Tokyo is plunged into darkness. Covert Chinese operatives have infiltrated Japan, crippling power and infrastructure in a coordinated strike. University student and part-time convenience store worker Minami Komachi wakes to a capital paralysed by blackout. As the nation reels, a cadre of ex-Japan Self-Defense Force officers known as the Sakura Society mount a counteroffensive from an unlikely front line: the convenience store.

Meanwhile, China's war plan has already suffered a setback. Chinese forces seized Taiwan's Pratas Island, but their assault on the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands was thrown back by determined Japanese and American forces. Across the Taiwan Strait, a vast Chinese fleet looms, waiting for the order to begin a full-scale invasion.

Will the command be given? Is Taiwan ready to withstand the storm? And will Japan and the United States step forward to defend the small island democracy? These are the questions at the heart of Invasion Taiwan Part One - Ultimatum, the first novel by renowned Japanese technothriller author Eiji Oishi to appear in English.