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The idea that Japan is a socially homogenous, uniform society has been increasingly challenged in recent years. This book takes the resulting view further by highlighting how Japan, far from singular or monolithic, is socially and culturally complex. It engages with particular life situations, exploring the extent to which personal experiences and lifestyle choices influence this contemporary multifaceted nation-state. Adopting a theoretically engaged ethnographic approach, and considering a range of "escapes" both physical and metaphorical, this book provides a rich picture of the fusions and fissures that comprise Japan and Japaneseness today.
Rethinking Locality in Japan by Sonja Ganseforth,Hanno Jentzsch Pdf
This book inquires what is meant when we say "local" and what "local" means in the Japanese context. Through the window of locality, it enhances an understanding of broader political and socio-economic shifts in Japan. This includes demographic change, electoral and administrative reform, rural decline and revitalization, welfare reform, as well as the growing metabolic rift in energy and food production. Chapters throughout this edited volume discuss the different and often contested ways in which locality in Japan has been reconstituted, from historical and contemporary instances of administrative restructuring, to more subtle social processes of making – and unmaking – local places. Contributions from multiple disciplinary perspectives are included to investigate the tensions between overlapping and often incongruent dimensions of locality. Framed by a theoretical discussion of socio-spatial thinking, such issues surrounding the construction and renegotiation of local places are not only relevant for Japan specialists, but also connected with topical scholarly debates further afield. Accordingly, Rethinking Locality in Japan will appeal to students and scholars from Japanese studies and human geography to anthropology, history, sociology and political science.
Author : John D. Lukacs Publisher : Simon and Schuster Page : 448 pages File Size : 48,8 Mb Release : 2023-04-04 Category : History ISBN : 9781668021330
The “riveting” (John Wukovits, author of Admiral “Bull” Halsey) and all-but-unknown account of ten American prisoners of war who escaped from a Japanese prison during World War II. On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners of war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps. The prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the prison from which they escaped was surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and reputedly escape-proof. Theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific war. Escape from Davao is the “remarkable” (Bill Sloan, author of Brotherhood of Heroes) story of one of the most extraordinary incidents in the Second World War and of what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed. Davao Penal Colony, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the United States to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities. Over the decades this remarkable story, called the “greatest story of the war in the Pacific” by the War Department in 1944, has faded away. Because of wartime censorship, the full story has never been told until now. John D. Lukacs spent years researching this heroic event, interviewing survivors, reading their letters, searching archival documents, and traveling to the decaying prison camp and its surroundings. His dramatic, gripping account of the escape brings this remarkable tale back to life, where a new generation can admire the resourcefulness and patriotism of the men who fought the Pacific war.
The Aftermath of the 2011 East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami by Shoichiro Takezawa Pdf
Based on witness testimony and eighteen months of fieldwork, this work of disaster ethnography examines the effects of East Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami on the fishing town of Otsuchi. It analyzes how local social systems developed to cope with the destruction and redevelopment and how residents behaved and narrated their own experiences.
In the closing days of WWII, the Soviet Union attacked and occupied Japanese-controlled northern China, then called Manchuria. Immediately, misery and death from cold, hunger, disease, and brutality descended on the Japanese civilians at the hands of the Soviet Army and revenge-seeking mobs and bandits. Nearly 2,500 Japanese, mostly the elderly and children, died daily. Three courageous Japanese men embarked on a secret mission and escaped to Japan to eventually bring about an end to the Manchurian nightmare. In a riveting story, a son of the leader of the three courageous men narrates to readers a compelling tale of the rescue and repatriation of nearly 1.7 million abandoned non-combatant Japanese that began almost a year after Japan's surrender. The book describes the indispensable part that General Douglas MacArthur played in the repatriation and discloses the role played by the Catholic Church in Manchuria and Japan in assisting the three men to achieve success. The heroics of the three men have not been fully recognized, even in Japan, because they took on the mission of rescue as private citizens, without the consent or knowledge of the then-utterly helpless Japanese government.
