Wow! eBook
Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation (Asian History)
Author(s): Ran Ying Porter (Author), Edgar Porter (Author)
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: March 9, 2017
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 256 pages
- ISBN-10: 9789462982598
- ISBN-13: 9789462982598
Book Description
This book presents an unforgettable up-close account of the effects of World War II and the subsequent American occupation on Oita prefecture, through firsthand accounts from more than forty Japanese men and women who lived there. The interviewees include students, housewives, nurses, midwives, teachers, journalists, soldiers, sailors, Kamikaze pilots, and munitions factory workers. Their stories range from early, spirited support for the war through the devastating losses of friends and family members to air raids and into periods of hunger and fear of the American occupiers. The personal accounts are buttressed by archival materials; the result is an unprecedented picture of the war as experienced in a single region of Japan.
Editorial Reviews
Review
…the Porters have woven together the memories of students and factory workers, nurses and midwives, teachers, sailors and kamikaze pilots to create a rare account of ordinary life during extraordinary times in the Japanese countryside…Ultimately, “Japanese Reflections on World War II” is a clear picture of how the tragedy and suffering of war affects ordinary people and their perceptions. “Japan Times”
Choice “As the oralreminiscences incorporated into this deft and well-crafted historicaloverview illustrate, however, local residents were at the epicenter ofnumerous critical occurrences during both WW II and its aftermath. Anarmy regiment involved in the 1933 attack on Nanjing in China; the naval base preparing the fleet for the Pearl Harbor attack; numerous national military and political leaders; a training centerfor kamikaze pilots–all called Ōita home. During the Americanoccupation, a regional command post was located in Beppu, theprefecture’s largest city. Pulling together the recollections of some 40 individuals from Ōita and the larger narrative of Japan at war and indefeat thus provides an engaging, critically important, and nicelybalanced account of a period in Japanese history oftenunder-acknowledged in Japan itself. Also intriguing: the interplaybetween important incidents associated with the war and the relatedindividualized remembrances that tie together local experiences andnational events. Highly recommended.” Choice
About the Author
Edgar A. Porter is Professor Emeritus in the College of Asian Pacific Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Japan. Ran Ying Porter is a writer. Her most recent novel is Black Dragon River.
