Rating: 
Summary: Better to say it is excellent coverage of Tokyo & Occupatio
Review: As a company commander in far SW Honshu and Kyushu I would say Prof. Dower's scholarly work widely missed the mark when he attempted to discuss the life of the Army man in Japan. Occupation life in Tokyo and the rest of Japan were entirely different. Dower makes it sound very cushy. He has a photo of a Chief Petty Officer in Tokyo sitting down with his wife and children at family dinner. The Chief has on his full uniform, the children are scrubbed and brushed, the boys wear neckties and behind them are two Japanese maids in kimono and obi. As an officer commanding 200 men, I had no maid, our messhall had no maids, meals were served cafeteria style. Our enlisted men were pampered by Japanese who served as KPs. Instead of peeling potatoes, my men and officers were entirely free to perform training and reconnaissance missions. In that part of Japan I never saw homeless people squatted on the sidewalks, I never saw people who looked starved or in rags, I never saw the labor unions demonstrating. My company lived in the country 40 miles from division headquarters. There were no bowling alleys, there were no movies. We did have an E.M. club with slot machines and on occasion we used those profits to hire a Japanese show, a magician, a very unsophisticated musical with dancers. In a small nearby town in Shimane Ken there was as best described, a Japanese beer joint; this place had no girls but it did have a Wurlitzer juke box and served very cold, excellent Japanese beer that we paid for. After I was in Japan almost a year I was allowed a vacation to Tokyo and to see friends in Sendai. Tokyo was like a different world. There was the Ernie Pyle Theater, there was traffic, the Ginza was exciting but it in no way compared to the little town with railroad station located 4 miles from our isolated camp. Sendai was 10 times larger than our town but with little to offer for entertainment. So, in my view, the professor's reporting of the Occupation Forces was clearly distorted unless you lived in Tokyo. His reporting on politics and personalities in Tokyo was well researched but Tokyo was NOT the occupation. Harlan G. Koch
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant
Review: As non-native speaker of the japanese language, I am amazed at the amount of research that Dower must have completed for this title in the sphere of japanese documents and other reference materials that native japanese themselves rarely open.
As a native english speaker, I am thoroughly impressed with his application of that language to a non-fiction subject. The most complex situations are regularly rolled up in a single sentence. The progression is so smooth that you may not even notice that after (x) pages you've somehow absorbed the level of understanding that a lot of authors would deliver in (x) chapters.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting topic with mixed results.
Review: At time Embracing Defeat is great and informative reading. At other times it is too dry. I felt the first 300 pages of this book were very good. The second half was too dry. Also, at times the book is too sympathic to the Japanese. It is difficult to feel much sympathy for the misplaced and stranded Japanese left in places like China and Korea. The crimes committed by these troops far outweights their struggles to return to Japan. I believe the author is married to a Japanese woman which can cloud his view of Japan. Again, a good effort, good at times, but ultimately a mixed effort
Rating:
Summary: A Precedent for Today
Review: Dower describes the pathos of Japan's defeat and its difficult post-war journey to remake itself and its society - the backside of WWII in the Pacific. In the 1860's Emperor Meiji embarked upon a similar, but deliberate, journey. In this case, it was ignominiously thrust upon the Japanese. Dower uses a prodigious amount of detail and cultural insight. Deeply researched and well written, it's far ranging and often poignant as it captures the post-surrender chaos and struggles. It is also pragmatic and evenhanded.
The opening chapters are a tour of a defeated nation. The Japanese, a once proud people, were utterly crushed by the Allies. In the war's waning days they were clearly on their last legs, and like a boxer staggered by an overwhelming opponent, they were carrying on the fight by sheer will. "In this all-consuming milieu, the immediate meaning of 'liberation' for most Japanese was not political but psychological. Surrender...liberated them from death. Month after month, they had prepared for the worst; then, abruptly, the tension was broken. In an almost literal sense they were given back their lives. Shock bordering on stupefaction was a normal response to the emperor's announcement, usually followed quickly by an overwhelming sense of relief. But that sense of relief all too often proved ephemeral. Exhaustion and despair followed quickly in its train - a state of psychic collapse so deep and widespread that...[t]he populace, it was said, had succumbed to the 'kyodatsu condition.'" (88-89)
Our occupation was quintessentially American with a missionary zeal. "For all its uniqueness of time, place, and circumstance - all its peculiarly 'American' iconoclasm - the occupation was in this sense but a new manifestation of the old racial paternalism that historically accompanied the global expansion of the Western powers. Like their colonialist predecessors, the victors were imbued with a sense of manifest destiny. They spoke of being engaged in the mission of civilizing their subjects. They bore the burden (in their own eyes) of their race, creed, and culture. They swaggered, and were enviously free of self-doubt." (211-212). Dower includes a fascinating discussion of an interesting dilemma facing America: how to break away from the racist vilification of the Japanese by wartime propaganda and now show that the Japanese could measure up to sustaining a democratic form of government.
