Annotated Bibliography of Books and Videos

　

Books:

Bix, Herbert P. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

HarperCollins Publishers, 2000

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Bix is professor at Tokyo's Hitotsubasbi University. Aided by newly available primary documents, the book lifts the veil on the mythology surrounding the emperor's impact on the world stage. Focusing on Hirohito's interactions with his advisers and successive Japanese governments, it documents the strong, decisive role Hirohito played in most aspects of the Pacific war, from start to finish, and he voiced few objections to the most brutal outrages of his military. It recounts how American and Japanese leaders moved to justify the retention of Hirohito as emperor by whitewashing his wartime role and reshaping the historical consciousness of the Japanese people.

　

Buruma, Ian.  The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan

HarperCollins Canada, 1994.

Offering a new perspective on the psyches of Germany and Japan after World War II.  As an expert on the two countries' politics and history, the author explores how each country dealt with its past and their legacies of guilt in light of the atrocities committed during the war.

Chang, Iris.  The Rape of Nanking : The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II Basic

Books, 1997.

A book that recounts the horrible events in Nanking (now Nanjing), the then capital of China, under Japanese invasion in 1937. The author presents the Rape of Nanking from three different perspectives – those of the victims, the perpetrators and the eyewitnesses.

　

　

Daws, Gavan. Prisoners of the Japanese : Pows of World War II in the Pacific New York: Quill, 1994.

Based on hundreds of interviews with those who survived the Japanese imprisonment. The book contains recollections of American prisoners of war before, during, and after their capture.  16 pages of photos are included.

 Dower, John W.  Japan in War and Peace New York: New Press, 1995.

A collection of selected essays which have been previously published in academic journals.  The author examines continuities and connections in Japanese politics, economics, and society at large, particularly highlighting its complex relations with the US over the past half century.

　　

Gold, Hal. Unit 731 Testimony Yenbooks, 1996.

This book is on Japan’s wartime human experimentation.  It works as  a forum for victims, veterans, former doctors and secret police alike to recount their stories and their role in the horrifying activities of Unit 731, the leading Japanese unit responsible for such atrocities.

　

Harris, Sheldon H.  Factories of Death : Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up Routledge, 1994

Supported by rigorous fieldwork and research in China, the book is a well documented attempt on the investigation of Japanese conducted biological and chemical testing on people before and during World War II.  Historian Harris also examines the subsequent U.S. cover-up, permitting the perpetrators to avoid prosecution as war criminals in exchange for information and results from the Japanese program.

 Henson, Maria Rosa. Comfort Woman : A Filipina's Story of Postitution and Slavery Under the Japanese Militar. Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Inc. 1999.

An autobiography of a Filipino sex slave under the Japanese imperial forces. The story describes her wartime ordeal and shows her courage and determination to survive.  Illustrations drawn by the author reflect the images of her painful experience that still stays in her mind.

 Honda, Katsuichi (Translated by Karen Sandness  and edited by Frank Gribney). The Nanjing Massacre : A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame M.E.Sharpe, Inc.,  1999.

An account of Imperial Japan's systematic atrocities in China by a Japanese investigative journalist.  The author followed the muderous path of the Japanese troops in their capture of Nanking. From the troops’ landings on Chinese coast and their advance towards Nanking to the ultimate carnage in Nanking.  The author told the story by assembling interviews with Chinese victims and writings by Japanese perpetrators and observers.

Hu, Hua-Ling. American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking : The Courage of  Minnie Vautrin. Southern Illinois University Press, 2000.

Relying on original documents and interviews with people like Vautrin’s niece, the book presents the biography of an American educator/missionary who stood up to Japanese soldiers and protected the lives of thousands of women and children during the Rape of Nanking.

　

Ienaga, Saburo (Translated by Frank Baldwin).  Pacific War, 1931 to 1945 : A Critical Perspective on Japan's Role in World War II New York: Random House, 1978.

The books covers the period from Manchurian Incident in 1931 to the unconditional surrender in 1945 and encompasses the whole series of Japan’s military clashes with other countries.  The author tries to probe the meaning of the war, which includes the question how contemporary Japanese can prevent the reoccurrence of a war of aggression.

McIntosh, Dave.  Hell on earth : aging faster, dying sooner : Canadian prisoners of the Japanese during World War II  McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1996.

    The book is constucted mainly from firsthand accounts of Canadian POWs who gave testimony to parliamentary inquiries as well as transcripts of medical interviews conducted by Dr. Marcel Gingras, whose report supports the compensation claim against Japan that was taken to the United Nations by the War Amps and Hong Kong veterans.

　

Rabe,  John.  (Translated from the German by John E. Woods.) The Good Man of Nanking : The Diaries of John Rabe  Alfred A. Knope, Inc. 1998.

  John Rabe, a German businessman and leader of the Nazi Party in Nanking.  who saved so many lives in the Nanking massacre that some refer to him as the “Oskar Schindler of China”.   This book is the journal Rabe kept each night during those horrible months of  the Nanking Massacre and the difficult years that followed.

　

Schellstede, Sangmie Choi (editor), Yu, Soon Mi (photographer)   Comfort Women Speak : Testimony by Sex Slaves of the Japanese Military

Holmes & Meier, 2000

Little was known about the true scope of this crime against humanity until 1991, when after almost fifty years of silence, seventy-four-year-old Kim Hak-soon bravely told the world of her experiences as a comfort woman. Her testimony gave others the strength to tell their stories. This book , with photos, documents the lives of nineteen courageous women who continue to seek a formal apology and reparation from Japan's government for the horrors it imposed on them.

