Killing The Pacific Front: An Analysis

Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard is a descriptive, well written book wrapping up the end of World War II. Reading this book makes you feel like you are living in the midst of the vividly depictive and picturesque scenes that O’Reilly and Dugard bring the reader back to imagine in this book. I really enjoyed this book and I think it really helped me to capture what happened during World War II and the hardships and trials that the United States went through to defeat Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. I hope that in this essay I can achieve half of what the authors achieved in writing this book.

Beating had long been an acceptable and routine method of discipline within the Japanese Army. Soldiers could strike subordinates with no questions asked and no explanation warranted. The slightest distinction between ranks was of critical importance because it meant the difference between who could inflict blows, and who could expect to receive them. This sort of institutionalized brutality had a tendency to work its way down the ranks to the lowliest private. One can imagine what would happen when an enlisted man, hardened by this psychology of top-down violence, found himself suddenly thrown into a foreign and not altogether distasteful situation in which he was the superior, in charge of a group of helpless prisoners. For some, the temptation to beat proved irresistible. For others, beating was only the beginning." (Hampton 91-92)

In February of 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066; this gave the foundation for the mass relocation of more than 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry to internment camps. This mass relocation caused Japanese Americans -on the West Coast- to be removed from their homes for the majority of World War II. After a year of surviving in addition to waiting in the camps, the Japanese Nisei were allowed to join the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Making up the entirety of the regiment, the Japanese Nisei fought for their country during the events of World War II. During these events, the Japanese Nisei compromised their self-pride along with their lives for their country. Notwithstanding the fact of facing the battle on two fronts -the prejudice at home plus the fight on the enemy’s front- the Japanese Nisei of the 442nd RCT (Regimental Combat Team) came back from the war as Japanese American citizens, not “Japs.”

In Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War by Akira Iriye, the author explores the events and circumstances that ended in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an American naval base. Iriye assembles a myriad of primary documents, such as proposals and imperial conferences, as well as essays that offer different perspectives of the Pacific War. Not only is the material in Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War informative of the situation between Japan and the United States, but it also provides a global context that allows for the readers to interpret Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to it how they may. Ultimately, both Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Pacific War between

The book carries a lot of detail about the Second World War and has many descriptions and feelings during and after the war. Also in this chapter we learn about Kabuo, his Buddhism and beliefs. These beliefs say that everything has a soul and shouldn't be harmed and so he feels he carries the burden of war. The Americans didn't think about, or take into consideration the fact that the Japanese Americans would be going out to fight their own kind, people from their homeland. Kabuo feels enormous guilt about this and carried it through out his whole life.

During WWII, when Benedict was assigned to study the Japanese, they were not well understood. Her job was to paint a portrait of the culture that would help the United States to understand how their enemy acted and why they acted the way that they did. Not only that but to also better understand how they would act to changes the United States planned to make for their government. The Japanese were not an easy culture to understand, which made the assignment even more difficult with Benedict not being able to observe in person. Benedict said, “The Japanese have been described in the most fantastic series of ‘but also’s’ ever used for any nation of the world” (Benedict, 1946:1). This is why Benedict’s use of the chrysanthemum and the sword was so fitting: the Japanese were unlike western civilizations and they did not fit into a stereotype. They are complex and very contradictory of

The Japanese people are stoic patriotic people. They did come together as a community to assist each other but they suffered through their pain alone. They did not look for sympathy or a shoulder to cry on. Mr. Tanimoto wrote in a letter describing how some Japanese died without yelling out for help. He wrote, “They died in silence with no grudge, setting their teeth to bear it. All for the country (Hersey, p. 69)!” They were proud people for their country and didn’t want to appear weak. Mr. Tanimoto also wrote in his letter, “Look, I lost my home, my family, and at last bitterly injured. But now I have got my mind to dedicate what I have and to complete the war for our country’s sake (Hersey, p. 69).” Hersey also informs us of thirteen year old girls singing their national anthem while being crushed to death. Not concerned about their well-being but for the love of their beloved country. To know that you’re going to die yet sing something that means so much to you shows heroism. It is as if the thirteen year old girls died for

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy’s “human resources were stretched thin,” forcing the Japanese government officials to turn towards Korea for extra manpower. In 1942, the government-general of Korea (GGK) announced that twenty-year-old Korean men would be conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. To promote Korean acceptance of conscription, the Japanese encouraged assimilation of Koreans into Japanese culture and society. This included learning Japanese and taking on a Japanese name. The attempts at assimilation and the draft left Koreans wondering whether they would become full citizens or “remain second rate subjects” after the war. Even Korean soldiers, who were supposedly equal to Japanese soldiers, were left wondering about their position in Japanese society. Through an analysis of Kasayama Yoshikichi’s recount of “The Korean Guard,” this paper argues that Kasayama reveals the nature of Korean conscription in the Japanese Army. In doing so, this paper shows how Korean soldiers were forced to comply to Japanese official orders, otherwise they would be punished; although, some Korean soldiers resisted towards the end of the war.