For the most part this book is exactly as the title states: how Japan embraced defeat. There is precious little directly about how the US administered Japan. It is not devoid of it, however. There is fascinating insight on how and why MacArthur used the Emperor's position during the war and during the Occupation (see chapter 7, especially 282-283 and 286). In the days immediately following surrender, "An alien from another planet...might easily have concluded that Emperor Hirohito had ascended the throne in August 1945 just in time to end a terrible war, and that no one's feelings other than his mattered" (287). Also, one gets a sense of the breadth and depth of the American occupation and the immensity of MacArthur from the discussion of SCAP's censorship policies.
The discussion about the Tokyo war crimes trials is also quite illuminating. "[The proceedings] called attention to the fact that the recent war in Asia had taken place not among free and independent nations, but rather on a map overwhelmingly demarcated by the colors of colonialism...The tribunal essentially resolved the contradiction between the world of colonialism and imperialism and the righteous ideals of crimes against peace and humanity by ignoring it. Japan's aggression was presented as a criminal act without provocation, without parallel, and almost entirely without context." (470-471). The trials did produce one star - the Indian Justice Rodhabinod Pal (one of only two Asians on the 11-justice Allied tribunal). He had harsh things to say about the way the Allies, and in particular the US, prosecuted the war (for example, "in the war in Asia the only act comparable to Nazi atrocities was perpetrated by the leaders of the United States" in their decision to use nuclear weapons (473-474) - events still pregnant with controversy). He also viewed as hypocritical the Allies' indignation over Japan's aggressive aggrandizement, as their militant expansion was characterized. While I disagree, clinging to my sense of Western values, I can see how those on the receiving end of the West's moral largesse could embrace his argument.
In the months preceding the war in Iraq members of the Bush Administration reportedly were reading this book for pointers. (The extended quote from Bonner F. Fellers on 282-283 could have been written in 2003 for Ba'athist Iraq rather than in 1944 for Imperial Japan.) There are parallels between the two conflicts, to be sure. An obvious similarity is the US's role in post-war Iraq. "From start to finish, the United States alone determined basic policy and exercised decisive command over all aspects of the occupation" (73). It will be the same in Iraq vis-à-vis the other Coalition powers, not to mention the UN. An obvious dissimilarity is the situation after hostilities ended. Total war left the Japan and the Japanese devastated. Iraq was the opposite. This is the first time in history, as far as I know, that an invading force toppled a regime with minimal death and destruction of the civilian populace and the nation's infrastructure.
In the end, this book promises hope. As we look towards an uncertain future with anti-Americanism growing and our War on Terror stretching in front of us indefinitely, we can draw hope from WWII-era Japan. Here was a nation with virulent militarism playing the cultural and race card. We destroyed them and they eventually became fast allies, even if born only of convenience. So it will be, hopefully, in Iraq; maybe (sans the hostilities) in dar al-Islam in general. We've done it before; and for all of our mistakes then and to come, we can do it again.
Rating: 
Summary: Tell it to the marines.
Review: Dower must have gone to some other country. I served in Japan, did close -order drill on the Emperor's front lawn, learned a bit of the language, studied under the leading expert on Japanese history, spent a sabattical year in Japan - and more - and I think Dower's picture is absurd and harmful. I'm not alone; all the GI's I knew felt very much at home in Japan. It's a great country - every outfit has its scoundrels. Japan is the world's leading creditor; we are the greatest debtor. Japan's pre-war economic aims have been achieved and surpassed. It's hard to say what our aims were, and the Occupation's floundering provides no clues. Dower's ethnocentrism is embarrassing.
