Asia-Pacific War

Selected Documents & References | Related Websites | Books and DVDs | News Reports

Selected Documents & References

TOP

Related Websites

TOP

Books and DVDs

  • Anderson, C. LeRoy; Joanne R. Anderson & Yunosuke Ohkura (eds.) No Longer Silent: World-Wide Memories of the Children of World War II. Missoula MT: Pictorial Histories, 1995.

    read more

    The pains and pleasures, joys and sorrows of childhood during World War II are revealed in 38 memorable autobiographical essays from 24 countries. Compiled by C. LeRoy Anderson, Joanne R. Anderson, Yunosuke Ohkura, with a forward by Mike Mansfield, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan. Proceeds from sales of the book benefit four peace-promoting charities.
  • Bix, Herbert P. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. (City not specified) HarperCollins Publishers, 2000.

    read more

    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.
  • Bradley, James with Ron Powers. Flags of Our Fathers. NY: Bantam, 2001.

    read more

    History & memory of the Battle for Iwo Jima, in which 22,000 Japanese & 26,000 American soldiers died.
  • Buruma, Ian. The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan. HarperCollins Canada, 1994.

    read more

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

    read more

    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
  • 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.

    read more

    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.
  • Ishida, Jintaro. The Remains of War: Apology and Forgiveness. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons, 2001.

    read more

    From jacket: "Testimonies of the Japanese Imperial Army and its Filipino victims" (grade 11+)
  • Lee, Mei-fung. Childhood Lost – Memoir of a self-taught grandma who grew up in a war-torn country. Bauhinea Press: Canada, 2006.

    read more

    A moving account of what life was like for the ordinary people in South China during the Japanese invasion (1937-1945). It is a precious narrative, seen through the innocent eyes of a child who tenaciously committed the details of those harsh, years to her memory so that she could recount it in writing one day. She did so half a century later when she finally learned how to read and write. The memoir was written in Chinese by grandma Lee, translated into English by her daughter, Winne and illustrations were created by her granddaughter, Josephine.
  • Li, Peter, ed. The Search for Justice Japanese War Crimes. New Brunswick (USA): Transaction, 2003.

    read more

    This collection undertakes the critical task of addressing some of the multifaceted and complex issues of Japanese war crimes and redress.This collection is divided into five themes. In "It's Never Too Late to Seek Justice, "the issues of reconciliation, accountability, and Emperor Hirohito's responsibility for war crimes are explored. "The American POW Experience Remembered" includes a moving account of the Bataan Death March by an American ex-soldier. "Psychological Responses" discusses the socio-psychological affects of the Nanjing Massacre and Japanese vivisection on Chinese subjects. The way in which Japanese war atrocities have been dealt with in the theater and cinema is the focus of "Artistic Responses." And central to "History Must not Forget" are the questions of memory, trauma, biological warfare, and redress. Included in this volume are samples of the many presentations given at the International Citizens' Forum on War Crimes & Redress - Seeking Reconciliation & Peace for the 21st Century (ICF) (Nov 1999 - Dec 1999)
  • Price, John. Orienting Canada: Race, Empire, and the Transpacific. UBC Press, 2011. Shortlisted, 2012 Canadian Political History Book Prize, the Canadian Historical Association.

    read more

    Colony to nation? Isolationism to internationalism? WASP society to a multicultural Canada? Focusing on imperial conflicts in the Pacific, Orienting Canada disrupts these familiar narratives in Canadian history by tracing the relationship between racism and Canadian foreign policy.
    Grounded in transnationalism and anti-racist theory, this book reassesses critical transpacific incidents, including Vancouver's riots of 1907, the Chinese head tax, the wars in the pacific from 1937 to 1945, the internment of Japanese-Canadians, and Canada's significant role in consolidating the US anti-communist empire in postwar Asia. Shocking revelations about the effects of racism and war into the 1960s are tempered by stories of community resilience and transformation. As a transpacific lens on the past, Orienting Canada deflects Canada's European gaze back onto itself to reveal images that both provoke and unsettle.
  • Tanaka, Yuki. Hidden Horrors : Japanese War Crimes in World War II. Westview Press, 1998.

    read more

    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.
  • Werner Gruhl. Imperial Japan's World War Two 1931-1945. Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick USA & London UK, 2007.
  • Forgotten Holocaust. (DVD) Director Raymond Lemoine. Distributed by British Columbia Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA), 2007.

    read more

    The video documentary contains the stories of Nanking Massacre, "Comfort Station" and Forced Labor during the Asia-Pacific War with testimonies from 6 survivors. The documentary was recorded during the 2006 Peace and Reconciliation Study to China for Canadian Educators by Raymond who was an educator himself.
  • Human Rights in the Asia Pacific 1931 – 1945: Social Responsibility and Global Citizenship - A Resource Guide for Teachers to Support Aspects of Senior Social Studies Curriculum. Ministry of Education, Curriculum Branch, Province of British Columbia, 2001 & 2003(French version).

    read more

    Co-published by the BC Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWIII in Asia. Background information, curriculum connections, lessons, resources and handouts provided. (professional)
  • In the Name of the Emperor. Videorecording. Producer/directory Nancy Tong. New York: Filmakers Library, 1996.

    read more

    "An account of the Nanking Massacre. Integrates diary entries, actual film footage of the massacre shot by an American missionary (the Rev. John Magee), interviews with Japanese scholars and former soldiers who recalled in detail how they savagely killed and raped Chinese civilians, and the related story of the comfort women" (summary from BPL online catalogue)
  • Voices of Survivors of the Asian Holocaust. Compact disc. Collected by Souad Sharabani. Canada Association for Learning & Preserving the History of WWII in Asia, Toronto chapter.

    read more

    Topics covered include: chemical warfare, comfort women, Nanjing massacre and slave labour. Various voices represented. Can be heard online here
  • Witness to History: Canadian Survivors of WWII in Asia. DVD. British Columbia Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA), 2005.

    read more

    Four testimonies provided on this DVD: Tony Cowling who spent 3 ½ years in many slave labour camps in the Dutch East Indies, Tang Tonjiang whose family moved many times fleeing Japanese attacks; Marius van Dijk van Nooten experienced many concentration camps in the Dutch East Indies, and Miriam who also experienced many concentration camps in Sumatra.
TOP

News Reports