Book Review: Japan's Longest Day: A Graphic Novel About the End of WWII: Intrigue, Treason and Emperor Hirohito's Fateful Decision to Surrender - Manga edition created by Yukinobu Hoshino

I've recently finished this manga, one of the better I've read, that follows the events of the last days of the Second World War, specifically how the men and women in the Imperial Japanese government reacted to the realities of the atomic bombs and the decision of the Showa Emperor to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. This manga is a faithful recreation of the 1967 film and the collection by the Pacific War Research Society compiled in English and published in 1986.

The subject matter could not be better suited to the media; the last 24 hours of the Japanese Empire were a whirlwind featuring plots, mutinies, suicide, and sabotage which needs visuals to be meaningfully conveyed. This part of Japanese history is not very well documented in photo or film; the artwork in this book will break your heart and infurate you all at the same time, largely thanks to artist's talent.

Although the manga is excellently illustrated, I found the story hard to follow at times as there are many characters who, owing to the artwork, look very similar; the English translation is also rough in places. The book does expertly show both sides of the issue with regard to Hirohito; was he a victim of the Japanese military, or their fellow conspirator? The novel does as good a job as any academic work in examining the background to this matter; Hirohito's lineage, his alleged fear over being the victim of a coup, his assencion to such acts as the Pearl Harbor raid and the use of special attack forces; all these and more are discussed in the book.

Finally, the true victims of the Pacific War play a central role in the story: the average man woman and child who did nothing wrong, who suffered and died for the hubris and ego of a small number of men at the top. They are here too. Your heart will ache for the people killed immediately before the surrender announcement...and you'll feel rage at the men who felt that further sacrifice was the only logical conclusion. Many of the place names can be found on the Pacific History Guide website, including Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Iwakuni.

I hope you'll give "Japan's Longest Day" a read. It took me a few hours to get through it and affected me deeply. War is hell and we must read books like these to remind ourselves of it.

Cover of Japan's Longest Day: A Graphic Novel About the End of WWII: Intrigue, Treason and Emperor Hirohito's Fateful Decision to Surrender - Manga edition created by Yukinobu Hoshino