Vietnam-related books are lined up on the desk.
I normally live as a novelist. For the past five years, I have lived in Chigasaki City on the Shonan coast. I live quietly about 300 to 400 meters from the beach. I go out on Monday and Thursday evenings to attend swimming lessons two kilometers away, but otherwise I spend most of my time holed up at home.
--From "South of the Border: Opa, Opa! Mongolia and China" by Kaiko Takeshi.
A short walk from Chigasaki Beach onto Lachien Street is the Kaiko Takeshi residence. He moved here from Suginami Ward, Tokyo, in 1974 at the age of 44, and spent around 15 years there until his death in 1989 at the age of 58. After his death, his family donated the house to Chigasaki City and it was turned into a memorial museum, but even today it remains exactly as it was when the owner was in good health.
Keiko Mori, a director of the Kaiko Takeshi Memorial Association (Ms. Mori was also an editor of the Kaiko magazine), says, "The layout of the house is exactly as it was. And not only his books, but also his personal belongings such as his favorite cigarettes, pipes and fountain pens, souvenirs he bought overseas, and everything else he had left behind."
Indeed, when I looked into his study, it looked as if he had been writing there just moments before, almost as if he had just said, "I'm going for a quick swim."
There are many books about Vietnam lined up on his desk. Kaiko loved fishing and often went fishing both in Japan and overseas, but he also did so to erase the harsh experiences he had in Vietnam. 
His favorite dictionaries and Bible. "Because he researched everything before writing, there were almost no red ink marks in Kaiko Sensei's manuscripts," says Mori.
A bookshelf hidden by a curtain. Looking inside, there are also books related to Vietnam. On the bottom shelf is the complete works of Louis-Ferdinand Céline. 
He was devoted to French literature in his youth, can read, write and speak French, and has street signs he bought in Paris plastered all over his house.
Kaiko was said to have been an avid reader during his lifetime. "French literature, science fiction, mysteries, detective stories, historical novels, Edo literature, fantasy novels, dystopian novels. I read everything, regardless of genre." Born in 1930 (Showa 5), he was a literary boy from a young age, but was in junior high school during the war. Air raids and hunger meant he probably had no time for reading, but he continued to read and read, from novels, poetry, plays, translations, magazines, and even secretly published pornographic books.
"He was someone who simply could not help but read. He traveled a lot, and whenever he did, he always brought the Bible with him. He also read dictionaries in great detail. He was someone who would thoroughly research all sorts of things. So while he had a bold side, loving alcohol and good food, he was also very sensitive. When he was writing, he would block other books from getting into his field of vision. The reason there was a curtain on the bookshelf next to his desk was to hide the spines of books."
However, there were Vietnam-related books lined up in a visible position on the desk where he was writing. "These are special. The professor visited Vietnam twice in the 1960s, and I think he wanted to write about Vietnam again."
In 1964, Kaiko served in the Vietnam War for 100 days, saying, "As a writer, I want to witness the war in Asia." He was surrounded by Vietnamese soldiers on the front lines and narrowly escaped death. After returning to Japan, he published the reportage "Vietnam War Chronicles," raised his voice against the war, calling for "peace for Vietnam," and published the novel "Shining Darkness," based on his harsh experiences on the battlefield, marking a major turning point in his life as a novelist. He then wrote another Vietnam-themed novel, "Summer Darkness." He then began writing the final chapter of the series, "Blooming Darkness," but left it unfinished.
Kaiko Takeshi, whose life was marked by the darkness of Vietnam and war, seemed to be lingering in his heart. I could almost see him hunched over at his desk.
The memorial museum also displays Kaiko's handwritten manuscripts, which are cute with their distinctive rounded handwriting. 
"Zubari Tokyo" is a masterpiece of reportage literature that vividly depicts the excitement of Tokyo in the early 1960s as it prepared for the Tokyo Olympics. 
Exterior of the Chigasaki Kaiko Takeshi Memorial Hall.
