Japan at war : A beginner's guide
Overviews and main players
The Pacific War, 1931-1945: A critical perspective on Japan's
role in World War II by Saburo Ienaga (Random House, 1979). US
edition only; may be available from online bookshops.
This account of
Japan's war effort from 1931 to 1945 and of the life of the Japanese
people during those years draws on popular songs, diaries and letters,
and focuses especially on the Japanese military system. According to
writer Dan Ford in his review of
the book, 'Ienaga was a teacher who got himself into trouble by telling
the truth (as he saw it) about Japan's conduct of the war. When he found
himself out of a job, he wrote this book and got even deeper into trouble …'
The Japanese Monographs
http://ibiblio.org/pha/monos/
A series of 187 studies on Japan's role
in World War II, written at the request of the US government by Japanese
participants in the events.
Emperor Showa
www.geocities.com/jtaliaferro.geo/showa.html
Good article on Emperor Hirohito (posthumously renamed Emperor Showa),
Japan's wartime head of state.
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P Bix (HarperCollins,
2001). Out of print; may available from libraries or second-hand bookshops.
Winner
of the Pulitzer prize for non-fiction, this biography of the Japanese
emperor reveals a powerful man who successfully cultivated an image of
a reluctant king while manipulating important events behind the scenes
for five decades.
Tojo Hideki
http://gi.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_tojo.html
Concise encyclopaedia article
on the Japanese premier who ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Warlord: Tojo against the world by Edwin P Hoyt (Cooper Square
Press, 2001) £12.99
This biography of Japanese army general and dictatorial
prime minister Hideki Tojo (1884-1948) covers his early, easy World
War II victories (including Pearl Harbor), his subsequent crushing defeats
and his trial and execution as a war criminal.
Yamashita Tomoyuki
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWyamashita.htm
Encyclopaedia article
on the Japanese general responsible for the fall of Singapore and the capture
of the Philippines.
Imperial Japanese Army Page
http://www3.plala.or.jp/takihome/
Enthusiast's website covering all
aspects of the Japanese army, including brief accounts of all its battles,
but concentrating on the military hardware.
Bushido: Japanese Field Service Code
www.warbirdforum.com/bushido.htm
Adopted on 8 January 1941, this was the
way in which the Japanese military were supposed to operate in the field.
Sample: 'Never give up a position but rather die.'
Shinto
www.omf.org/omf/uk/about_asia/religions/shinto
Concise, informative and generally unbiased article (on a Christian website) on this mix of ancient religions and rites that was hijacked by ultra-nationalists in Japan to promote militarism before and during World War II.
Shinto and the State, 1868-1988 by Helen Hardacre (Princeton
University Press, 1992) £15.95
Hardacre, a leading scholar of religious
life in modern Japan, examines the Japanese state's involvement in and
manipulation of shinto from the Meiji Restoration to the present.
