Warlord: Tojo Against the World

Rating:
Summary: Tojo-and the Japanese Culture
Review: Great Book, Interesting Man
I find it funny that to THIS DAY, people still have the nerve to consider men like this admirable or interesting. This whole country, as well as Tojo were the most cruel, racist, and inhumane people known to man. I hate to totally lay all this blame on Tojo himself but rather the whole country of Japan. Many people aren't even allowed to go into their chatrooms on the net as I type this review. Many times when visiting their country you can try to eat or go into a bar and if you are white they will immediately intervene telling you "This is a Private Club" and not let you enter because of the color of your skin. I'm not making this up. To me they seem to be the most racist people in the world. Of course this is rarely pointed out on television.

In my opinion the Nazis got many of their codes and policies from these people. I think the Nazis were highly influenced in how in conducted things in relation to the Japanese people.

In a nutshell I don't see why people like this are considered any different than Hitler. Of course, the Jewish community was unaffected by the Japanese so therefore you don't hear about it as often. (Just my opinion)

In the eyes of the Japanese, you're either one of two things, Japanese or Gai-Jin meaning that you're nothing more than a barbarian. That crosses all religions, races, and genders.

The things this country beliefs are shocking, and the public should be made aware of how they are.

For some unknown reason in today's society, a group of people who're not caucasian are often made to look a bit romantic and intriguing when they display this form of violence. Yet Germany because they're like you and I are considered monsters. This troubles me. There's not a difference.

I rate this book 5 stars, yes it's very good, but it's very shocking to me how people don't consider this culture barbaric and cruel. The Jewish community of all people usually seem very in awe of the Asian culture while these people are simply the most racist people on the planet. This is not just because we're different than the east, the Japanese feel the same way about their surrounding countries. As far as the Japanese society is concerned, if you're Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc., you might has well be smothered at birth.

These people fight dogs, fight horses, beat up their women and children, pedophilia was legal until 95. If any country in this world were similar in their behavior and IF they were white, they'd be shunned by everyone.

I know this is off subject, and I have no problem with the author. However many people who want to study this culture and read many books about Japan need to be aware of the their REAL culture and history. There's not much talk about it.

This man isn't too far from the modern day Japense citizen. Many will feel I'm wrong but I feel this needs to be put out there for people looking to learn the history of Japan.

Rating:
Summary: A biography of the spokesman for the militarists of Japan.
Review: Hoyt does a good job detailing the political life of the wartime leader of Japan. As one of the previous reviewers noted, there is little personal information on Tojo here. What is detailed is the struggle for the control of Japan from 1936-1945. Tojo came out on top four months prior to Pearl Harbor. He was not completely to blame for what happened in Japan and her conquered territories, but his guilt was great. Hoyt does a good job of detailing why Hirohito was less to blame for the outcome of the war.
Tojo was basically a spokeman for the Generals of the Army who guided the country from the early thirties. He was the son of a samarai who made the transition to the Army. Hirohito's rule was basically like the shogun ruled Japan. The Generals had the veto power over all decisions of the government. The Emperor participated very little in the decisions. Tojo was the spokesman who ultimately pushed all contenders to the side. In 1944, he was deposed himself.
Hoyt tackles some serious issues in this book such as the mistreatment of prisoners of war(POWs) and European civilians, the war of conquest in China, and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity League. This book may not be the leading authority on Tojo or what happened in military Japan, but it is a great summary of some difficult history.

Rating:
Summary: A biography of the spokesman for the militarists of Japan.
Review: Hoyt does a good job detailing the political life of the wartime leader of Japan. As one of the previous reviewers noted, there is little personal information on Tojo here. What is detailed is the struggle for the control of Japan from 1936-1945. Tojo came out on top four months prior to Pearl Harbor. He was not completely to blame for what happened in Japan and her conquered territories, but his guilt was great. Hoyt does a good job of detailing why Hirohito was less to blame for the outcome of the war.
Tojo was basically a spokeman for the Generals of the Army who guided the country from the early thirties. He was the son of a samarai who made the transition to the Army. Hirohito's rule was basically like the shogun ruled Japan. The Generals had the veto power over all decisions of the government. The Emperor participated very little in the decisions. Tojo was the spokesman who ultimately pushed all contenders to the side. In 1944, he was deposed himself.
Hoyt tackles some serious issues in this book such as the mistreatment of prisoners of war(POWs) and European civilians, the war of conquest in China, and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity League. This book may not be the leading authority on Tojo or what happened in military Japan, but it is a great summary of some difficult history.

