I had to rate this book as a whole, trying to encompass everything in here, and that was a bit challenging as there's so much. These are personal accounts of people involved in WWII on the Japanese side. Men, women, and children in Japan, China, Korea, Burma, Thailand, the Philippines, Okinawa, etc. from the very beginning of the war to the occupation.
These stories in particular really stayed with me:
-"Manchurian Days" and "Flight": I had never read about a Japanese immigrant in Manchuria before. Fukushima's stories were fascinating. "Flight" was especially sad.
-"As long as I don't fight, I'll make it home.": I want to read more of Suzuki's haiku. His story was surprisingly entertaining, almost comedic.
-"Army Doctor": This was the story that made me sick.
-"Spies and Bandits": The end of this story is chilling.
-"Bride of a Kamikaze": This was probably one of the saddest stories I've ever read. Fascinating too.
Chapter 17/ THE WAR COMES TO OKINAWA was all new information to me and totally shocking. I'll have to look up more. Probably some of the most horrifying civilian accounts I've ever read. I had not heard about the mass suicides before.
-"Death Row at Changi Prison": It was interesting to hear the other side to the Allied POW accounts, but I don't feel that Abe was as innocent as he liked to believe himself to be.
"The Emperor's Retreat": This was another new, strange, and sad topic for me. I also want to research more into this, but as Yamane stated there's not much information available, sadly.
Overall, many sad and/or horrifying personal accounts of war. I recommend to anyone who wants to know more about the Japanese view on WWII.
- Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account
