Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies : Selections from the Wartime Diaries of Ordinary Japanese / Samuel Hideo Yamashita.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yamashita, Samuel Hideo, author.

Contributor:

Aiko, Takahashi, Contributor.

Hisako, Yoshizawa, Contributor.

Ichirō, Manabe, Contributor.

Mihōko, Nakane, Contributor.

Seiki, Nomura, Contributor.

Shōko, Maeda, Contributor.

Tsunejiro, Tamura, Contributor.

Yasuo, Itabashi, Contributor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Japanese.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Japan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illus.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2005]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The fall of Singapore and the brilliant victories achieved since the start of the war mean we are protected, but I don't know just how grateful I should be. -Takahashi Aiko, housewife, February 1942This is my final departure from the home islands. I have paid my respects to those who have helped me. I have no regrets. -Itabashi Yasuo, navy kamikaze pilot, February 1944 We had rice gruel for lunch again. There was no tofu in it, but there were potatoes.... We went through with the closing ceremony and received our report cards. Everyone was there. From now on, I'll persevere and not fail. -Manabe Ichiro, primary school student, July 1944 This collection of diaries gives readers a powerful, firsthand look at the effects of the Pacific War on eight ordinary Japanese. Immediate, vivid, and at times surprisingly frank, the diaries chronicle the last years of the war and its aftermath as experienced by a navy kamikaze pilot, an army straggler on Okinawa, an elderly Kyoto businessman, a Tokyo housewife, a young working woman in Tokyo, a teenage girl mobilized for war work, and two schoolchildren evacuated to the countryside. Samuel Yamashita's introduction provides a helpful overview of the historiography on wartime Japan and offers valuable insights into the important, everyday issues that concerned Japanese during a different and disastrously difficult time.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One. The Pacific War and Ordinary Japanese

Japanese Wartime Diaries

Two. The Diary of a Navy Special-Attack Pilot / Yasuo, Itabashi

Three. Bittersweet: The Wartime and Postwar Diary of an Ordinary Kyoto Person / Tsunejiro, Tamura

Four. The Diary of a Defeated Japanese Soldier / Seiki, Nomura

Five. From the Start of the War / Aiko, Takahashi

Until the War Ended / Hisako, Yoshizawa

Seven. The Diary of a Labor Service Corps Girl / Shōko, Maeda

Eight. The Diary of a Evacuated Schoolboy / Ichirō, Manabe

The Diary of an Evacuated Schoolgirl / Mihōko, Nakane

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

About the Autor

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

ISBN:

9780824840587

0824840585

OCLC:

1013938971