The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936 -1945 (Modern Library War) by John Toland - 2003

Modern Library. Very Good. 6.04 x 1.45 x 9.17 inches. Paperback. 2003. 976 pages. <br>[The Rising Sun] is quite possibly the most readab le, yet informative account of the Pacific war.--Chicago Sun-Time s This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the inva sion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima an d Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is , in the author's words, a factual saga of people caught up in th e flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happe ned--muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of parado x. In weaving together the historical facts and human drama lead ing up to and culminating in the war in the Pacific, Toland craft s a riveting and unbiased narrative history. In his Foreword, Tol and says that if we are to draw any conclusion from The Rising Su n, it is that there are no simple lessons in history, that it is human nature that repeats itself, not history. Unbelievably rich . . . readable and exciting . . .The best parts of [Toland's] bo ok are not the battle scenes but the intimate view he gives of th e highest reaches of Tokyo politics.--Newsweek Editorial Reviews Review [It] is quite possibly the most readable, yet informativ e account of the Pacific war. -Chicago Sun-Times Unbelievably ri ch . . . readable and exciting . . . The best parts of [Toland's] book are not the battle scenes but the intimate view he gives of the highest reaches of Tokyo politics. -Newsweek Similar in sco pe to William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Tola nd's book is fresh and dramatic throughout. The Rising Sun is not only a blood-and-guts action story, it also presents for the fir st time a great deal of fresh information. -Chicago Sun-Times Fr om the Back Cover This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World Wa r II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire , from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, Th e Rising Sun is, in the author's words, a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, t old as it happened--muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox. In weaving together the historical facts and h uman drama leading up to and culminating in the war in the Pacifi c, Toland crafts a riveting and unbiased narrative history. In hi s Foreword, Toland says that if we are to draw any conclusion fro m The Rising Sun, it is that there are no simple lessons in histo ry, that it is human nature that repeats itself, not history. Ab out the Author John Toland was one of the most widely read milita ry historians of the twentieth century. His many books include Th e Last 100 Days; Ships in the Sky; Battle: The Story of the Bulge ; But Not in Shame; Adolf Hitler; and No Man's Land. Originally f rom Wisconsin, he lived in Connecticut for many years with his wi fe. Excerpt. ® Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Gek okujo 1. The sky over Tokyo on the afternoon of February 25, 19 36, was dark and foreboding. A thick blanket of snow already cove red the city and there was threat of more to come. Three nights e arlier more than a foot had fallen, breaking a record of fifty-fo ur years, and causing such a traffic snarl that some theaters had to be turned into temporary hotels for audiences unable to get h ome. Even under its white cloak of snow, Tokyo looked almost as Western as Oriental. Japan had left much of its feudal past behin d to become by far the most progressive, westernized nation of As ia. A few hundred yards from the Imperial Palace with its traditi onal tile roof was a modern four-story concrete building, the Imp erial Household Ministry, where all court business was conducted and the Emperor's offices were located. Just outside the ancient stone walls and moat surrounding the spacious Palace grounds was the same mélange of East and West: a long line of modern structur es, including the Imperial Theater and the Dai Ichi Building, as Occidental as the skyline of Chicago, while a few blocks away, in narrow cobblestone streets, were row upon row of geisha houses, sushi stands and kimono stores, and assorted little ramshackle sh ops, gay even on that cloudy day with their flapping doorway curt ains and colorful lanterns. Next to the Palace on a small hill w as the not quite completed Diet Building, constructed mainly of s tone from Okinawa and looking quasi-Egyptian. Behind this command ing edifice was a cluster of spacious houses, the official reside nce of government leaders. The largest was that of the Prime Mini ster. It was two buildings in one, the business part Western in t he early Frank Lloyd Wright style, the living quarters Japanese w ith paper-thin walls, tatami floors and sliding doors. But benea th the peaceful exterior of Tokyo seethed an unrest which would s oon spill violently into the snow-covered streets. At one end of the Palace grounds were the barracks of the 1st (Gem) Division. H ere authorities were already prepared for trouble after a tip abo ut a military insurrection from a major in the War Ministry: he h ad learned from a young officer that a group of radicals planned to assassinate several advisers to the Emperor that day. Suspects had been put under surveillance, and important public figures we re given emergency bodyguards. The doors of the Prime Minister's official residence were reinforced with steel, iron bars installe d in the windows, and a warning system connected directly to poli ce headquarters. But the kempeitai (military police organization) * and the regular police felt they could easily handle the situat ion. After all, what real damage could a handful of rebels do, ho wever strongly motivated? And by now they were wondering how reli able the information was that the uprising was at hand. The day w as almost over. It seems strange that they were so complacent, s ince the spirit of rebellion was high among elite troops charged with defense of the Palace grounds. Their defiance was so apparen t that they were on orders to be shipped out to Manchuria in a fe w days, and their contempt for authority so open that one unit, o stensibly on maneuvers, had