Japan at War: An Oral History
by Theodore F. Cook and Haruko Taya Cook
This "deeply moving book" (Studs Terkel) portrays the Japanese experience of WWII. This oral history is the first book to capture--in either Japanese or English--the experience of ordinary Japanese during the war. In a sweeping panorama, Haruko Taya Cook & Theodore F. Cook go from the Japanese attacks on China in the '30s to the Japanese home front during the inhuman raids on Tokyo, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, offering the first glimpses of how the 20th century's most deadly conflict affected the lives of the population. The book "seeks out the true feelings of the wartime generation [&] illuminates the contradictions between the official views of the war & living testimony" (Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan). AcknowledgmentsIntroduction to a lost war1 An undeclared war: Battle lines in China: A village boy goes to war/ Nohara Teishin. Pictures of an expedition/ Tanida Isamu. Qualifying as a leader/ Tominaga Shōzō. Gas soldier/ Tanisuga Shizuo; Toward a new order: "War means jobs for machinists"/ Kumagaya Tokuichi. "I wanted to build a greater East Asia"/ Nogi Harumichi. Manchurian days/ Fukushima Yoshie. Dancing into the night/ Hara Kiyoshi. Bringing the liberals to heel/ Hatanaka Shigeo2 Have "faith in victory": 12/8/41: "My blood boiled at the news"/ Itabashi Kōshū. "I heard it on the radio"/ Yoshia Toshio. On Admiral Yamamoto's flagship/ Noda Mitsuharu. In a fighter cockpit on the Soviet border/ Mogami Sadao. Sailing south/ Masuda Reiji. A failure of diplomacy/ Kase Toshikazu; Greater East Asia: Cartoons for the war/ Yokoyama Ryūichi. Building the Burma-Siam Railroad/ Abe Hiroshi. Keeping order in the Indies/ Nogi Harumichi. "Korean guard"/ Kasayama Yoshikichi; The Emperor's warriors: Maker of soldiers/ Debun Shigenobu. "As long as I don't fight, I'll make it home"/ Suzuki Murio. Zero ace/ Sakai Saburō; "Demons from the East": Army doctor/ Yuasa Ken. Spies & bandits/ Uno Shintarō. Unit 731/ Tamura Yoshio3 Homeland: Life goes on: The end of a bake shop/ Arakawa Hiroyo. Burdens of a village bride/ Tanaka Toki. Dressmaker/ Koshino Ayako; War work: Making balloon bombs/ Tanaka Tetsuko. Forced labor/ Ahn Juretsu. Poison-gas island/ Nakajima Yoshimi; Wielding pen & camera: Filming the news/ Asai Tatsuzō. War correspondent/ Hata Shōryū. Reporting from Imperial General Headquarters/ Kawachi Uichirō; Against the tide: Thought criminal/ Hatanaka Shigeo. "Isn't my brother one of the 'war dead'?"/ Kiga Sumi; Childhood: Playing at war/ Satō Hideo; Art & entertainment: "I loved American movies"/ Hirosawa Ei. Star at the Moulin Rouge/ Sugai Toshiko. "We wouldn't paint war art"/ Maruki Iri & Maruki Toshi4 Lost battles: The slaughter of an army: The "green desert" of New Guinea/ Ogawa Masatsugu. Soldiers' deaths/ Ogawa Tamotsu. "Honorable death" on Saipan/ Yamauchi Takeo; Sunken fleet/ Lifeboat/ Matsunaga Ichirō. Transport war/ Masuda Reiji; "Special attack": Volunteer/ Yokota Yutaka. Human torpedo/ Kōzu Naoji. Bride of a kamikaze/ Araki Shigeko. Requiem/ Nishihara Wakana5 "One hundred million die together": The burning skies/ "Hiroko died because of me"/ Funato Kazuyo. At the telephone exchange/ Tomizawa Kimi & Kobayashi Hiroyasu; The war comes home to Okinawa: Student nurses of the Lily Corps/ Miyagi Kikuko. "Now they call it "group suicide"/ Kinjō Shigeaki. Straggler/ Ōta Masahide; In the enemy's hands: White flag/ Kojima Kiyofumi; "A new terrible weapon": 800 meters from the hypocenter/ Yamaoka Michiko. A Korean in Hiroshima/ Shin Bok Su. 5 photographs of Aug. 6/ Matsushige Yoshito. "Forgetting is a blessing"/ Kimura Yasuko6 The unresolved war: Reversals of fortune: Flight/ Fukushima Yoshi. From Bandung to Starvation Island/ Iitoyo Shōgo. "The army's been a good life"/ Tanida Isamu; Crimes & punishments: death row at Changi Prison/ Abe Hiroshi. "The didn't tell me"/ Fujii Shizue; The long shadow of death: The Emperor's retreat/ Yamane Masako. "My boy never came home"/ Imai Shike; Reflections: Teaching war/ Ienaga Saburō. Meeting at Yasukuni Shrine/ Kiyama Terumichi. Lessons/ Mogami Sadao. A quest for meaning/ Ōta Masahide; Endings: Homecoming/ Tominaga Shōzo. The face of the enemy/ Sasaki Naokata. Imperial gifts for the war dead/ Kawashima Eiko. Royalties/ Yokoyama Ryūichi. "I learned about the war from Grandma"/ Miyagi Harumi. The occupiers/ Kawachi Uichirō. Back to the beginning/ Hayashi Shigeo
Release Date:
September 30, 1993