Japan at War: An Oral History by Haruko Taya Cook (PDF)

Description

A “deeply moving book” (Studs Terkel) and the first ever oral history to document the experience of ordinary Japanese people during World War II“Hereafter no one will be able to think, write, or teach about the Pacific War without reference to [the Cooks’] work.” —Marius B. Jansen, Emeritus Professor of Japanese History, Princeton UniversityThis pathbreaking work of oral history by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook was the first book ever to capture the experience of ordinary Japanese people during the war and remains the classic work on the subject.In a sweeping panorama, Japan at War takes us from the Japanese attacks on China in the 1930s to the Japanese home front during the inhuman raids on Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, offering glimpses of how the twentieth century’s most deadly conflict affected the lives of the Japanese population. The book “seeks out the true feelings of the wartime generation [and] illuminates the contradictions between the official views of the war and living testimony” (Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan).For decades, American and Japanese readers have turned to Japan at War for a candid portrait of the Japanese experience during World War II in all its complexity. Featuring essays that contextualize the oral histories of each tumultuous period covered, Japan at War is appropriate both as an introduction to those war-ravaged decades and as a riveting reference for those studying the war in the Pacific.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “One of the essential books about World War II.” ―The Philadelphia Inquirer”The stories recorded in Japan at War provide insight into the confounding complexity of extreme human behavior during the war.” ―San Francisco Chronicle”Hereafter no one will be able to think, write, or teach about the Pacific War without reference to [the Cooks’] work.” ―Marius B. Jansen, Princeton University”Oral history of a compellingly high order.” ―Kirkus Reviews”Informed, nuanced, manysided, vivid―an impressive achievement.” ―Ezra F. Vogel, Harvard University About the Author Haruko Taya Cook is Fordham Marymount Professor Emerita in history at Marymount College of Fordham University. She lives in New York City.Theodore F. Cook is a professor of Japanese history at William Paterson University. He lives in New York City.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I have sought, over the years, to try to understand the nature of our enemies in war. Some wars, like WWI, were essentially fought over the issue of power and control. Some wars, like the US Civil War, get redefined periodically and often to the advantage of who’s redefining it. Today, July 4, is a good day to reflect on our Revolutionary War and, although I don’t do it annually like I feel I should, reading the Declaration of Independance is an excellent way to understand the grievances that led to war. It is WWII that had been my biggest challenge to comprehend and it was the Japanese side of this conflict that I understood the least. I can’t say that one book clarified everything I didn’t understand but “Japan at War: An Oral History” put me on the fast track to getting there.This is an amazing book in many ways. First, the scope of the book covers the many different facets of the Japanese experiance in WWII. For example, the war begins for them with the invasion of China and the conquest of Manchuria; aspects we generally know little about. It has a chapter on the kamikazi’s and the similar sailers who volunteered to man suicide torpedos. It looks to the glory of the height of conquest and to the chaos and destruction of the waning days. It takes a look at the little mentioned Soviet invasion of Manchuria (that began after The Bomb). It takes a brief look at post-war Japan as well. It does all of this through the interviews the authors conducted with a number of soldiers, sailers, officers, civilians, and conscripts. To their credit, the husband and wife team of Haruko Taya and Theodore Cook constructed their book by publishing the reminiscences of their subjects. We read the words they heard supplemented briefly by overviews provided by the authors. This first-person recounting of events and the reactions to them brings everything to life for us. Whatever passions we may have from our own perspectives are, at least temporarily, set aside with the riminder that war victimizes everyone it touches.The Cooks have done an excellent job of finding persons who were not only first-hand witnesses but excellent historians as well. The stories that they were able to collect were so personal and down-to-earth that the one exception (a professor’s educated treatise on the censuring of textbooks) sticks out noticeably in comparison.The witnesses let us in on many events but it is their editorial perspective of how these events changed their lives (and the lives of other Japanese) that reaches across the animosities of war and touches us deeply. There are interviews with some of the volunteer suicide soldiers who would have carried out their mission but for time and/or equiptment failure. There are stories of Koreans brought to Japan and insights on how they were treated. However, the most impressive were the stories of the witnesses and survivors of the Atomic Bombs that fell on Japan. Whatever your feeling on this subject are (and mine affirm the correctness of our actions) these first hand accounts are stunning.The Cooks deserve a lot of credit for their painstaking efforts to amass all of these interviews. Their editing appears to be minimal as is their background introductions to each new chapter. In other words; helpful without being intrusive. Undoubtably, there were many other survivng Japanese witnesses to war who would not tell their story. Many of those who did were reflective of having been misled.The Japanese and Americans are solid allies these days and the birth of that alliance is found in these monologues of history. Countless eye-witnesses bore testimony to their individual discovery that the American soldiers were not the devils the Japanese leadership portrayed them to be. The gratuitous stories of the acts of kindness and generosity of the American GIs were really heartwarming to read.”Japan at War: An Oral History” was everything I had hoped it would be; and more. As a Baby-Boomer, I carry not the scars of war but the legacy of war. The history of American wars is the eventual alliance with our enemies. This book, in an indirect way, is a reminder of that tradition. We can only hope that our current conflict can eventually end in the same Phoenix of peace.

⭐Without a doubt one of the finest books I have ever read.There are, of course, more objective accounts of this period, and those should be read, but this is not that book, and it does not pretend to be that book.The biases of this book are those of its interviewees – the widows, war criminals, and veterans. This book is one-sided because it deals exclusively with Japanese subjects, and in this respect I found it wholly unique. I became physically ill as the Japanese army doctor described vivisecting Chinese; the same with the account of Unit 731. Far from shifting blame, this book focuses blame on the people who ordered and perpetrated ghastly crimes.Ordinary Japanese – both those in the field and those at home – suffered during the war. This suffering, however, is not the focus of the book. The focus of Japan At War are the experiences of the interviewees, both for good and ill. Who would not be moved by the account of a family whose infant son was burned to death during the Tokyo firebombing? But does that mean this bombing was unjustified – of course not.There are hundreds of accounts of the Pacific War and I found this one to be most illuminating because it focused on a non-Allied perspective. In this respect it enabled me to understand the whole much better than before. War is never a singular act, even less world wars. And learning what the enemy experienced does not justify their crimes. In the West this moral outrage – the fixation upon Japan’s brutality – has itself been used to excuse actions that, had the Allies lost, would have been deemed war crimes, such as attempts to starve the home islands and the intentional bombing of civilian targets. In contrast to the reviewer, I do not think it is only the Japanese who have yet to come to terms with the Pacific War, I think it is the Allies as well who have erected their own national myths. These myths will not be demolished until both sides speak.

⭐As expected

⭐This fascinating and sometimes chilling collection of interviews with Japanese people who experienced everyday life in japan during and after the Second World War/Pacific War is an invaluable piece of oral history. It’s salutary to be reminded that all sides in any war are largely made up of ordinary people trying to survive and get on with their lives, mostly not questioning their government’s propaganda. Direct testimony, presented without any judgement so the reader can make up their own mind.

⭐For anyone who wants to get an idea of what war was like to the Japanese, then you must read this. It ranges from the perspectives of the soldiers to the wives at home. Some of the stories are incredibly sad so be prepared.

⭐A fascinating account

⭐Les auteurs sont parvenus à trouver des témoignages représentatifs de militaires et de civils qui ont vécu des moments cruciaux de la Guerre du Pacifique, depuis la colonisation de la Chine par l’armée impériale jusqu’à la bombe atomique. La disproportion entre l’individu et la guerre éclate à chaque page.excellent. a must read for world war II studies and fall of japan

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