Kumiko Kakehashi

For the purposes of my review, it is best to view this book as having three authors:

The first author is Japanese. From the publishers this would be a female, Kumiko Kakehashi. Her concept (diary entries) is very good. Her delivery is lacking. There is too much editorializing. I would have preferred all entries in chronological order, with comments.

The second is a translator. I do not believe that this was the author. One basis for this view is the references significantly list Japanese language materials. The translation (that is, the English version) is so well written, that I cannot believe that it was done by a person who preferred to use Japanese language materials. In case I am not clear, I am trying to praise the English version, quite highly.

The third is the propagandist. I feel that there is an underlying attempt to rewrite history so that it presents the Japanese as the only honorable participants (reluctantly) in the Pacific war. I resent the references to the cowardly Americans, etc. I feel an underlying purpose which negates any reliability in the material presented.

In toto, this book is based upon a brilliant concept and is professionally delivered, but is a piece of garbage.… (més)

I was hoping, from the title, that this would be a more accessible version of [Kamikaze Diaries]. In fact, it's a book about the battle of Iwo Jima, and especially about the Japanese commander there, General Kuribayashi (although there is a chapter of letters from ordinary soldiers, as well as extracts from battlefield memoirs and interviews with survivors and relatives).

Kuribayashi was sent to command 20,000 men in a near-suicide mission (95% of the Japanese soldiers died on the island) in an almost literally Hellish landscape - Iwo Jima is a volcanic island, so little grew there even before the battle, and there were no sources of fresh water. (Japanese soldiers heard rumours that the American troops were supplied with water in cans, and wondered whether such a thing was possible).

Kuribayashi comes across as a remarkable man. He had spent some time in the US and understood that the war was unwinnable for Japan, and he made a point of sharing the same rations and conditions as his men - one canteen of brackish water a day. At the same time, he inspired his men to fight to the bitter end, refusing them the traditional glorious and pointless banzai charge in favour of the bitter, painful slog of guerilla warfare.

This account makes it very clear why Iwo Jima has such a significant role in US memories of the campaign. It seems stranger that (at least according to Kakehashi) there is less knowledge about the battle in Japan.

The only small downside is that Kakehashi is not a historian - she's a journalist, specialising in human interest stories. This meant that occasionally I missed the additional depth or context. However, overall this was a moving, vivid and highly readable introduction to this piece of history.

Recommended for: anyone who would like to know more about this battle and/or the final stages of the conflict in Japan.… (més)