urinated in cadence at metropolitan p olice headquarters. Fourteen hundred of these unruly officers and men were preparing to revolt. Just before dawn the next morning, attack groups would strike simultaneously at six Tokyo targets: the homes of several government leaders, as well as metropolitan police headquarters. While intricate preparations for these atta cks were proceeding, pleasure seekers roamed the darkening street s in search of entertainment. Already the Ginza, Tokyo's Broadway -Fifth Avenue, was teeming. To young Japanese it had long been a romantic symbol of the outside world, a fairyland of neon lights, boutiques, coffee shops, American and European movies, Western-s tyle dance halls and restaurants. A few blocks away, in the Akasa ka section, where the kimono was common for both men and women, t he old Japan also anticipated a night of pleasure. Geishas lookin g like something out of antiquity in their theatrical make-up and resplendent costumes were pulled in rickshaws through the windin g, willow-lined streets. Here the lights were more muted, and the traditional red lanterns carried by the police gave off a soft, nostalgic glow. It was a charming woodcut come alive. These insu rrectionists were not motivated by personal ambition. Like half a dozen groups before them--all of which had failed--they were abo ut to try once again to redress the social injustices in Japan th rough force and assassination. Tradition had legitimized such cri minal action, and the Japanese had given it a special name, gekok ujo (insubordination), a term first used in the fifteenth century when rebellion was rampant on every level, with provincial lords refusing to obey the shogun,† who in turn ignored the orders of the emperor. The crumbling of autocracy in Europe after World Wa r I, followed by the tide of democracy, socialism and Communism, had had dramatic impact on the young people of Japan, and they to o set up a cry for change. Political parties emerged and a univer sal manhood suffrage bill was enacted in 1924. But it all happene d too fast. Too many Japanese looked upon politics as a game or a source of easy money and there was a series of exposés--the Mats ushima Red-Light District Scandal, the Railway Scandal, the Korea n Scandal. Charges of bribery and corruption resulted in mob braw ls on the floor of the Diet. The population explosion which acco mpanied Japan's westernization added to the confusion. Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku (her four main islands, comprising an area scarcely the size of California) already burst with eighty m illion people. The national economy could not absorb a population increase of almost one million a year; farmers who were close to starvation following the plunge of produce prices began to organ ize in protest for the first time in Japanese history; hundreds o f thousands of city workers were thrown out of work. Out of all t his came a wave of left-wing parties and unions. These movements were counteracted by nationalist organizations, whose most popul ar leader was Ikki Kita,‡ a nationalist as well as a fiery revolu tionary who managed to combine a program of socialism with imperi alism. His tract on reform, A General Outline of Measures for the Reconstruction of Japan, was devoured by radicals and worshipers of the Emperor alike. His words appealed to all who yearned for reform. The Japanese are following the destructive examples of th e Western nations, he wrote. The possessors of financial, politic al and military power are striving to maintain their unjust inter ests under cover of the imperial power.... Seven hundred million brethren in India and China cannot gain their independence witho ut our protection and leadership. The history of East and West i s a record of the unification of feudal states after an era of ci vil wars. The only possible international peace, which will come after the present age of international wars, must be a feudal pea ce. This will be achieved through the emergence of the strongest country, which will dominate all other nations of the world. He called for the removal of the barriers between nation and Emperor --that is, the Diet and the Cabinet. Voting should be restricted to heads of families and no one would be allowed to accumulate m ore than 1,000,000 yen (about $500,000 at the time). Important in dustries should be nationalized, a dictatorship established, and women restricted to activities in the home cultivating the ancien t Japanese arts of flower arrangement and the tea ceremony. It w as no wonder that millions of impressionable, idealistic young me n, already disgusted by corruption in government and business and poverty at home, were enthralled.§ They could battle all these w icked forces as well as Communism, free the Orient of Occidental domination and make Japan the leading country in the world. In t he West these young men could have found an outlet for action as unionists or political agitators, but in Japan many, particularly those from small landowning and shopkeeping families, found they could serve best as Army and Navy officers. Once in the service, they gained an even more profound understanding of poverty from their men, who would be weeping over letters from home--with thei r sons away, the families were on the verge of starvation. The yo ung officers blamed their own superiors, politicians, court offic ials. They joined secret organizations of which some, like Tenken to, called for direct action and assassination, while others, lik e Sakurakai (the Cherry Society), demanded territorial expansion as well as internal reforms. By 1928 this ferment came to a head , but it took two extraordinary men operating within the military framework to put it into action. One was a lieutenant colonel, K anji Ishihara, and the other a colonel, Seishiro Itagaki. The fir st was brilliant, inspired, flamboyant, a fountain of ideas; the second was cool, thoughtful, a master organizer. They made a perf ect team. What Ishihara envisioned, Itagaki could bring to pass. Both were staff officers in the Kwantung Army, which had original ly, in 1905, been sent to Manchuria to guard Japanese interests i n a wild territory larger than California, Oregon and Washington combined. .