Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan

Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan by Richard Overy

The United States is unapologetic in the use of the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. It is believed that the bomb saved half a million American lives - more than the Japanese lives lost in the explosions. We often second guess the use today. However, the important question to ask is why did America of the time choose to drop the bomb? Americans were tired of the war. Germany had surrendered and Americans wanted to go home. However, Japanese kept fighting what seemed to be a losing cause. The American public now saw Japanese as less than human and wanted to do whatever it took to end the war as soon as possible. The atomic bomb seemed like a great solution. 

The firebombing of Tokyo was the most destructive conventional bombing in history. More people were immediately killed in this bombing than immediately by either of the atomic bombs. The Japanese initially dismissed the atomic bombs as just another big bomb. It is uncertain whether this bombing changed the timeline of the Japanese surrender. However, they did finally surrender not long after the bombing, leading to a cause and effect alignment in the minds of Americans.

This book is an interesting exploration of the bombing that looks at it from the lens of 1945 America while tying in modern knowledge of the Japanese mentality. It does a good job of exploring how people felt and why things were done as they were.

Tokyo Express: A Novel

Tokyo Express: A Novel by Seicho Matsumoto, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

An official and a woman appeared dead in an apparent love suicide. There were witnesses that saw them boarding a train and they later showed up dead.  It seemed fairly straightforward. However, the man was involved in a scandal. Could there be something else involved? The detective looked at the clues and everything seemed to stack up. However, things seemed to be just a little too good. There was also little evidence of the man and the woman in a relationship before they were seen at the train station. The detective was persistent and continue to investigate. The coincidences were just too much. Eventually he discovered that it was an elaborately set up murder organized in part by a dying woman who was obsessed with train scheduled. (They did happen to get the couple seen from a platform away in a rare time when there would be no train in between.) The perpetrator (a high ranking official and his wife) almost got away with it. Once they saw they would be caught they took their lives. It was a well done whodunit. 

The Machine That Changed the World

The Machine That Changed the World by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, Daniel Roos

Ford pioneered "mass production". Workers did menial tasks over and over again. They were expected to be replaceable cogs. Ford ended up doing it fully integrated. GM later used suppliers pitted against each other. The attempt was to maximize GMs profit. However, it ended up being a race to the bottom with little trust involved. In the process, each entity is responsible for their own small part. There are QA processes at the end, with expectation of rework. There are great expenses at setting up production and little change involved.

Toyota pioneered "lean manufacturing". This involves collaboration with suppliers. All are encouraged to improve quality and reduce costs. The suppliers get to benefit from savings that they achieve. Inventories are kept very low. Parts are expected to be produced as they are needed. Everyone is responsible for quality and there is minimal rework. Production may be stopped any time there is a problem involved. 

"Collaborative" may be a better descriptor than "lean". Just in time production feels like a minor subset of it, but not the key part. As long as everyone is working together for improvement, things can get better.

The book does stress that there is a difference between "talking" and "walking". Some places have described lean principles in their production but failed to implement the details. 

The book is presented as its 1990 version with a new 2007 afterward and forward. This was before some of the big economic downturns. How has this turned out now? How can this new style adapt?

The Bicycle Man

The Bicycle Man by Allen Say

Kids at a Japanese field are excited about sports day. In the middle of the day, they are silenced by two American soldiers at the fence. They communicate with motions to the principal. One of the soldiers does tricks on the bicycle while the other leads him on. Everyone enjoys the performance. The principal gives them the big prize. The drawings are nice. The message is a bit bizarre. Americans and Japanese make friends shortly after the war. However, they do get the big prize. The black GI does the tricks while the red-headed one is the ring-leader. It is possible to treat it as a nice wholesome book, or to find all sorts of offensive ethnic views if you feel that way.

