Historical novel about Hiroo Onoda's 30 year war on Lubang, Philippines, told from the perspective of tropical jungle aficionado Werner Herzog. Like many a Herzog movie, Onoda's story is the story of a pointless & futile quest taking place in a tropical jungle. Like many a Herzog jungle protagonist of the silver screen, Onoda finds that as the hours, days, & years go by, he gets farther and farther from our experience of time, and further into a sort of dream time. He describes an experience of time that has no present, only past and future. Herzog occasionally mentions the anger some of the Lubang civilians had at Onoda for his shooting or shooting at some of them during his time on the island, noting that Onoda didn't like to talk about anyone who he may have shot. I believe it's worth noting that the other two Japanese soldiers who didn't surrender until the 70s, Shōichi Yokoi & Teruo Nakamura, didn't make nearly as much trouble for the local people as did Onoda & his team. Also tells how Philippine military and even some Lubang neighbors thought of Onoda as a sort of cryptid or mascot. Describes the various means that Onoda and his (at first) three fellow soldiers used to subsist in the jungle, to maintain their weapons in the jungle, to remain hidden from the efforts to find them, & finally to evade the conclusion that the war was over. A lot is packed into this short book.