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Summary: A Great Analysis of Occupation Japan
Review: Dower's book has been widely praised among Japan hands and that admiration is justly accorded. He gives a balanced account of the American occupation of Japan and makes often provocative, though well thought out points that have often been neglected in earlier accounts of this period in the Japan-U.S. relationship. His thoughts on the emperor's war responsibility and the dubious nature of war crimes trials are especially salient. Moreover, being something of a fan of Japanese pop culture, I found his discussion of how popular media of the time reflected evolving Japanese attitudes to be fascinating. The only place where this lacks for me is that he doesn't really go enough into broader diplomatic questions about the Japan-U.S. relationship. For those like me who like to read several books at the same time, I would suggest that one read Shaller's ALTERED STATES: THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN SINCE THE OCCUPATION concurrently with Dower's book to get a more robust assessment of that issue. Nonetheless, for anyone interested in Japan, this is essential reading.
Rating:
Summary: A bold and authoritative view of the U.S. occupation.
Review: Embracing Defeat is an authoritatively researched and beautifully written account of the U.S. occupation of Japan by a leading specialist on World War II, Japan and the U.S.-Japan relationship. This is a work that pulls no punches. Like no earlier study, it brings to the fore the ironies and contradictions of the era and casts fresh light on several of the great political issues of the era: the making of Japan's postwar constitution, U.S.-Japan relations, the reconstruction of economy and society, the role of Japan in the making of the U.S. order in Asia, and the role of MacArthur. It also offers the first cultural history of the occupation.It is particularly valuable in bringing out Japanese contributions to shaping occupation outcomes. Embracing Defeat is a pleasure to read.Dower takes the reader on a tour that reveals ambiguity, irony, fallibility, vitality, dynamism, messianic fervor, theatre of the absurd, the world turned upside down, fall and redemption, flotsam and jetsam on a sea of self-indugence, cynical opportunism, top-to-bottom corruption, delicacy and degeneration, despondency and dreams, tragedy and farce, boggling fatuity, and carnival, to mention a few of the polarities that run through this beautifully written and astute volume.
Rating:
Summary: A detailed account of occupied Japan.
Review: Embracing Defeat is worthy of the praise and the awards it has received. The book is an in-depth look at the occupation of Japan by American forces between 1945 and 1952. While it is essentially an academic text (check out the citations at the back that seem to take up about a hundred pages and I`m still looking up some of the words in a dictionary), it reads well and is for the most part, an interesting account of a turbulent time in history.The book is obviously well researched and has a good collection of photographs from the period scattered throughout. It been said before, but this book provides an excellent understanding of where today`s Japan comes from, and most foreigners who visit Japan or live here will probably find themselves connecting the dots between events during the occupation and certain cultural characteristics to be found here today. There has been some criticism that the book is Japan-centric and that Dower takes a stance against the Americans. Would it be too cynical to entertain the possibility that this impression comes from the fact that Dower uses the terms `The Americans` and `The Japanese`, instead of `us` and `them`. I`m not sure where this criticism could come from otherwise. As is the consensus it would seem, Embracing Defeat is a valuable resource for anyone interested in Japan, both past and present. And at 550 pages of detailed commentary, you`ll learn a lot from it.
Rating: 
Summary: I believe we are forgetting something.
Review: First of all, this book is on a very high reading level. The amount of focused research that went into this book is quite apparent from its extensive endnotes and highly sophistacated verbiage. It is NOT a book to bring with you on a pleasant outing to the park. This book could come with a disclaimer, "Only SERIOUS Japanese history students." I found the reading of this book as achingly dry as the Sahara at high noon. More importantly, I believe this book doesn't give mention to an extremelly important fact. America was vicously attacked and provoked into the Pacific War. There is no valid excuse for this. Yet, when the Americans achieved victory we did not ravage the Japanese homeland like nearly all conquerors in history have done. Instead, we endowed Japan with a stable government of democracy and provided leadership in that chaotic period of Japanese history. We returned a 'dastardly' provocation to conflict with a benevolence that was remarkable considering the circumstances. I believe the Embracing Defeat glosses over this crucial fact. In two words this book was biased and difficult.
