Hey, it's End Pair's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. You know, leave it to Werner Herzog to write his first novel about a real-life Japanese officer in World War II who stays behind enemy lines to fight long after the war was over because he refused to surrender and turn it into a meditation on time and how flexible it can be,

particularly in the jungle. Herzog's always been a fascinating guy, and even before he wrote

this book titled The Twilight World, he wanted to meet this officer named Hero Onoda, and he did.

And Herzog talked to NPR's Ari Shapiro about building a rapport to

Onoda, asking him questions that nobody's ever asked him before, and how Onoda saw something

in Hurtzog that they shared together. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away

from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog has published his first novel, and the story behind it starts in 1997.

Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera, and his hosts informed him that the Japanese emperor might be open to meeting him.

When this was reported to me, I said to my Japanese friends, for God's sake,

it will be only forboleic and pleasantries and not a real conversation.

I shouldn't do it.

A private audience with the emperor is an enormous honor,

and Herzog knew instantly that he'd committed a massive

faux pa. It was so embarrassing that there was silence, silence, silence. And then somebody asked into

the silence, whom else, if not the emperor, would you like to meet in Japan? And I said,

Onoda. And they asked Onoda, Onoda, and I said, yeah, Hiro Onoda.

Hiro Onoda was an icon in Japan, an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army with a story stranger than fiction.

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