After Darkness Summary

After Darkness is a novel that follows Dr. Ibaraki, a Japanese doctor who is put into an internment camp while living in Australia during World War II. Most of the novel jumps between three time periods: Dr. Ibaraki’s experience in his mid-twenties working in a laboratory as a medical researcher in Tokyo (1934­–1938); his time working as a doctor in a Japanese hospital in Broome, Australia (1938–1942); and his time in the Loveday internment camp in Australia during World War II (1942). The end of the novel also includes scenes from after Ibaraki’s release from the camp and his return to Japan (in 1942 and beyond). For the sake of clarity, this summary recounts the novel’s events in chronological order, though the novel itself does not proceed in this linear fashion.

The events of the story begin in Tokyo, Japan in 1934. The reader learns about the beginnings of Dr. Ibaraki’s medical career. Having been disillusioned with practicing medicine because of the inevitable tragedy of death, he transitions to a career in research. He interviews at the Army Medical College with Major Kimura.

Shortly after his job interview, Ibaraki’s mother sets him up with a family friend, Kayoko. Though he at first feels uneasy, he begins to fall for her. Around the same time, he hears that he received the position at the Epidemic Prevention Laboratory. Ibaraki begins his new job under his supervisor Shimada and starts thinking about marriage.

In 1935, Kayoko and Ibaraki have their first date. They quickly fall in love after that and get married. Once Ibaraki gets a pay raise at the laboratory, he and Kayoko buy a small house. Kayoko insists they do all the repairs themselves. Ibaraki is so preoccupied with the house that he doesn’t think much of the changing experiments at the lab. One day, Major Kimura calls a meeting to tell the lab that they will be shifting their focus to specimen analysis, which will require an even higher degree of discretion.

One day, Shimada asks Ibaraki and his colleagues to stay late to bring in a shipment: human specimens. The disturbing and demanding nature of Ibaraki’s work increases the distance between himself and Kayoko. One day, Lieutenant Colonel Ishii Shiro, the head of Ibaraki’s organization, visits the lab. He gives a lecture, talking about the facility that he runs in Manchuoko. He describes his extreme, cruel, and dehumanizing research methods in which he tests biological weapons on human subjects. Ibaraki feels disgusted. After the lecture, Shiro pressures Ibaraki to come on an outing to a geisha bar. When Ibaraki arrives home, Kayoko tells him that she is pregnant. Though he is shocked and scared, he is happy.

The lab continues to receive human specimen shipments. One night after a late work night, Kayoko, who believes Ibaraki has been out drinking every night, asks Ibaraki to be more present when the baby is born. Sometime later, Ibaraki returns home late to find a neighbor and a doctor accompanying Kayoko: the couple have lost the baby. The next day, Kayoko’s mother comes to care for her. A few days later, Kayoko leaves Ibaraki.

The next week, Ibaraki is unable to operate on the body of a child during a laboratory demonstration. As a result, Major Kimura fires him. Ibaraki returns to his family home and hears about a job in Australia. He decides to take it, and so begins his time in Broome.

Dr. Ibaraki arrives in Broome in 1938. He meets his new friend Harada. After a small tour of Broome, Ibaraki arrives at the hospital. He meets his assistant, Sister Bernice, and begins to fix up the hospital. Though the two do not talk much, they share a mutual respect and have a nice working relationship.

One night, police officers wake up Dr. Ibaraki, having brought two men—who got in a—fight to the hospital. Though Ibaraki is at first unable to perform the surgery, with Sister Bernice’s help he gets it done. It is then that he meets Johnny Chang, who volunteered his car to bring the men to the hospital.

Later that year, Ibaraki attends the Bon festival, a Japanese tradition honoring the spirits of the dead, in Broome. There, he runs into Sister Bernice, and they bond. In April of 1939, Ibaraki celebrates the Emperor’s birthday in Broome. Attending the festivities, he feels like a part of the community. On the way home from a celebration, he runs into Sister Bernice, and they bond even more.

Towards the end of 1940, Ibaraki plans to leave the humid season of Broome and visit family friends in Melbourne. Sister Bernice also plans to leave. In their farewell, Sister Bernice asks him about an engraved piece of wood that she found in a book he lent her. Ibaraki bristles and asks her not to intrude on his life. After she leaves the hospital that night, she leaves early for her trip. As Ibaraki goes about his travels, he does not stop thinking about her. When the two reunite, he apologizes—however, their relationship feels different.