Rating:
Summary: Explaining the Inexplicable
Review: I became fascinated with Japanese pop and traditional culture through discovering Anime in the early 90s. Slowly my interests broadened from the animation form to the langauge, culture, and history. Eventually I encountered some references to the "profound sense of betrayal" held by Japanese who had lived through the post-WWII era. While everyone on the losing side of a war loses faith in their rulers, there seemed to be something more there, something I didn't understand.
Until, that is, I read Dower's profound book. Embracing Defeat won the Pulitzer Prize among other honors for its exposition of the experience of those Japanese who, after thirteen years of nationalist war, suddenly experienced something else entirely from their own government.
The primary value of the book is to bring home for anyone -- Japanese or Western -- who didn't live through it the incredible cruelty of the Japanese government to its own citizens in that dark hour. At the end of the war, supplies of all kinds were in short supply in Japan as the war-won supplies from overseas dried up. The greater part of the Japanese army was not forced back to the mainland -- it was trapped in China, Burma, or island bases across the Pacific by the American naval victories. American bombardments shattered the production chain for any manufactured goods, and made the organized activity necessary for rice production diffucult. Making a bad thing worse, 1944 delivered the worst rice harvest in decades.
As 1944 ended, it became impossible for even the jingoistic Japanese cabinet to pretend the war against America would be won; they settled for urging their fellow Japanese to defend the home islands to the death (they clearly had forgotten the brilliant Admiral Yamamoto's pre-war briefing to the emperor: "In a short war, I can guarantee you victory; in a long war, I can guarantee you nothing."). Although "defend to the death" sounds merely jingoistic to us now, in 1945 it was a fairly reasonable expectation. The Japanese soldiers defending island bastions had indeed lived up to that exhortation, and it was in line with centuries of conditioning to subjugate the needs of the individual to the needs of the group.
From this mindset, the Japanese citizens were confronted with, first, the sudden decision of their government to surrender; the phenomenon of the emperor speaking to them personally over the radio; and the arrival of the paternalistic McArthur occupation authorities. But the events that most help explain the conversion of Japan into the most pacifistic major country in existence comes from another source: the actions of the various pieces of the government and army in the months of chaos.
The list is almost too long to enumerate: the army colenol who sent his troops out to scour up the country's supply of nickel (necessary for steelmaking), and thus personally secured a monopoly in Japan for a decade after the war; the armed confscation of the 1945 rice harvest by troops not yet disarmed; the government's callous disregard for the exhausted returning Japanese troops; the Japanese occupation authorities murdered in Manchuria, where they were trapped by lack of transport; the list goes on. The Japanese administration was probably truly incapable of doing a great deal to mitigate the terrible starvation conditions in Japan in 1945-46; the war had greatly weakened the resource base of the country. But the remarkable thing Dower reports is how, once surrender had broken the spell of the emperor's cult, the primary activity of Japanese government and army officials was self-enrichment.
In any other era, this would have been little-reported and probably of little impact on the average Japanese. But in 1945-6 two factors combined to make something totally different occur. First, the occupation authorities, while carefully censoring any hint of agitation against the U.S. troops then taking up station, had no such prohibition against tales of mismanagement domestically. Thus, for the first time outside of the brief democracy window in 1920-21, Japanese citizens got detailed information on their government's misdeeds. Secondly, part of the pre-surrender brainwashing had been the upcoming misdeeds of the American troops once they arrived.
Instead, the 20-year-old new recruits simply showed up to direct traffic, live on the base, and hand out candy bars to starving kids. More fantastically to people steeped in images of the caucasian barbarians, the McArthur occupation (bearing a Western attitude towards the welfare of the people) took effective steps to mitigate the starvation conditions throughout Japan as the extent of the problem became clear in 1946. Emergency shipments of rice, wheat, and other grains from around the Pacific supplemented a quick reimplementation of the agricultural distribution chain, such that after the winter of 1947 most Japanese once again had a reliable supply of basic provisions.
Abused by their own governing classes, abandoned by their commanding officers, and fundamentally misled about the war, the Japanese people were uniquely ready in 1946/7 to adopt a new credo for their country. That incredible story is the true and incredible one retold in Dowers' spectacularly researched book.
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