Tales By Japanese Soldiers

Rating:
Summary: Living in hell through Asian eyes..
Review: I bought this book hoping to get a view on how the Japanese soldiers experienced the war in Burma and war in general, but more importantly i was hoping for a different view than the one we are "accustomed" to through books written by Westerners.

The western market is saturated with such books describing experiences from various wars and times, but when i searched in Amazon i found only a handful translated into english and written by Asians.

In that regard i was surprised to see that most of the content of the book could've been written by a Westerner as well. There are, naturally, several accounts in the 60 and over stories included that do provide an insight into the Japanese psyche but they arent the majority.

One prevailing element is that most of the authors of the stories are very cynical in their desciptions, but in strange matter of fact way. They describe very scholastically what the situation was but as if from the eye of a distant observer.

Is this a worthy read generally speaking? Absolutely. Even if some of the stories are paradoxically boring for being battle accounts most are nothing less than gripping. There is one story in particular, that stood out in my mind where a japanese soldier not only narrates a harrowing account of a very ritical battle in Burma but also provides sketches he did in order to describe the horrors he witnessed. These sketches along with the accompanying descriptions will stay on your mind because of their sheer intensity.

Otherwise, this book is also very interesting from a military point of view as it provides a historical account of the difficulties and hardships as well as the strategical approaches of the Japanese during the war in Burma..

Another thing that is amongst the more noteworthy things here is that the Japanese would prefer suicide rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. Several such accounts are to be found in the book.

The last few stories are told by Japanese nurses and have a very special interest of their own.

Rating:
Summary: very dissappointing
Review: I was excited when I heard about this book, having exhausted myself with books about the European Theater, I wanted to see the Japanese side of the Pacific war. What a major dissapointment! All this is short personal accounts which are all bascially the same...Quick example..."We marched through the rough jungle of Burma, then we fought the enemy" Thats it, no insight about their fanatical beliefs, no comments about their prisoners, and nothing interesting about their views on the defeat. the only redeeming quality I got out of this book is the fact that I didn't waste any money on it, got it from the library.

Rating:
Summary: very dissappointing
Review: I was excited when I heard about this book, having exhausted myself with books about the European Theater, I wanted to see the Japanese side of the Pacific war. What a major dissapointment! All this is short personal accounts which are all bascially the same...Quick example..."We marched through the rough jungle of Burma, then we fought the enemy" Thats it, no insight about their fanatical beliefs, no comments about their prisoners, and nothing interesting about their views on the defeat. the only redeeming quality I got out of this book is the fact that I didn't waste any money on it, got it from the library.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: This is the voice of the real forgotten war. This book relates numerous first person accounts of the Burma Campaign. The tales come from officers, common enlisted men, to female nurses. Their descriptions are very vivid, and show the tragic side of war. One can also get a better feel of the Japanese culture and their views towards the war. They view the war from the ground level, without any question such as "why are we here", regardless of that they seem to have an almost casual attitude towards their own demise, which I found very interesting. I would rate this book very highly if you have an interest in both the Pacific theater and Japan.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: This is the voice of the real forgotten war. This book relates numerous first person accounts of the Burma Campaign. The tales come from officers, common enlisted men, to female nurses. Their descriptions are very vivid, and show the tragic side of war. One can also get a better feel of the Japanese culture and their views towards the war. They view the war from the ground level, without any question such as "why are we here", regardless of that they seem to have an almost casual attitude towards their own demise, which I found very interesting. I would rate this book very highly if you have an interest in both the Pacific theater and Japan.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent collection of personal experiences
Review: _Tales by Japanese Soldiers_ is a much needed addition to the very small number of Japanese sources on the Second World War available in the English language.

The book deals with the Burma Campaign where a very large number of Japanese faced the combined British, Indian, Chinese, and US forces. In fact, the Japanese suffered their largest defeats on land in Burma. On the other hand, the Allies also suffered their longest retreat of the war here in 1942.

Several Japanese officers and soldiers recount their experiences in _Tales by Japanese Soldiers_. Descriptions are given in chronological order, beginning with the 1942 invasion of Burma and ending with the British return in 1945. The biggest section is on the Battle of Imphal-Kohima, the great battle of attrition in 1944, in which the entire Japanese 15th Army was decimated. Stories of the retreat from Imphal are particularly compelling, especially a set of drawings by Yasumasa Nishiji.

This is an important book that adds valuable perspective on the experience of the Japanese in the Second World War.