Due to Oe Kenzaburo‘s recent death, I decided to read one of his works to commemorate. So which story would be better suited than 飼育, for which he received the Akutagawa prize? 
At first I was quite worried that it might be too difficult, but it was extremely approachable. And boy do I love his writing! He has a way of describing situations with vivid pictures that I found simply breathtaking.
Outset
This is set in WWII in a small village that recently got cut off from civilization due to a landslide (I think), and so the only option to get to the next town is via a difficult mountain path. We get introduced to the villagers and the simple lives they lead, through the eyes of an adolescent boy. One night they see an American military plane and hear it crash into the nearby mountains. The village‘s adults go to see what’s up with it.
some spoiler territory
They return with a prisoner of war, a black soldier who apparently rescued himself with a parachute. They lock him up in the basement of the house the boy lives in with his father and younger brother. The boy is ordered to take care of the soldier, and at first he looks at him as if he were a piece of livestock, but slowly he discovers what the soldier can do and sort of becomes friends with him. Until one day the town official shows up to take the prisoner with him…
my thoughts, with heavy spoilers
It was very impressive how the children looked at the soldier as if he was some strange animal, examining his poo and all. Also how they were taken aback by his odor, but how it took them a long time to think about taking him to the fountain to wash. Also how their relationship slowly developed over the summer, through laughing and singing, although they could not communicate at all - and did not even try, as it seems.
A key moment for me was when the soldier took the boy hostage. The boy experienced the same things the soldier had before, I even had the impression the boy somehow swapped places with the soldier. First he was imprisoned and threatened, and later he even started to smell badly due to his injury, without accepting it even. So he kind of relived what the soldier had felt earlier.
The father sacrificing his son‘s hand for the greater goal was a very Japanese moment for me. I guess the soldier did not expect this at all.
And then the official dying. Was this a kind of revenge, after all? The official had been a big benefactor of the soldier, receiving the pipe and getting his leg repaired. Still he showed up in the village to take him away. Also, his death was caused by the sled that was built from the soldier‘s plane. Very symbolic.