Customer Reviews

A Boy Called H: A Childhood in Wartime Japan (Kan Yamaguchi Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I enjoyed this book so much that after reading a public library copy I ordered a copy for my personal library. (Although the book is self-described as autobiographical fiction, the library had it housed in the biography section.) The 50 chapters are very short, perfect for pre-bedtime reading, and the writing is simply enough that I would imagine that many young teens could enjoy it as well. H is not always a likeable character - he can be obnoxious and quite selfish at times. But he is also bright, perceptive, and frequently winds up doing the right thing in spite of himself.

Written from the viewpoint of a young boy growing up in wartime Japan, criticism that the book doesn't address the atrocities committed by the Japanese military throughout Asia doesn't make much sense as the Japanese government hid these events (as well as its military defeats and appalling casualty rates) from its people even more than it tried to hide them from the world. The book is obviously critical of the leadership that persisted in pursuing a war that could have resulted in the virtual annihilation of the Japanese people and amazingly forgiving of an enemy that intentionally killed, at a minimum, hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians through strafings, fire-bombings and, of course, the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"A Boy Called H" is an entertaining companion piece to Kiyoshi Kiyosawa's "A Diary of Darkness" and Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook's "Japan At War: An Oral History." (I would also recommend Yukio Mishima's classic "Confessions of a Mask" - a superb novel about a schoolage boy in wartime Japan.) Books like these help us to remember to put a human face on our enemies, past and present. When we bomb civilian centers we are not killing a faceless entity called "the enemy" - we are killing men, women and children, most of whom are just going about their daily lives trying to survive.

"A Boy Called H" may just be fiction based on author Senoh's life, but it carries a revealing look at what was going on in Japan during WWII. It is an engaging story of an adventurous, curious and intelligent young boy doing his best to survive, and it is much more enjoyable to read than a dry scholarly publication. It is best read knowingly, understanding that there are truths within the fiction - truths that I would venture many people are unaware of. Even today it is important for all of us to understand how a government can take its people into a war that they never voted for and persuade them to believe it is for a just cause.

"This is a riveting account of a boy who saw through the propaganda of his government and remained true to himself throughout a very difficult time in his nation's history. It is a very personal account of the war years in Japan and the author limits himself to what a boy could have known in Japan at the time. He doesn't go far afield and try to write a history of the entire war in Asia, which, had he done that, would have detracted from the credibility of his story. The translator takes some liberties with language and includes a few idiomatic phrases in English, which were probably not spoken during the 1938-45 period but this may make it more understandable for the younger reader while only mildly annoying the older reader (myself). I had trouble putting the book down and I was sad when it ended--the best recommendation I can give for a book. I long for a sequel written in the same interesting style; each chapter is a self-contained story but intimately connected with the preceding ones. The author also includes many charming details such as the taking of drops of blood from the ear lobe rather than from finger tips (much more painful), a medical practice issue only now being scientifically examined in the West. I hope my U.S. friends read this book and I certainly have recommended it to my Japanese friends. I plan to buy copies for gifts especially when it becomes available in paperback."

This highly readable memoir of the life of a boy living through the period just before, during and just after World War 2 brings immediacy and a true to life quality that makes this book pleasantly enjoyable.
The book is long, but it progresses in a very rapid style that creates a feeling as if the reader is there with the narrator in Japan.
Although he book generally rings true, the absence of any reference whatsoever to the sexuality that characterizes adolescence is the one discordant note.

you should still read this book. John Bester did a fantastic job of preserving the nuances of the original story and translating the Japanese into easily-readable English.

The story is of H, the son of a tailor of Western-style suits and his bible-thumping, God-loving wife. Right away you know, that this isn't the story of an ordinary 1940's Japanese family. The author weaves some marvelous threads in creating this story so that we see the many sides of H. We find a character who is aloof but entirely likeable. The reader can immediately relate to his individuality. This story is not meant to be an historical account of the atrocities of war. It is merely an exploration into the life of a young boy during an extremely difficult time. Enjoy it for what it is. The author speaks very kindly of the Americans and the anecdotes are hilarious.

The quality of the storytelling is so good, that you forget that this is the debut novel of a 65 year old man who paints screens plays. The book reads as if a ten-year old H is standing there reading it aloud next to you. Senoh has an amazing memory to be able to recall all of the anecdotes.

I hope other foreign residents of Japan enjoy this as much as I did.

This is a riveting account of a boy who saw through the propaganda of his government and remained true to himself throughout a very difficult time in his nation's history. It is a very personal account of the war years in Japan and the author limits himself to what a boy could have known in Japan at the time. He doesn't go far afield and try to write a history of the entire war in Asia, which, had he done that, would have detracted from the credibility of his story. The translator takes some liberties with language and includes a few idiomatic phrases in English, which were probably not spoken during the 1938-45 period but this may make it more understandable for the younger reader while only mildly annoying the older reader (myself). I had trouble putting the book down and I was sad when it ended--the best recommendation I can give for a book. I long for a sequel written in the same interesting style; each chapter is a self-contained story but intimately connected with the preceding ones. The author also includes many charming details such as the taking of drops of blood from the ear lobe rather than from finger tips (much more painful), a medical practice issue only now being scientifically examined in the West. I hope my U.S. friends read this book and I certainly have recommended it to my Japanese friends. I plan to buy copies for gifts especially when it becomes available in paperback.

I am very sorry to rain on the parade, but this book, a one time best seller in Japan, was almost immediately proven to be a forgery. A young boy comments on Japanese wartime policy and diplomatic decisions that were not known to the public at the time. The events were taken out of an almanac in chronological order and fictionalised without any consideration as to when the Japanese public learned about it or what information they had at the time to base their opinions on. In reality, a boy like H could not have existed simply because he could not have known, and consequently could not have felt, the things he did. This is a beautified account by a leftist who would like to believe - and would like the reader to believe - that he had been a pacifist from the very begining. The historical events depicted in this book are factual. The way "H" responded to them are not.

The forgery of the book was exposed by more remorseful pacifists of the same generation who had the courage to admit that they were not born believing in peace. The denial of the past is counter productive to the construction of a more peaceful future where the past is not repeated. Reader beware.

I warrant the quality of Hitoshi Noguchi,MD's Review. It is also good summary of the criticisms in Japan.

Like the first reviewer, I really enjoyed this book. It provided me a rare insight into Japan's WWII culture through the eyes of a coming-of-age young man. However, I felt the book left me hanging at the end. I would've liked to read more about what H's feelings and experiences were a couple of years after the Potsdam Declaration. I hope to see a sequel in the near future.

Senoh focuses exclusively on the horrors of a boyhood spent in wartime Japan. He brilliantly recounts the whole Orwellian atmosphere of secret police, forced "loyalty" oaths, military censorship, and public misinformation. Yes, the Japanese people were victims of a terrible military-police state. What Senoh regrettably fails to mention is the plight of enslaved Asian nations under that same Japanese military-police state. What about the unrecounted horrors of Japanese-occupied Korea? What about the Japanese massacres of untold numbers of Chinese in Manchuria? What about the Japanese re-introduction of slavery in Southeast Asia? Senoh never says a peep about these OTHER victims. Too bad: his book is thus rendered incomplete. It's a good book, but based on "selective memory."