Rating:
Summary: Reasonable overview, but could have been much better
Review: Hoyt's book provides an acceptable overview of a section of Tojo's life, but the book suffers because it does not delve deeper. Hoyt fails to provide any explanation as to why Tojo developed his beliefs or why he acted as he did. For example, there is no discussion of Tojo's childhood, and very little information regarding his family life. While these need not be key to Tojo's biography, such facts might have provided more insight into the man.

Hoyt also seems driven to prove that Hirohito was not responsible for the war; in fact, he begins the book commenting on a BBC documentary which argued that Hirohito was a war criminal. Placing this view at the beginning of the book casts doubt on everything that follows, making the reader wonder if the author is attempting to shift blame to Tojo in order to exonerate Hirohito.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Look Into the Minds of Japanese Leaders in WWII
Review: I bought this book because I wanted to know more about the warin the Pacific in WWII. I had read quite a bit about the war inEurope but knew little about the "forgotten" war in the Pacific.

What I discovered was a fascinating look into the war in the Pacific from the standpoint of the Japanese. What really impressed me was the way in which Hoyt explained Japanese military and political decisions in light of his understanding of Japanese society and culture. For example, it is very easy to say that the Japanese, until Nagasaki was bombed, were willing to fight to the last man. But why? Hoyt explains in the book that, after Churchill and Roosevelt announced that only Japan's "unconditional" surrender would be accepted by the Allies, the Japanese were terrified that an Allied occupying force would destroy the Emperor system of government. The shame of such a fate was such a powerful motivator, especially among the young, "hot head" officers, that it became virtually impossible for Japan to surrender, even though the Emperor, and other people in the government, were actively trying to do just that in 1944.

The biography of Tojo himself almost takes a back seat to the fascinating political and military insight that you get and that is actually just fine. A great read for anyone interested in World War II history.

Rating:
Summary: Reasonable overview, but could have been much better
Review: It is a curious truth that while much is popularly known about Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and other European "bad boy" potentates, little if anything is popularly known about the architect and antagonist of the Japanese military state, Hideki Tojo. Yet he was Japan's premier for the greater part of World War Two, the front man for the militarists who had seized real control of the government in the mid 1930s. Unlike either Hitler or Mussolini, Tojo did not escape the judgment of the victorious allies, for he was one of the relatively few Japanese tried for war crimes after the war, and was hanged in disgrace and humiliation. This, then, is an absorbing story of the ultimate true believer hung on the petard of his own fanaticism.

Renowned historian Edwin P. Hoyt does an admirable job detailing the rise and corruption of this enigmatic and often phlegmatic leader, a modern day samurai who simply did not understand the tenor of his times, and who was instrumental in ushering Japan into a disastrous and suicidal conflict with the United States, even though a number of authorities with Japan such as Yamamoto warned an all-out war with the Americans would not likely be successful. Hoyt draws from an impressive array of little known documents from Japanese military archives, and from a number of recorded interviews with Japanese-American guards who came to know Tojo quite well during his captivity and trial at the infamous Sagumo Prison just outside Tokyo.

Hoyt takes incredible care detailing Tojo's rapid rise to become the outspoken and imperious front-man for the militarists within the Army, those young but career-oriented officers seeking the rapid expansion of the burgeoning Japanese empire throughout Asia to fulfill what they felt to be Japan's destiny based on their own racist and fascist notions about the Japanese being a master race naturally destined to rule their part of the world. Hoyt describes the early successes in the first few months of the war, when Tojo's stock was rising and his prestige was rising as well. The book also details his hopes and tentative operational plans regarding an eventual invasion of the American mainland, and this more than anything indicates just how provincial and misinformed he was regarding the power, strengths, and capabilities of his opponents.

Soon, however, the victories turned to defeats, and in a stunning string of setbacks and losses the course of the war changed fatefully, as did Japan's dreams of empire and future fortune. Eventually all this caught up with Tojo, and he was forced from power in the summer of 1944. Eventually, he was arrested by the Allies, tried, and hanged. This is an provocative look at a man who balanced the surging forces of the Army, Navy and civil authorities during the war, but who profoundly and fatefully misunderstood the nature of the forces of the 20th century, and so was personally responsible for the death of millions of combatants and noncombatants, and who by prosecuting the war in such a savage way also played a key role in bringing the sting of the Allies wrath home to the people to Japan. I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about this tragic and misguided figure that was so instrumental in the unfolding of the Pacific part of the Second World War.