No comments about Haha Enojinmon (Japanese Language Edition).

No comments about The Hatoyama Dynasty: Japanese Political Leadership Through the Generations.

No comments about The Shogun's Reluctant Ambassadors: Japanese Sea Drifters in the North Pacific (North Pacific Studies).

No comments about A Zen Life in Nature: Muso Soseki in His Gardens.

3 comments about Senso: The Japanese Remember the Pacific War (Studies of the Pacific Basin Institute).

1. This book does a great service in helping us see the Japanese in WW2 as more than mindless fanatics.It is an compilation of letters written to the editors of one of Japans largest newspapers, the Asahi ("Morning Sun")Shimbun during the 50th anniversary commemorations of the end of World War 2.The stories are primarily from military participants or family members of military personnel and most are very frank and gut wrenching. I got the sense that many of the ex military men were trying to come to grips as to why they were fighting- and the answers are not what this American reader has come to expect. I have always thought that the Japanese were brain washed sub-human fanatics when it came to fighting, but many of the stories reveal compassion,caring and a full awareness of the situation they were in. They speak of heartless, cruel and inhuman superior officers who thought nothing of leading entire battalions to death in their quest for glory, but they also realize that these officers were just the products of a military system where cruel treatment of recruits was a tool to instill blind obedience to superior officers. I still don't think that this is a good excuse for the many atrocities that were committed by Japanese forces during the war, but it goes alot farther in helping me to understand how such atrocities,e.g., Rape of Nanking, Bataan death march, arose. The letters from family members are particularly poignant as they recall fathers, brothers, uncles and sons who were never seen again.I was very moved by several letters from family members who had childhood memories of the deceased soldiers that really drove the point home that war is such a terrible waste(hate to sound like a cliche). The Japanese lost more than 2 million people during the war, and it would be hard not to find a family that didn't face tragedy. I gave this book to several friends who said it completely opened up their minds about what they thought about the Japanese during World War 2.While we all agree that Japan was not right for its war of aggression and the pain and suffering it caused to millions of Asians, Americans, British,Dutch and Australians, we can now hear for the first time the voices of the Japanese participants and learn that they too cried and suffered and felt deep guilt for what they did.



2. Although the project was supposed to last only a few months, Asahi shimbun were absolutely deluged with responses and they eventually printed 1,000 out of 4,000 letters received. Not only does the book give the reader a personal glimpse of what it was like to be a foot soldier, housewife, high school teacher, etc.,it is also organized in a way that details the events of the war from the first settlements in Manchuria to the occupation and even how people feel about their role today. It's a great way to get the full chronology of events as well as all the personal depictions.

   I was shocked at how the footsoldiers were treated by the officers and was surprised to read tales of killing superiors in battle, much like "fragging" occurrences in the Vietnam war. Throughout the book there are gut-wrenching stories of combat, but there is also an underlying thread of humanity; officers finding ways to keep their soldiers alive, a vacationing zero pilot who convinces a group of admiring boys not to join the military, a young soldier who secretly puts some of the bones and ashes of other soldiers into the empty boxes so the families have something to pray to.

   I sat down to read the first chapter at 6 pm but I couldn't put it down. I finished it at 2 am. My best friend teaches high school history and I'm going to copy off a few of the best stories for him to use in class. This is a must read... for anyone.




3. The first shocking chapters of this book give us a picture of a military culture whose sadistic norms were so out of control that it's almost incomprehensible. Sometimes I wonder if the allies did Japanese soldiers a favor by killing them so they could escape an army with an absolutely sick sense of discipline. One soldier wonders how many trainees committed suicide to escape punishment: just for breaking a firepin on a rifle! On Japan's surrender, an army nurse recalls soldiers turning on and beating officers who were screaming, "Forgive me, forgive me". Another soldier remembers suffering trainees whispering, "Bullets come from behind in a battlefield". I grew up hearing Korean stories about Japanese abuse that I never thought to be true until now.
   
   It's certainly not surprising that such an army of the walking dead would commit atrocities as a norm rather than as an exception. One story recalls using prisoners as targets for new recruits who were so scared that their bayonets were shaking. He recounts how they drew a red circle around the prisoners' heart, not as a target, but as the one place you were NOT allowed to stab so the prisoners would suffer as long as possible. Many of the tales of wartime heroism are simply acts of decency in defiance of unspeakably cruel punishment.
   
