I’m trying to educate myself on US-Japan relations and am really curious to how Japanese scholars/educators/regular people think about Japan’s history and role before and during WWII. Most of the WWII books on Japan I’ve read or seen were written by western scholars. I’d love to see things from Japanese perspective instead. Thank you in advance!
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/vdxam9/recommendation_on_books_on_regular_japanese/
5 comments
https://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20150813/world-war-ii-diaries-disclose-diverse-emotions-over-japans-surrender
“Daily Life in Wartime Japan, 1940-1945,” by Samuel H Yamashita looks to be a great resource
Letters from Iwo Jima, Kumiko kakehashi
Also look at dan Carlin’s reading list:
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-62-supernova-in-the-east-i/
Japan at War: An Oral History. The books contains the personal stories of shop keepers, civilians, soldiers, sub-mariners, and the wife of a Kamikaze pilot, etc. Its an extremely good book but can be a bit brutal at times.
Books about the past are not needed.
Just take a look at those Russians right now
Not sure if you read Japanese, but if you do, I found the following books fairly informative (from a scholarly perspective). Roughly translated the titles for reference purposes:
* [日本の戦争:歴史認識と戦争責任](https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4406061886/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AN1VRQENFRJN5&psc=1) (Japan’s War: Historical Awareness and War Responsibility)
* [検証「戦後民主主義」 (わたしたちはなぜ戦争責任問題を解決できないのか)](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%AD-%E5%88%A9%E5%B9%B8/dp/438019003X/ref=rvi_sccl_5/356-0546444-3974906?pd_rd_w=xpwb2&content-id=amzn1.sym.a4dc92d7-7100-437e-b3e3-2349e8298523&pf_rd_p=a4dc92d7-7100-437e-b3e3-2349e8298523&pf_rd_r=W9F5H3F76KVEE6TH1FP4&pd_rd_wg=hj1HK&pd_rd_r=a838c543-03e6-4121-91a1-a42648722fe8&pd_rd_i=438019003X&psc=1) (Examining Japan’s Post-War Democracy: Why are we (the Japanese people) unable to come to terms with Japan’s war responsibility?)