Warriors of the Rising Sun: A History of the Japanese Military - Hardcover

Edgerton, Robert B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393040852 ISBN 13: 9780393040852

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997

Synopsis

“This is a compelling, well-told story that gives us extraordinary insights into why Japanese and Chinese see each other as they do, how Americans and Russians became involved in the barbarism of Asian conflicts, and why this will be remembered as the century of total and incredibly brutal war.” ―Walter LaFeber, author of The Clash

Chronicles the Japanese military's transformation from honorable soldiers known for their chivalry and kindness towards their wounded and imprisoned enemies into men who massacred hundreds of thousands in the Pacific theater during World War II.

About this title

About the Author

Author of over twenty books on sociology and anthropology, Robert Edgerton teaches at the UCLA School of Medicine. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

An anthropologist's clear-eyed appreciation of how Japan's military--justly famed as a chivalrous ally and adversary in the Asiatic conflicts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries--became a bestial rabble-in-arms that committed unspeakable atrocities during WW II. Drawing largely on secondary sources, Edgerton (UCLA School of Medicine; The Fall of the Asante Empire, 1995, etc.) produces an engrossing narrative that traces the development of the island nation's armed forces from the Meiji Restoration to the present day. Having provided a brief rundown on the country's bushido/samurai tradition, he documents the accomplishments of Japan's modern army and navy in belligerencies ranging from the Sino-Japanese War of 189495 through the Boxer Rebellion, the savage Russo-Japanese War, and WW I (in which Japan was allied with western Europe). Along the way, the author provides vivid examples of the knightly way in which the emperor's warriors went about their grim business. Edgerton goes on to document the corrosive effect on Japan's military of America's racist immigration policies, the emergence of ultranationalist fanatics within the ruling class, and the economic pressures endured by an insular industrial power almost entirely lacking in natural resources. These and other factors, he argues, help explain the horrific barbarities Japan's brutal, fanatic soldiery committed against helpless civilians, POWs, and wounded foes throughout East Asia from the early 1930s through the harsh reckoning of V-J day. In the author's mind, however, the issue of whether the nation's self- defense force will evolve into a guarantor of the peace in its volatile region or revert to the unholy practices that resulted in WW II's unconditional surrender remains a very open question. An incisive account of a consequential state's use and abuse of military power. (photos and maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

During World War II, the Japanese military committed innumerable crimes against humanity. This is well known. What is not well known is that early in this century the Japanese were celebrated for their chivalry in warfare and for their kindness to enemy wounded and prisoners. Edgerton (sociology and anthropology, UCLA) attempts to explain why the Japanese changed so radically in the period between the Russo-Japanese War and World War II. Japan evolved from a nation of small peasant farmers to a major power in just 40 years and Japan felt inferior to European powers until its victory over Russia in 1905. Led by the new samurai, it began expanding in Mongolia, Korea, and China, and this aggression ultimately led to World War II. While Edgerton cites economic, social, and political reasons for the Japanese about-face, he does not make adequately clear why the Japanese became barbarians within a few years. Still, this is a fascinating work that should be in all World War II collections.?Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In contrast to their notoriety in World War II, Japanese soldiers in prior wars conducted themselves with what European observers regarded as admirable humanity (except against Chinese). Explaining how atrocity eclipsed civility between Japan's first industrial-age war in 1894 and its 1945 defeat is Edgerton's primary aim, which he pursues in a straightforward account of Japan's wars in that period. Campaigns and battles predominate, and Edgerton delivers an able rendition of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and the ghastly Russo-Japanese War of 1904^-05. The Japanese released most of their Russian prisoners alive and well, as they did their captured Germans after World War I, but the nationalistic officers of the 1930s did not observe such consideration for international law. Was it because of habituation to atrocity in the war with China? Resentment of Western racism? No religious authority higher than the emperor? Edgerton raises those explanations to help readers make sense of the catalog of horrors exemplified by the rape of Nanking. Solid military narrative, with interesting psychological speculation. Gilbert Taylor

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393040852
• ISBN 13: 9780393040852
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 388