Reflections for Session #11 (Pacific War)

[Anonymous]

Japan's

[Anonymous]

Like many of the comments above, I too feel like my knowledge of the Pacific Theatre is limited and lacking. For that reason, I really appreciated Yamashita's remarks because they elucidated so many aspects of Japan's involvement that I had been curious about for some time, chiefly among them: Why did Japan ever think it was a good idea to bomb the US? When one considers that Japan had a very effective air fleet, some of the best pilots in the world, and that they were looking to take out the US Pacific Fleet with said aircraft, their ideas don't look as ludicrous as they might otherwise appear to be.

[Anonymous]

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/noah-kristula-green/2013/05/14/japans-dangerous-revisionist-world-war-ii-attitude

I have always been interested in Japanese opinions on WWII. I have read and heard many opinions of incredulity coming from the United States, Western Europe, China and Korea about the callous and insensitive attitudes many Japanese are reported to have regarding their ancestor's roles in The Pacific War. I found this article in US News & World Report recently and it is one of the many articles that come out regarding modern Japan whenever someone visits a shrine where war veterans and those found guilty of war crimes are honored. This article tells about the visits politicians make to Yasukuni Shrine and how this always reawakens this debate. It seems to me that these visits are the Japanese equivalent to a political candidate shaking hands and attending church on Sundays while on the campaign trail. Even though the ashes of people who had roles in war making and killing are honored there, calling a visit by a politician as a dangerous act is slightly exaggerated in my opinion. There are a few paragraphs on the Shinto tradition of deifying the dead that were interesting as well.

[Anonymous]

I cover this topic extensively in my World History course. I try not to use the textbook because it's such a "here comes the U.S. to save the day" depiction that it bothers me. Does anyone know of any good texts I could use to supplement this section?

[Anonymous]

Japan and World War 2: My students are fascinated by WW2. Partly because the history channel is pretty much the WW2 channel now. Also, many of my students are in my class because they failed world history the first time and have heard of a lot of the material I cover in my class. I also try not to use the text book as its definitely written from the perspective of a "U.S. is good and Japan is bad" viewpoint.

[Anonymous]

A good book to read on the post-WW II effects from a Japanese perspective is Dear General MacArthur: Letters from the Japanese during the American Occupation by Rinjiro Sodei. Yes, America to the rescue, but try being a Korean, Filipino or Chinese during this time.

[Anonymous]

kquezada- How about this? http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html
Zinn always has a new perspective.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Dear Colleagues,

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