In December of 1941, the Japanese army carries out the Pearl Harbor attack. Sister Bernice, knowing that Ibaraki will be targeted as a Japanese man, urges him to leave the country. When Ibaraki refuses out of duty to the hospital, she is angry. Later that night, she comes to his hospital quarters during a rainstorm. She tells him that Ibaraki’s emotional distance frustrates her and, furthermore, that she has feelings for him. Ibaraki says nothing back and she leaves, never to came back. Not long after that, Broome officials intern Ibaraki. He surprises himself by resisting (unsuccessfully).

In early 1942, after Ibaraki’s arrest, he makes his long, grueling journey to Loveday internment camp with 40 other Japanese men. Once the officers admit him to the camp, he meets the camp’s elected mayor, Mori, and the deputy mayor, Yamada. He also reunites with his friend from Broome, Harada, who is sick with tuberculosis. He also sees Johnny Chang, an Australian-born man of Chinese and Japanese descent that Ibaraki knows from Broome. The camp’s resident physician offers Ibaraki a job at the infirmary.

One day at the Camp, Johnny approaches Ibaraki and invites him to play cards in his tent. He tells Ibaraki that Mayor Mori and Yamada run the camp like a dictatorship, treating Johnny and other mixed-race or Australian-born internees unfairly.

Over time, Ibaraki becomes accustomed to life at the camp. He cares for patients, including Harada who is sick with tuberculosis, and gets to know his fellow internees. One day, a half-Japanese internee named Stanley Suzuki comes to the infirmary with injuries. Stan claims that Yamada and a group of men attacked him out of prejudice, but Ibaraki tells him that he must be confused.

Sometime after the incident with Stan, Ibaraki runs into a group of men playing baseball and joins in. Later that day, Johnny approaches him asking if he will suggest a camp-wide baseball competition to Yamada and Mori to boost morale. When Ibaraki says he doesn’t want to, Johnny calls him a coward.

A little while later, Stan tries to take his own life. When Ibaraki arrives at the camp infirmary, Johnny blames him for Stan’s despair because he did not believe Stan’s story about Yamada. After they transfer Stan to the hospital in town, Ibaraki lies awake wondering if Johnny is right. As time goes on, he questions Yamada’s integrity.

One day, Ibaraki receives a telegram: his brother Nobuhiro has died in battle. Though Yamada tells him that he should be proud of Nobuhiro’s death, Ibaraki takes no comfort in this. The next day, the internees go on a field trip to the nearby river and Ibaraki reflects on life, death, and being interned.

A few days later, Stanley Suzuki returns from the hospital. Ibaraki makes a concerted effort to care for Stan. He concurrently begins to heal his relationship with Johnny, who has an appeal for release scheduled. As Stan’s condition improves with Ibaraki’s care and Johnny’s visits, Ibaraki realizes the importance of making emotional connections with patients.

Ibaraki and Stan continue to grow closer—Ibaraki even helps him write a letter to a girl he likes. In this process, Ibaraki opens up to Stan, telling him the truth about Kayoko: they are separated. Meanwhile, things continue to move along in the camp. Internees move into sleeping huts for winter, the baseball competition progresses, and Johnny Chang goes to his hearing in Melbourne.

A little while later, Johnny returns from his appeal for release. It was unsuccessful. Later that day, Ibaraki overhears Yamada and Mori confirming that Yamada attacked Stan and making a plan to silence Stan. Ibaraki tries to find Johnny to help and go to the infirmary to check on Stan, but finds obstacles in both of those endeavors. At the headcount that evening, Major Locke bans all outdoor activity due to a dust storm. In his hut after the meeting, Ibaraki confront Yamada. Suddenly, a siren sounds, followed by gunshots. Johnny has escaped, and Private Davies—thinking that Stan was also trying to escape—shoots and kills Stan.

A few days later, the internees hold a well-attended memorial for Stan at which Dr. Ibaraki makes a touching speech. Weeks later, a court of inquiry into Stan’s death takes place. They interview Johnny, Davies, and Ibaraki, who breaks down.

After the memorial service, Major Locke announces that some of the men will be released. This group includes Mori, Yamada, and Ibaraki, who wrestles with mixed feelings about returning to Japan. On the day of the voyage, Ibaraki says goodbye to his friends, including a heartfelt goodbye to Johnny. Ibaraki takes the long ocean journey home, worrying about his reunion with Kayoko.

Back in Tokyo, Ibaraki reunites with his family and secures a job at a hospital. He contacts Kayoko and they meet for coffee, taking small steps to rebuild their relationship. Ibaraki vows to wait for her. However, before they can truly reunite, Kayoko dies in an American air raid.

Years later, in 1989, Ibaraki is an old man. An old letter from Bernice and a newspaper article about bones under his laboratory inspires him to write an open letter confessing the truth about the laboratory. Unafraid of a loss of honor, Ibaraki finally redeems himself.