Akira Mizutani, his wife Mariko and their 9-year old son Shoichi loved Saipan. But Akira was fearful that Japan's vision of South East Asian expansion and Micronesian control in the 1930s and 40s was madness and would have dire consequences for the safety of his family and the people of his small island. Ted Culp of Bremerton Washington wanted to be a Marine more than anything else. The unprovoked Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour had set a fire in his soul. He was eager to go Yet he was torn between his sense of duty to serve his country and his faith. He ultimately decides to leave Bremerton and the love of his life for the killing beaches and jungles of the central Pacific atolls and islands. Unbeknownst to Ted and Akira, this Pacific War would bring them together in a way that they could never have imagined. Their lives would never be the same again. "Kurofune: The Black Ships: A Novel of World War II" is John Morrison's first novel. John became fascinated with the stories and the legacy of the Marine's island hopping strategy across the Central Pacific Ocean during World War II. In his view the battle honors of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and many others may have been entrenched into the consciousness of the American people and the United States Marine Corp, but Saipan holds a special place of interest for the author after a visit there in 1974. The civilian horror that occurred during the final days of the Battle for Saipan left an indelible mark on his sense of humanity in the world. It is a tragedy that he feels most people are not aware of. "Kurofune" tells the story of that tragedy against a backdrop of nationalism, military fanaticism, heroism and self sacrifice. Yet Kurofune is also a love story, a war story, a story of redemption and a story of rebirth.