Question 7

Question 7 by Richard Flanagan

This seems to be mostly a history book, but written in novel form to be "flexible". The narrator's father was in a Japanese internment camp. The Japanese at the time were keen on fighting to the death. However, the atomic bomb helped to kill their resolve and dad was free. He later had an awkward meeting with the jailor that involved a hug photo op. This pivots to a few related topics. There was H.G. Wells and his life and affairs and his use of "atom bomb". There are German scientists and their research into the bomb. They stopped because it would take "too long" and Germany expected to be fully victorious by 1943. It also jumps to life in Tasmania. It was once a cruel prison colony that lead to killing of many of the aboriginal population, something that would later be termed genocide. There is also talk of World War II movies and how they are more a projecting of the creator's thoughts than actual experiences. Life of father and family is also brought in. It interestingly jumps from topic to topic to give something of a coherent story.

Inheritors

Inheritors by Asako Serizawa

How where the Japanese impacted by World War II? This book contains a gorup of tightly-coupled stories of a family that span the time before and after World War II. There were family members that had a strong loyalty to the emperor and country and wanted to serve. There was also a discovery that there was Korean ancestry in the family. Family members had been involved in secret biological weapons work, including research on involuntary human subjects. The book continues to modern times and alternate-reality worlds that end up becoming intermeshed with the real world. There are family "secrets" that only become disclosed after many years - often limiting the chance for people to know their relatives until their death.

The family spanned both America and Japan. This left them somewhat isolated and not really part of the culture of either. The mind of the traditional Japanese is difficult for Americans (even of Japanese origin) to understand.

When the Emperor Was Divine

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

A child's father is away at a military camp. The family looks forward to hearing from him. Later, they are required to leave their home in California to attend family camp. From the point of view of a child, the World War II Japanese internment is difficult to understand. They see that people don't like them, but don't understand exactly why. (Sometimes they have to ask who they are because they can't tell the difference between Japanese and other Asians.) They learn they need to behave in certain ways, to limit harm. 

The family finally does get to return home. They find their home has been trashed and valuables have been stolen. At least they have a house. Their mother struggles to find a job, but does eventually. Money remains tight. The long-awaited return of father finally occurs. Alas, it does not live up to expectation. Father is emaciated and lacks the vigor he had before. They barely recognized this man as their Dad. The internment had significant impact on all involved.

Kafka on the Shore

At times I was totally lost in Kafka on the Shore. Then I found myself fully engaged with parts. Some parts went very surreal and others were gross out. (There was a "cat eater" that would go through a detailed process to butcher cats and eat their hearts.)

There are soldiers that have been stuck in the forest for years. They do not claim to be "lost". They just went to a place where they wanted to be. There are some main characters that struggle through what they are doing.

Don't ever go back until you know where you are going.

Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis

First the bad: Upheaval is an academic book pitched at a popular audience. The narrative can be very long and detailed for a popular book. (But at the same time lacking in details for an academic book.) The audiobook narration further emphasizes the dryness. The author from the outset states that it is not a comprehensive analysis, but just a focused view of case studies of modern upheaval in a few countries that he is familiar with.
With the bad out of the way, the book has a nice story to tell. Countries and people got through periods of significant "stress". Sometimes this comes from the outside. Other times it is purely internal. It may happen in response to a single event, or it may be something that happens gradually over time. Using a "crisis framework", he analyzes the different ways that they react.
Finland shares a very long border with Russia and has a language and culture very different from the Russian and Scandinavian neighbors. When attacked by Russia, Finland did not give in, but fought back against overwhelming odds. This allowed them to remain independent (even as other Baltic States were subsumed by Russia.) After the war, Russia demanded reparations and trials of Finnish leaders for "war crimes". Finland acknowledged their week position relative to Russia and complied. (By charging the leaders with war crimes, they were also able to dictate the "punishment") The reparations paid to Russia were a sacrifice that benefited the country by forcing industrialization. Finland was further able to maintain good relations with Russia and western Europe by self censoring. They willingly sacrificed some democratic principals in order to maintain freedom and democracy. This seemed an anathema to many in the west, but it served Finland quite well.
Other countries did not have such a positive experience. Chile was one of the most stable democracies in South America. However, democratically elected Allende moved too far to the left for his military, thus setting the position for a coup and the rise of Pinochet. He stayed in power longer than expected and killed a large number of leftests. However, he still allowed for a peaceful transition, even though only a narrow majority voted to not extend his term. The new government allowed for Chile for all Chileans and kept many of Pinochet's positive reforms. The country had to go through the challenging experience to realize that compromise is the best policy.
Similarly Indonesia found itself ripe for a dictator after the leader became too involved with external affairs at the expense of internal needs. Unlike Finland, Indonesia had very little national identity, and needed to foster one. Corruption was a big problem and needed to be reined in.
Australia had a national identity tied up in England. Despite being in a totally different part of the world, Australians thought of themselves as British. Only after the fall of Singapore in World War II, did Australia realize they had to depend on themselves more. They gradually moved away from the "white Australia" to a more cosmopolitan, independent country. (They there was a shock of policy changes that were carried out at the start of one government.)
Japan had change thrust upon them. After Perry sailed in, Japan was no longer isolated. The leaders realized they could not compete with the western powers, so they spent time trying to learn what they could from them. They picked and chose to adopt the best policies. They realistically knew what they were capable of. However, by World War 2, they had built up a significant military and the new "young guns" lacked they global insight of their elders. Thus, they went on a multi-front war that would be difficult to win, and ended up being defeated. Today, Japan still has some trouble with introspection. History courses treat Japan as a "victim" in World War 2 (due to the nuclear bombs) without regarding that they were the aggressor. This has lead to weaknesses in relationships with its neighbors. (Germany, on the other hand, has apologized profusely and done much to prevent the Nazi past from resurfacing.) Japan also faces on oncoming demographic crisis with a very low birth rates and almost no immigration.
Countries and individuals got through many crises in their lifetime. Being honest in the approach to them can be the difference between a positive growth experience and a long struggle.

