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Showa 1939 to 1944 A History of Japan by Mizuki, Shigeru [message #275674] Sun, 14 December 2014 11:55
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On Sunday, November 23, 2014 I finished reading.
Showa 1939 to 1944 A History of Japan by Mizuki, Shigeru ranks with
Gen of Hiroshima as a record of the horror of War.

[bliss notes:
I thought I had posted this earlier but could find no copy of it in
my archives so went to my log and found this entry which I have
cleaned up a bit.]

Like that work (Gen of Hiroshima) the author is the central character
aided by a caricature called Rat-Man who provides commentary to clarify
the activities of the representations of the people at that time.
To make it clear this is about the Japanese-American War, part of
the terrible World War II. Called the Pacific War in Japan most often
it is seldom so definitively exposed in Japan as the horrendous
error it was. As a matter of fact the Japanese leadership seems inclined
to ignore the horrible actions of the Japanese Imperial Army and their
mistreatment if not outright murder of many hundreds of thousands
if not millions of people.

Mizuki's sensei work as a mangaka is wonderful! We are fortunate
that this man survived the war and learned to draw again so that the
people of Japan have access to the truth of Showa. He lost an arm
but learned to draw again. This is partly biographical material and
his parents and brothers had him down as a complete slacker.
Artistic people frequently have to endure such slights from the short-
sighted but loved people close to them.
I feel fortunate that I get to read this book and his other books,

I have seen comments that the problems during WW II in Japan
were caused by the loss but in truth they were caused by the resources
which the civilian population depended on being diverted to support the
military. The top office of Prime Minister in the Wartime government
were eventually held by the Army Minister and President of the Army
General Staff. a certain General Hideki Tojo. In other words he ran
the whole show. As an example of the shortages look at Grave of
the Fireflies or re-read Gen of Hiroshima.

Showa, in case the reader is unaware. is the name of the period of time
when the Emperor of Japan was the late Hirohito now properly referred to
as the Showa Emperor.
This is a heavy book in more ways than one at 540 pages of art and
text plus 8 pages of cultural notes in a paperback cover so that you kids
who did not live through the WW II period and us gaijin in general will
have an idea of what the characters are talking about.

I had been aware of this book and the first volume of Showa 1926-1938
and learned of the forthcoming next volume which will cover the early
post War period. This history of Showa may have a 4th volume to
round out Showa.
These books are published by Drawn & Quarterly at about $25 per
volume. I had held off buying them as I was spending what money
I had mostly on old debt. rent and food. Last Friday I got lucky at
the San Francisco Public Library while looking for a book I had read
but ironically failed to document. I found this quite by surprise.
The numbers on this are 952.033
M6996sh ISBn 938-1-770646-151-2

I hope before the end of 2014 that I will be able to review the first
volume in the series. Which notes were submitted to the ram. raam,
I have put a reserve on the first volume which could be back early
next month. Well I got that and have a reserve on volume 3 which
is already on the rack at Kinokuniya in Nihon Machi, San Francisco.

bliss
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