Book Recommendation: "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War Two" by John Dower

Greetings all, back today with another book recommendation.

On this day April 28th in 1952, the Allied Occupation of Japan ended.  It’s difficult to overstate how important this period is to the history of Japan; how many drastic changes were made (and not made) to society, to institutions, and to individual people.  I recommend John Dower’s ‘Embracing Defeat’ for one of the best books on the subject.

You will be heartbroken reading about the homeless and orphaned children returning to Japan from Manchuria and Russia with their parents and sibling’s ashes in a box hanging from their neck. You'll be appalled by the near-unilateral action taken by the occupation forces as they rewrote Japan’s constitution in a week and then steamrolled it through the legislature.  And finally, you will be disgusted by the actions taken by those who ran the black markets and those who allowed them to flourish, at the expense of ordinary people who had nothing to do with the war, or its end, or the occupation that followed.

Many of the locations listed in this book can be found on the pages of the Pacific History Guide; I encourage everyone who has read this book to seek out those places and consider the heavy decisions taken there. Every now and again we need a little reminder of how good we have it; read this book and be reminded.  War is hell.  Sometimes, the peace is also.

'Embracing Defeat' by John Dower - a must-read for any Japanese history buff