Session 3/4 - discussion

[Anonymous]

This session was very insightful. It definitely exposed me to a different viewpoint on World War 2, especially when we covered Japan’s home front. It was very interesting to learn Japan’s mobilization efforts in terms of ideological conditioning and resource rationing. To some extent it was surprising to see that even under dire conditions, most Japanese went along with the government’s agenda. This is a topic I’m interested in exploring further to find out if there was some type of armed resistance that countered the government’s plans. If anyone has any suggestions on this topic, please give me some suggestions.

An area of focus that I’m thinking to integrate in my lesson plan is resource rationing, population movement and propaganda efforts in Japan during the war. This can definitely lead into a good comparison assignment where students can explore viewpoints from different parties involved in WW2.
edited by rchang on 10/5/2015

[Anonymous]

What a delightful and thought provoking lecture. From cut off pinkie fingers to the year-long creation of battleships, Dr. Yamashita was a veritable treasure trove of fascinating facts, concepts and history. I particularly enjoyed learning about Matsukata Masayoshi - the savior of Japan! How intriguing that Matsukata is still so highly regarded and "god-like" that his grandson is also revered.

I was also very interested to hear about David Stannard and the American Holocaust. In it, Stannard argues that the European and white American destruction of the native peoples of the Americas was the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world. My American History class is about to segway into the European "discovery" of the Americas, and I want to incorporate concepts from this book into my lessons.

I also remain very intrigued about whether or not America did, in fact, know that the attack at Pearl Harbor was coming. The timing of moving the carriers certainly is suspect. I have a feeling my kids will have a lot of fun arguing for or against this historical conspiracy...

[Anonymous]

Some years back I visited the Japanese district in Sao Paulo Brazil, it was enlightening. There are gardens, shops, restaurants and fraternal organizations all devoted to the Japanese community, it was a substantial district as well, not just a few streets. It's still surprising to many in the west that such a huge Japanese community lives there, especially considering the national narrative of that nation. I've read in several sources that the Japanese community in Brazil is larger than the U.S. one, which disrupts the American narrative that they all came to the U.S. For many of them, America was South America. There are many Germans who immigrated in the 19th century as well, which makes southern Brazil ever more interesting. It makes me wonder how these Brazilians of Japanese and German descent felt about the second world war. There must have been some interesting conversations.

[Anonymous]

First off, it was quite an honor to listen to Samuel Yamashita's class on wartime Japan, and the decison-making process leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. His intimate knowledge of the subject was invaluable, as was his ability to convey the spirit of the time and place to us, his audience. I've been a student of wartime Japan for some time, and have several good books written in the first person. Like many, I am forever at odds to try and explain the bizarre duality of the Japanese wartime spirit: attempting in invoke the memory of the Samurai, who were known for their bravery, prowess, but also for their cultured sensitivity (haikus, flower arranging... some even wearing make-up, etc.)... to juxtapose that image against the reality of their well-documented barbarity against those they captured. The perverse medical experimentations on captured Chinese and American prisoners by the infamous Unit 731 would be a prime example: healthy prisoners were dissected while still alive, given multiple amputations for sheer practice, even sewing two living bodies together in one instance... nightmarish atrocities worthy of the SS' Dr Josef Mengele, who did similar work on captive Jewish children at the Auschwitz death camp. And the enormous rape-camp operation, which seemed to exist at so many levels within the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere (Japan's goofy moniker for it's own empire during the war). And yet, on the other side, we have peaceful, cultured Japan, the epitome of polite society, the beautiful land of the cherry blossom, not the Rising Sun... it's as if Japan had a split personality. Again, the comparison to wartime Germany is inescapable in this regard: the land of Göthe, Schiller, Beethoven, as well as Zyklon B and die Endlosung (Ger. for The Final Solution). To a much lesser extent, of course, this strange duality exists in every country, especially during wartime (Abu Gahrib, anyone?), but in the cases of Germany and Japan, the disparity is much more pronounced than in others, even including Stalin's Russia.

[Anonymous]

It is always wonderful to see Professor Yamashito-- he always pretends to remember me from an Asian studies course I took with him as one of three professors back when I was a freshman at Claremont McKenna College. I learned so much from his very structured and organized lecture-- which I truly appreciated. I was able to follow along because everything was so well laid out. I have taught Farewell to Manzanar to my students and now I have so much more background knowledge to add to that unit, which I would like to teach again in the spring. Learning about the overlapping quests for power and domination from the perspective of Japan was quite enlightening. I have a much better grasp on the varying forces in the region and the ongoing hostilities and uneasiness which may still exist. I remember clearly when I was in junior high school, my Japanese-American friend was hesitant to go with my to our Korean-American friend's house after school one day. She intimated to me that her mother would be quite upset and I didn't really understand why that was. Our group of friends was multi-racial: Peruvian, African-American, Indonesian, Burmese, and Indian. I never really considered how there could be any lingering conflicts: it was already the eighties and I thought we lived in a post-racial society. I knew that my own parents were uneasy about Pakistanis, but I knew that went back to partition. As for the conflicts in East Asia-- I must admit I was quite in the dark.

