Author:
Porter, Edgar A. author.
ImprintAmsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2017.
Imprint2017
Description238 pages, 18 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Note:Includes some primary source material.
Note:Introduction -- Preface -- "Something Big Was Going to Happen" -- One Million Souls, One Heart -- Oita Men Troop to War -- The War Expands and the People Mobilize -- Invincible Japan -- Fire from the Sky -- "I Shall Die with Pleasure" -- Never-ending Sirens -- A Hard Price to Pay -- Donate Everything -- Eliminate the City -- Oita's Advisors to the Emperor -- The Lightning Bolt -- We Didn't Surrender--The War Just Ended -- Hungary, Confused, and Afraid -- The Devil Comes Ashore -- A Bitter Homecoming -- The Occupation Takes Hold -- Miss Beppu, Crazy Mary, and William Westmorland -- Conclusion -- Chronology of Japanese Historical Events, 1905-1957.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-235) and index.
Note:This book presents an unforgettable up-close account of the effects of World War II and the subsequent American occupation on Oita prefecture, through firsthand accounts from more than forty Japanese men and women who lived there. The interviewees include students, housewives, nurses, midwives, teachers, journalists, soldiers, sailors, Kamikaze pilots, and munitions factory workers. Their stories range from early, spirited support for the war through the devastating losses of friends and family members to air raids and into periods of hunger and fear of the American occupiers. The personal accounts are buttressed by archival materials; the result is an unprecedented picture of the war as experienced in a single region of Japan.