　

Smalley, Martha L. (ed). American Missionary Eyewitnesses to the Nanking  Massacre, 1937 – 1938  Yale Divinity School Library, 1997.

A collection of letters and diaries written by 9 American missionaries in China during the Nanking Massacre.  The book documents these missionaries’ great contributions to humanity not merely because they saved so many lives but because their legacy of defending the truth and justice and cherishing good will toward man will brighten the future of mankind.

　

Tanaka, Yuki.  Hidden Horrors : Japanese War Crimes in World War II Westview Press, 1998

Based on research in previously closed archives, this book represents an analysis of Japanese war crimes. The author explores individual atrocities in their broader social, psychological, and institutional milieu and places Japanese behavior during the war in the broader context of dehumanization of men at war – without denying individual and national responsibility.

Tromp, Sheri G. (ed.).  Four Years Till Tomorrow: Despair and Hope in Wartime Dutch East Indies Vanderheide Publishing, 1999

26 survivors – many of whom were then children and are now living in British Columbia – relate their despair and hope in Japanese concentration camps in the 1940s Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).  These survivor stories give readers a deeper understanding of what human beings are capable of, in terms of both cruelty and heroism.

Yin, James & Young, Shi. The Rape of Nanking : An Undeniable History in Photographs Innovative Publishing Group, 1997.

This book contains more than 480 photos that provide vivid documentation of the atrocities committed by the Japanese in the Rape of Nanking. Some of the photos were taken by Japanese soldiers themselves.   In addition to the written materials based on eyewitness accounts, census figures, confessions and official documents, the self-incriminating photographs prove that the Rape of Nanking was an undeniable history.

　

Yoshimi, Yoshiaki;  O’Brien, Suzanne (translator). Comfort Women : Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II

Columbia University Press, 2000

Yoshiaki, history professor at Tokyo's Chuo University, found and published the first documentary evidence that the Japanese military established and ran "comfort stations".  This book traces the history of the military comfort station system at various stages of the war in Asia and analyzes the issue against the background of Japan's prewar system of licensed prostitution and contemporary Asian sex tourism in which Japanese men continue to exploit the women of neighboring Asian countries. His study considers the gender, ethnic, and class aspects of this disturbing history. The translator's introduction illuminates the ongoing debate in Japan over the “comfort women” issue.  

Videos:

Hunqiao: The Bridge of Souls 108 min.

Documentary record of the premiere of “Hunqiao: The Bridge of Souls” by the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota in 2001 featuring cellist Yo-yo Ma, which was to commemorate the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing Massacre, 1937-38) and other war atrocities committed by Imperial Japan during World War II in Asia. The composition was completed by four renowned composers from China, Korea, Japan and the United States. The documentary also includes rare historical video footages narrated by historian Yue-him Tam of Macalester College. (Documentary was produced in Minnesota in 2002 and was aired in the History Channel and other stations in the United States and several Asian countries subsequently.)

In the Name of the Emperor*  52 min.

Provides an explicit documentary record of the Nanking Massacre.  The film incorporates film footage of the massacre shot by an American missionary stationed in Nanking, and presents a series of interviews with Japanese veterans, survivors, historians and one of the the “comfort women”.  Part of the documentary is quite gruesome which requires teacher’s discretion.  (Available in most public library systems in B.C.)

A Savage Christmas:  The Fall of Hong Kong* 1hr 50min.

Story of the 1975 Canadian soldiers who were sent to defend Hong Kong in 1941.  It covers the battle of Kong Kong, the Canadian soldiers subsequent captivity and their sufferings under the Japanese imperial forces. (Available in most public library systems in B.C.)

Canada’ Hong Kong Veterans – The Compensation Story* 58 min.

The documentary is produced and hosted by Cliff Chadderton, War Amps CEO.  It covers the struggles of former Hong Kong PoWs for compensation including making their case to Japanese government, the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations, and the Canadian government.  Archival footage and artists’ illustrations convey the horrors endured by the prisoners of war. (Available in most public library systems in B.C.)

Rev. Magee’s Testament – A Documentary of Nanjing Massacre 1937-38. 30 min.

An American missionary used his 16 mm movie camera to recording what he saw in 1937 during the Nanking Massacre. Part of the documentary is quite gruesome which requires teacher’s discretion.

Good Nazi (ABC News Nightline of December 11, 1997)   20 min.

  Story of John Rabe who was a German businessman and leader of the Nazi Party in Nanking.  He saved hundreds of thousand of lives in the Nanking Massacre by setting up an International Safety Zone together with some other 20 western foreigners.

The Rape of Nanking (The History Channel) 50 min.

The film documents the death and destruction that followed the Japanese occupation in Nanking in December 1937. In the next two months, hundreds of thousands Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed. Interviews with descendants of the victims and eyewitnesses to the crimes along with gruesome photos help separate fact from fiction.

Unit 731: Nightmare in Manchuria (The History Channel) 50 min.

The documentary covers the top secret research facility called Unit 731.   Japanese doctor Shiro Ishii, head of Unit 731 and his staff conducted bio-chemical weapons research that claimed the lives of untold thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands. Such deeds were not exposed and no one was ever punished for the atrocities committed  at unit 731 and other similar camps, ecause the documents recording their grim findings were secretly sold to the United States in exchange for  amnesty.

[Videos with * are  available in most public libraries in the province of British Columbia.  All video tapes are available on loan from B.C. ALPHA to teachers. Contact phone: 604-436-3002 or email: bcalpha@shaw.ca ]

　I wish to thank Ms. Thekla Lit, President of B.C. Alliance for Learning and Preserving the History of World War II in Asia, for permission to use the list for educational purpose. --- Y.H. Tam