   Was such ferocious sadism unique to Japan, or does this teach us about other great cultures as well? Many admire the samurai, the Zulu, the Spartans and other great warriors reknown for superhuman conduct. Perhaps this sadism is the cost of such greatness - the natural reaction of humans being held to an inhuman standard?
   
   Nevertheless, as the war drags on and unrealistic notions of superiority fade, the stories inevitably become more human and share much more in common with the horrible sufferings of all people from war. It was a war where both the innocent and guilty suffered from the fanaticism of the strong.
   
   The editors reveal that they did not publish articles that were simply long nationalistic rants. Interestingly enough, this coincides with the fact that almost no articles were written by or defended those who perpertrated this plague of barbarism. It may very well be that the anti-war bias of the editors has robbed us of a look into the psychology that gives birth to atrocity.

No comments about Modern Japanese Novelists: A Biographical Dictionary.

1 comments about From Kona to Yenan: The Political Memoir of Koji Ariyoshi (A Biography Monograph).

1. Koji Ariyoshi was an extraordinary person--a true American hero. He studied journalism at the University of Georgia, staying with the family of novelist Erskine Caldwell. Years later, after successfully defeating his prosecution by the government, he went back to speak at the University. When the story was told of how they tried to send him to prison in the McCarthy Era, the audience was so overwhelmed by his courage that they spontaneously burst out in applause. This was no man born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but someone who had to work his way through many difficulties in life. As he was dying of cancer in 1976, the Hawaii legislature passed a resolution in his honor. "We shall overcome" could be the motto of Ariyoshi's life. This is a book that will carry his extraordinary story on to future generations.

1 comments about Fragments of a Past: A Memoir.

1. This book is almost perfect. It is a story of Eiji Yoshikawa's life as a child and as an adult. It will rouse all readers and completely absorb them into the story, just like all other stories by Eiji Yoshikawa.

5 comments about We Were Next to Nothing: An American Pow's Account of Japanese Prison Camps and Deliverance in World War II.

1. Nordin's experiences differ from most previously published narratives of American prisoners of war in the Philippines not in describing cruel treatment by their Japanese captors but in being located in the southern island of Mindanao rather than Bataan or Corregidor. He has carefully checked his half century-old memory against a secretly kept notebook and a return to the jungle camps where he was starved and beaten. The publisher maintains its usual high standards of acid-free paper, library binding and illustrations but fails to provide an accurate map



2. This is the best account of life as a prioner-of-war that I have ever read. It deals with the day-to-day experiences Carl and I encountered, and it is the first time that anyone has been able to put into writing an account that can be understood by all whether you were there or not. I bought six copies for each of my children because it was so close to my own experience, and they were all very pleased to finally be able to fully understand what I had gone through. Bill Lowe, Riverside, CA



3. Carl Nordin author of "We Were Next to Nothing..." accounts his day to day experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II in Japanese POW Camps. This book does not dwell on the horrors of war or the cruelty that he must have experienced, but instead reveals to the reader what his daily experiences were, and how he survived. I strongly urge every American, young or old, to read this book and understand what our fellow Americans did and suffered to keep our freedom.



4. This book gave a realistic account of what those men went through on a daily basis. He captures the small moments of compassion and frustrations without dwelling on the well deserved resentment. This book truly shows how hard it is to dominate the human spirit. One of the best books I have ever read.



5. This is a very enlightening, but sad, account of POW's. Much to my surprise Mr. Nordin is from Siren, WI. So this book was doubly interesting to me as it contained information about people I actually know of and others who lived near to me. I live in NW WI. It just seemed like it brought the experience closer to home for me, and I could actually feel what some of these POW's must have been going through. The things these people endured for 4 long years is unbelievable and really makes me appreciate what these people have gone through for myself and others. I always knew of POW prisons and their treatment but never really realized how demeaning some of the treatment and conditions were and marvel at how they managed to survive. Highly reccommended to those interested in knowing the truth of such events.

No comments about Japanese Film Directors.