Zone of Emptiness (真空地帯, Shinkū chitai) is a war novel by Japanese writer Hiroshi Noma, first published in 1952.

[1] The action takes place in Japan in late 1944, in a Japanese Army infantry barracks.

Kitani has spent two years in a military penitentiary for a crime he has not committed, the theft of an officer's wallet.

Soda is an honest and sensitive young man who would like to be Kitani's friend and strives to reconstruct his story.

[2] A painstaking psychological analysis of the characters is in fact another important component of the novel, where the gradual unveiling of Soda's and Kitani's past allows readers to understand the motivations of their behaviour and actions.