Amazon.com: War, Nationalism and Peasants: Java Under the Japanese Occupation, 1942-45 (Japan in the Modern World): 9781563245459: Sato, Shigeru: Books
A comprehensive analysis of the Japanese occupation of Java. The book explores the human drama that cannot be simply explained in terms of nationalism and fascism. The totality of Indonesian society is addressed, including the politics and daily lives of peasants. The proper role of government in the US economy has long been the subject of ideological dispute. This study of industrial policy as practised by administration after administration, explores the variations from a hands-off approach to protectionist policies and aggressive support for businesses.
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Excellent. Dr Sato starts by giving a brief run down of Japanese - Dutch relations prior to 1941 starting way back to 1600, which is interesting. There is then the lead up to World War II in the Far East, and then comes the bulk of the book which deals with the Japanese occupation of Java and how it all went badly wrong. Dr Sato looks particularly at the rice issue, but he also deals with major civil engineering projects on Java during the Japanese occupation.
I have just one major quibble and that is with the figures for those who died on the Burma Railway. Dr Sato cites Japanese sources saying that the estimated death toll is 33,000 Asian romusha, 13,000 Europeans, and 1,000 Japanese. The total number of Europeans were, according to Dr Sato's cited sources, 55,000; giving a death rate of around 23 - 24 %. The total number of Asians were 235,738; giving a death rate of aound 14%. From the war memoirs and history books I have read written by Europeans the conditions for the Asians were far worse than for the POWs because they were more poorly organised hygiene-wise and had no doctors, and the death rate considerably higher. So, whilst the figures for the POWs is "about right", I would expect European historians to disagree entirely with Dr Sato on the figures for the Asians. My understanding of the situation is that around 85,000 people died, of whom around 15,000 were POWs and the rest Asians, with the death rate for POWs being the 23 or 24 per cent that Dr Satos thinks it was, and the death rate for Asians being unknown but thought to be anything between 50 and 90%.
This is not a beginner's book. As Dr Sato says, "This book is based on my doctoral thesis." I thought that someone with a gift for writing could have made more of the "here we go again" as yet another project goes horribly wrong. In addition, there must have been many a human drama played out. Still, it is a highly readable account for those with a real interest in what happened in Java during World War II.