Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation

Edgar Porter; Ran Ying Porter

book: Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation

Open Access Published by Amsterdam University Press 2017

Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation

Edgar Porter and Ran Ying Porter

Volume 3 in the series Asian History

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048532636

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book presents an unforgettable up-close account of the effects of World War II and the subsequent American occupation on Oita prefecture.

Author / Editor information

Porter Edgar :

Edgar A. Porter is Professor Emeritus in the College of Asian Pacific Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Japan. Previous publications include China in Oceania: Reshaping the Pacific?(co-editor, Berghahn Books, 2010), The People's Doctor: George Hatem and China's Revolution (University of Hawii Press, 1997), re-published by Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 2003 and translated and reprinted under title Chairman Mao's Doctor (Kairyusha Press, Tokyo, 2010).Porter Ran Ying :

Ran Ying Porter is a writer and her most recent novel is Black Dragon River (China Youth Press (Beijing, 2014).

Reviews

"The content [of this volume], based upon forty-three first-hand accounts, presents a range of original and informative perspectives, adding a human dimension to processes and events that are more often covered from a policy or strategic perspective. [...] The work is highly readable and accessible, suggesting its suitability as a potential core text for an undergraduate class on the Japanese population's experience of war and occupation alongside the works of Tessa Morris-Suzuki (Showa, An Inside History of Hirohito's Japan, London, 1984), Samuel Hideo Yamashita (Daily Life in Wartime Japan, 1940-1945, Lawrence, 2015) and Haruko T. and Theodore F. Cook (Japan at War, An Oral History, New York, 1992)." - Thomas French, Canadian Journal of History, Volume 53, No.1, Spring/Summer 2018 "As the oral reminiscences incorporated into this deft and well-crafted historical overview illustrate, however, local residents were at the epicenter of numerous critical occurrences during both WW II and its aftermath. An army 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 center for kamikaze pilots“all called Oita home. During the American occupation, a regional command post was located in Beppu, the prefecture’s largest city. Pulling together the recollections of some 40 individuals from Oita and the larger narrative of Japan at war and in defeat thus provides an engaging, critically important, and nicely balanced account of a period in Japanese history often under-acknowledged in Japan itself. Also intriguing: the interplay between important incidents associated with the war and the related individualized remembrances that tie together local experiences and national events. Highly recommended." - Choice Reviews 'An important and worthwhile study!' - moesson, Het Indisch Maandblad, August 2017 (review originally published in Dutch). '[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 ... ŸJapanese Reflections on World War IIŒ is a clear picture of how the tragedy and suffering of war affects ordinary people and their perceptions.' - Kris Kosaka for The Japan Times, July 2017.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	1
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	5
Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	9
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	11
Preface Open Access Download PDF	15
1. “Something Big Was Going to Happen” Open Access Download PDF	17
2. One Million Souls, One Heart Open Access Download PDF	27
3. Oita Men Troop to War Open Access Download PDF	39
4. The War Expands and the People Mobilize Open Access Download PDF	61
5. Invincible Japan Open Access Download PDF	71
6. Fire from the Sky Open Access Download PDF	92
7. “I Shall Die with Pleasure” Open Access Download PDF	120
8. Never-ending Sirens Open Access Download PDF	127
9. A Hard Price to Pay Open Access Download PDF	132
10. Donate Everything Open Access Download PDF	141
11. Eliminate the City Open Access Download PDF	152
12. Oita’s Advisors to the Emperor Open Access Download PDF	158
13. The Lightning Bolt Open Access Download PDF	161
14. We Didn’t Surrender – The War Just Ended Open Access Download PDF	168
15. Hungary, Confused, and Afraid Open Access Download PDF	180
16. The Devil Comes Ashore Open Access Download PDF	190
17. A Bitter Homecoming Open Access Download PDF	198
18. The Occupation Takes Hold Open Access Download PDF	204
19. Miss Beppu, Crazy Mary, and William Westmorland Open Access Download PDF	212
Conclusion Open Access Download PDF	223
Chronology of Japanese Historical Events, 1905-1957 Open Access Download PDF	227
List of Interviewees Open Access Download PDF	231
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	233
Index Open Access Download PDF	237

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 256
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 19
- Coloured Illustrations: 1
- Other: 1 color plate, 19 halftones, 2 line drawings
Keywords: Japan; World War II; Occupation; Oita Prefecture; B29 bombing

eBook

Published: March 9, 2017
ISBN: 9789048532636