000 Japanese civilians in Korea facing an uncertain future. Drafted by the Japanese Army just three months before the end of the war, Masuda joined fellow Japanese citizens on their perilous flight from North Korea toward repatriation in Japan. Their story unfolded against a land violently divided on the 38th parallel by the Soviet Union and the United States, and further ravaged by hunger and epidemic.

The Broken Map Home is a powerful account of suffering and resilience that transcends boundaries and borders, offering a humanizing counter-narrative to global conflict and fostering compassionate understanding in a fractured world.