The Rape of Nanking: the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

This is a confused book. It alternates between semi-objective narrative and propaganda. It argues that Japan should be hung out to dry for very bad behavior during World War II, yet it criticizes the excessive castigation of "good" Nazis after the war. It is also finds a way to interject numerous sordid accounts of Japanese mistreatment of the Chinese.

It really want to make you think that the Japanese behavior in Nanking was bad, bad, bad. In that it succeeds. However, it also left me with the impression that it was just a few bad apples that were responsible for most of the bad things. The role of the "foreign safety zone" members was also somewhat confusing. If the Japanese were so bad, why did they continue to respect the foreigners?

At times the book attempts to provide a narrative of the fall of Nanking. However, this only occupies a brief portion of the book. Most of the "narrative" portion contains simple anecdotes and other accounts that accentuate the "badness", but don't really tell a story. Stories of "human experiments" are told briefly - but lack some of the data from the similar Nazi experiments.

The end of the book seeks vengeance. "Japan must pay!" is the rallying cry. The propensity of some Japanese to deny that the atrocities ever occurred is seen as a big problem. However, it is acknowledged that a lot of this is due to the political situation - Chinese leadership "absolved" the Japanese of responsibility. (Perhaps they have learned the benefits of forgiving and "moving on".) Perhaps the Japanese feel that, after being nuked, they had suffered a significant "retribution" for their activities. (After all, it was the respect for "Japan" over self that could be traced as the root of all these issues.)

The author sought to create awareness of the Nanking massacre. This she managed to do. The Germans did a great job of recording their exploits and later flogging themselves for their bad behavior. The Japanese managed to do neither. Thus, their misbehaviors are less well known. Their victims seem to accept this. C'est la vie.

If You Follow Me

A girl's father commits suicide. She then falls in love with another girl and moves off to teach English in Japan. There, she has all sorts of problems with garbage sorting falls in an akward professional/romantic relationship with her male supervisor. She has a falling out with her girlfriend, but really comes to like the Japanese people, and decides to stay there longer (outlasting her former girlfriend.)

The novel is well-written and properly paced. It provides a nice balance between introspection (primarily regarding her past relationships with her father) and current experiences with the Japanese. The main complaint I had is the number of Japanese characters initially introduced. It becomes difficult to distinguish between the many characters - especially when they are referred to by different names or titles. Overall, it provides interesting observations in to the lives of small-town Japanese while at the same time providing a "memoir" of the struggle with death.