The term ‘Bushido’ has over the years developed from the traditional translation of ‘the Way of the Warrior’ towards the more modern notion of a “national spirit of Japan, especially the military spirit.” This paper will analyse the impacts that various religious traditions such as Shintoism, Buddhism and Confucianism have had on shaping the classical ideals of the bushido code and the influences that the bushido code played on the actions of the kamikaze fighter pilots during World War II.

John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" truly conveys the Japanese experience of American occupation from within by focusing on the social, cultural, and philosophical aspects of a country devastated by World War II. His capturing of the Japanese peoples' voice let us, as readers, empathize with those who had to start over in a "new nation."

War is a painful, terrible, and sad time for a country. There is no good positive reason for war because all it does is lose people’s lives, separates families, and makes life a lot more complicated Through war, we learn from our past to grow our communities in the spirit of a hopeful future by learning honor and trust. Honor is used in war because it shows respect for people and your country. In Hiroshima, Mr. Tanimoto shows honor because right after the bomb, he helped people.

Japan, forced to rebuild itself from the ashes of defeat, was occupied by Americans in the aftermath of World War II. Although it was commonly perceived through the victors’ eyes, in John W. Dower’s novel, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, Dower summarized his studies of Occupied Japan and the impact of war on Japanese society in the view of both the conqueror and the defeated. He demonstrated the “Transcending Despair” (p. 85) of the Japanese people through their everyday lives in the early stages of the occupation. In chapter three, Dower attempted to comprehend the hopes and dreams – as well as the hopelessness and realities – of the Japanese who were in a state of exhaustion and despair. In chapter four, due partly to the food shortage, crime rates rose as people began to steal. Women turned to prostitution while men turned to the black market. Some Japanese were so desperate that they stripped out of their clothing and exchanged it for food. Dower vividly conveyed the depth of loss and confusion that Japan experienced. On the other hand, Kasutori culture flourished in the 1950s as sexually oriented entertainments dominated the commercial world. In chapter five, the people of Japan turned wartime slogans into slogans for reconstruction and peace. They used witty defeat jokes as a way to escape despair. Even though they were defeated, the people of Japan pushed through the misery and sought to reinvent their identity as illustrated through prostitution, the black market, and “Bridges of Language” (p. 168).

According to Okinawa survivor and native Kinya Taira, the Japanese, who controlled the island of Okinawa during World War II “lied to us about the fate that would be facing us if we surrendered to the Allies, so we were confused, utterly paranoid, and just wanted to survive and see our families. We were, essentially, being used by the Imperial Army as body shields, as puppets, forced to go into the most dangerous areas knowing we wouldn’t make it back alive.” (“Okinawans Remember”) Despite the effects of the Battle of Okinawa on the natives of the land and the Allied soldiers who fought in it, this battle was the most crucial in ending World War II efficiently, thus the claim that the Battle of Okinawa was the most important battle in the war against the Japanese during World War II.

In his work “Right to Kill, Right to Make Live” Takashi Fujitani compares and contrasts the Japanese treatment of colonialized Koreans leading up to World War II with the American treatment of the Japanese residents following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This work highlights how both the Japanese and the Americans treated the Koreans and Japanese Americans, respectively, and offers several different viewpoints. Thus, this work is exceptionally important and provides incredible insight into both cultures and the harsh reality of wartime. Additionally, Fujitani also explains how the Korean and Japanese populations are still influenced today.

An exhibition of “Japanese Propaganda Kimonos” consists of more than 30 Japanese kimonos with printed images celebrating Japanese military power. Kimonos are a long, loose robe with wide sleeves and tied with a sash, originally worn as a formal garment in Japan. These were mostly from 1930s and early 1940s when Japan invaded Manchuria, waging war against China. These kimonos reflects styles of Art Deco and Depression Modern. Some of the patchwork display fighter planes, battleships, antiaircraft artillery, and more. An example is a women’s kimono which shows red-and-yellow airplanes decorated with cherry blossoms with a background of horizontal red-and-white stripes. Through these kimonos it illustrates war isn’t a negative impact.