Japan's last war : World War II and the Japanese, 1931-1945

Abstract

Japan's surrender to the Allies on 15th August 1945 ended 15 years of military adventure into China, South-East Asia and the Pacific islands. How and why Japan waged war from 1931 to 1945 and what life was like for the Japanese people are the subjects of this book. Sabur{u014D} lenaga tells English readers for the first time the Japanese story of the Second World War. This book is far more than the history of the great battles that raged from China to the remote regions of the Pacific. It is also an account of what it was like to live under an all-pervasive state system. Using popular songs, private diaries and personal letters, and drawing on his own experience, the author describes the misery of the war for the Japanese and for the peoples they conquered. He shows how a nation was educated in fanatical patriotism and the barbarism and brutality that were its consequence. Sabur{u014D} lenaga has written eloquently of the wretchedness of war, and a compassionate, but highly critical, view of a people consumed by total conflict.