[Anonymous]

The lecture by Professor Yamashita was extremely informative and it filled a part of history I was not aware of. One of the most interesting dimensions about this time in the history of Japan were the stories of how Japanese citizens experienced the war. Very often, we get to hear about Japan as the last longstanding bastion of the Axis Powers and about the theater of war in the Pacific, but in my experience researching and learning about this time period, we don’t often get to hear the Japanese perspective. In thinking of how I might create curriculum on how Japan experienced the war, I think my students would be most interested in knowing about how austerity affected everyday life was lived such as the diet and wardrobe of the citizens of Japan. I am very interested in using the accounts of the children sent to the countryside. As young people, I think my students will be able to most closely relate and empathize with the voices of the young, and I am hopefully that perhaps in learning about the experiences of these young people, they might begin to imagine and understand the effects of war on society.
edited by nramon on 11/5/2015

[Anonymous]

In hearing about Japan’s role of dominance in east Asia in the beginning of the 20th century, it was very hard for me to imagine how a country of Japan’s size could dominate a giant like China, however today’s lecture on what was occurring in China during this time helped me better understand the power dynamics of east Asia during this time. It seems to me that a lot of what contributed to China’s fall from grace was a lot of internal fragmentation. For example, the division between the nationalists, the communists and the declining imperial government all led to the demise of China. It is clear to me how the emerging Japan was able to sweep in and take control of China.
edited by nramon on 11/5/2015

[Anonymous]

There is an interesting primary source account of Hiroshima before, during and after the atomic bombing in manga (graphic novel) form by Keiji Nakazawa. Called Barefoot Gen in English. The author's family is treated poorly by their neighbors and called traitors because of their pacifist beliefs. The mood in Japan right up to the time of the bombing, by the author's depiction, is steadfast resolve although everything changes in a matter of moments and survival becomes the main drive.

[Anonymous]

In the US history class that I am currently teaching, we are covering American Imperialism in the late 1800's. We just covered the American occupation of Hawaii. The introduction to that lesson was having the students google Hawai'i and report back what they see. Their search garnered mainly sites dedicated to tourism. They also mentioned that if they did not know anything about Hawai'i, based on the images that they saw today, it would be easy for them to believe that Hawai'i was made up of white Americans! I explained to them that aside from white Americans, and the indigenous people of Hawai'i there are also many Japanese on the island. I remembered what Prof. Yamashita taught us about the deflationary policies of the mid 1800s that drove farmers out of business and forced them out of Hawai'i!

[Anonymous]

Dr. Yamashita's lecture provided more background knowledge and insight I can use with my students taking World History, during our WWII unit. Students are interested in stories and I feel like if I know more about a topic I can tell it like an easy flowing story. The importance of teaching multiple perspectives is also key for students and Dr. Yamashita was excellent with balanced information. When I teach Japanese involvement in World War II I make it a point to teach the Japanese, Japanese American and US perspective. I do this using journals, mail correspondence, images, news articles and other primary documents. We did discuss Hawaii during this session but I was more curious about the islands in the pacific and in mainland China. The students get Pearl Harbor in US History so I introduce the Japanese on the mainland perspective. I feel like I can now explain Japanese Involvement more simply to my students because of the additional information I received at this lectue.

[Anonymous]

Professor Yamashita's lecture was very interesting, informative and filled with Japanese history I was not aware of. One of the most interesting part was how Japanese people experience the war. In thinking of Japanese everyday life, how did they get by on a day-to-day basis? I think one way was through Japanese cinema. Japanese cinema was a big part in Japanese culture even during the time of war. It was also interesting to learn how the government rounded up the children and sent them to the countryside for protection form the bombings of the United States. Bringing this part of history to the classroom (children's accounts of that time), I think would be beneficial to our students. Students might find it easier to better connect and empathize with the stories or accounts of Japanese children. A good activity could be to have our students take on the rolls of the children and have them tell the stories on how life was like in the first person.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Something that really stood out to me in this session is the rationing, mobilization, and shortages during wartime in Japan. I am familiar with the stories of the Americans and Allies in regards to Total War, but it was interesting to hear the perspective of the Japanese during the time of War 1937-1945. The stories of evacuation of Japanese students to the countryside was similar to that of the British during the German air raids on London. What surprised me most was the theft in Japan related to the shortages. People stealing leather from train seats, or brass door knobs, and the kids searching for food from farms. Even the people who bought from black markets or directly from farms it almost seemed that there very clearly was this sense of desperation. I am curious as to how many people were in opposition to the war at the time. There were a few stories mentioned of an old woman writing a letter to Tojo to urge him to end the war (and later being found and killed), and women using the word defeat in diaries as early as 1943. Even from the stories of the secret police in Japan it would seem that people were fearful of speaking out against the actions of the Japanese government.

The stories of Japan during wartime makes me wonder if these stories are similar to the stories of the US in any way. I have never heard stories of theft for the US, and there was no need for movement as we were not being attacked directly. Even so, I am curious as to whether or not total war created some of the same issues for the Western Allies or even for Germany and Italy as it did for Japan.

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