In this Book

Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation

Book
Edgar A. Porter and Ran Ying Porter
2017
Published by: Amsterdam University Press
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
summary
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.

Table of Contents

open access

Cover

Title Page, Copyright

pp. 1-4

Contents

pp. 5-8

Acknowledgments

pp. 9-10

Introduction

pp. 11-14

Preface

pp. 15-16

1. "Something Big Was Going to Happen"

pp. 17-26

2. One Million Souls, One Heart

pp. 27-38

3. Oita Men Troop to War

pp. 39-60

4. The War Expands and the People Mobilize

pp. 61-70

5. Invincible Japan

pp. 71-91

6. Fire from the Sky

pp. 92-119

7. "I Shall Die with Pleasure"

pp. 120-126

8. Never-ending Sirens

pp. 127-131

9. A Hard Price to Pay

pp. 132-140

10. Donate Everything

pp. 141-151

11. Eliminate the City

pp. 152-157

12. Oita's Advisors to the Emperor

pp. 158-160

13. The Lightning Bolt

pp. 161-167

14. We Didn't Surrender - The War Just Ended

pp. 168-179

15. Hungary, Confused, and Afraid

pp. 180-189

16. The Devil Comes Ashore

pp. 190-197

17. A Bitter Homecoming

pp. 198-203

18. The Occupation Takes Hold

pp. 204-211

19. Miss Beppu, Crazy Mary, and William Westmorland

pp. 212-222

Conclusion

pp. 223-226

Chronology of Japanese Historical Events, 1905-1957

pp. 227-230

List of Interviewees

pp. 231-232

Bibliography

pp. 233-236

Index

pp. 237-238

Image Plates

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