“[A]n excellent book...” —The Economist Financial Times Asia editor David Pilling presents a fresh vision of Japan, drawing on his own deep experience, as well as observations from a cross section of Japanese citizenry, including novelist Haruki Murakami, former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, industrialists and bankers, activists and artists, teenagers and octogenarians. Through their voices, Pilling's Bending Adversity captures the dynamism and diversity of contemporary Japan. Pilling’s exploration begins with the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. His deep reporting reveals both Japan’s vulnerabilities and its resilience and pushes him to understand the country’s past through cycles of crisis and reconstruction. Japan’s survivalist mentality has carried it through tremendous hardship, but is also the source of great destruction: It was the nineteenth-century struggle to ward off colonial intent that resulted in Japan’s own imperial endeavor, culminating in the devastation of World War II. Even the postwar economic miracle—the manufacturing and commerce explosion that brought unprecedented economic growth and earned Japan international clout might have been a less pure victory than it seemed. In Bending Adversity Pilling questions what was lost in the country’s blind, aborted climb to #1. With the same rigor, he revisits 1990—the year the economic bubble burst, and the beginning of Japan’s “lost decades”—to ask if the turning point might be viewed differently. While financial struggle and national debt are a reality, post-growth Japan has also successfully maintained a stable standard of living and social cohesion. And while life has become less certain, opportunities—in particular for the young and for women—have diversified. Still, Japan is in many ways a country in recovery, working to find a way forward after the events of 2011 and decades of slow growth. Bending Adversity closes with a reflection on what the 2012 reelection of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and his radical antideflation policy, might mean for Japan and its future. Informed throughout by the insights shared by Pilling’s many interview subjects, Bending Adversity rigorously engages with the social, spiritual, financial, and political life of Japan to create a more nuanced representation of the oft-misunderstood island nation and its people. The Financial Times “David Pilling quotes a visiting MP from northern England, dazzled by Tokyo’s lights and awed by its bustling prosperity: ‘If this is a recession, I want one.’ Not the least of the merits of Pilling’s hugely enjoyable and perceptive book on Japan is that he places the denunciations of two allegedly “lost decades” in the context of what the country is really like and its actual achievements.” The Telegraph (UK) “Pilling, the Asia editor of the Financial Times, is perfectly placed to be our guide, and his insights are a real rarity when very few Western journalists communicate the essence of the world’s third-largest economy in anything but the most superficial ways. Here, there is a terrific selection of interview subjects mixed with great reportage and fact selection... he does get people to say wonderful things. The novelist Haruki Murakami tells him: “When we were rich, I hated this country”... well-written... valuable.” Publishers Weekly (starred): "A probing and insightful portrait of contemporary Japan."
In the closing days of WWII, the Soviet Union attacked and occupied Japanese-controlled northern China, then called Manchuria. Immediately, misery and death from cold, hunger, disease, and brutality descended upon the Japanese civilians at the hands of the Soviet Army and revenge-seeking mobs and bandits. Nearly 2,500 Japanese died daily. Three courageous men embarked on a secret mission and escaped to Japan to eventually bring an end to the Manchurian nightmare. In the riveting story, Escape from Manchuria, the son of one of the three courageous men narrates for the Western readers a compelling tale of the rescue and repatriation of nearly 1.7 million Japanese that began almost a year after the surrender of Japan. Escape from Manchuria describes the indispensable role that General Douglas MacArthur and his staff played in the repatriation. It also discloses the role played by the Catholic Church in Manchuria and Japan in assisting the three men to achieve this monumental success. The heroics of the three men have not been fully recognized, even in Japan, because they took on the mission of rescue as private citizens, without the consent or knowledge of the then-utterly helpless Japanese government. This is the story of their courage and determination to save the lives of their fellow Japanese!
The Greatest Japanese Prison Escape : Yoshie Shiratori by Shubham Vernekar Pdf
Yoshie Shiratori, aka the Prison Break Magician, was born on July 31, 1907 in Aomori, Japan. He is best known for having an escape from prison four times. Yoshie Shiratori is Japan's own Harry Houdini, and not even handcuffs, copper walls, or dislocated shoulder could stop his daring escapes. This book has 5 chapters each dedicated to Yoshie Shiratori's different escape plans. Yoshie Shiratori is superhuman with immense strength he had suffered from extreme cold weather of japan to specially made solitary confinement for him.Chapter 1: Lockpick Method.Aomori, Japan, 1936, prisoner Yoshie Shiratori had enough he was forced to confess to a murder he did not commit. Falsely imprisoned in Aomori Prison, where he was beaten and tortured every night by prison guards, and now worse, prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.In his mind, it was time to go, but Aomori Prison wasn't the easiest to escape. Regardless, Yoshie Shiratori had nothing to lose. And so at 5:30 a.m., he made his move he knew there would be a 15-minute gap in the patrol time, as he had studied the guards' routine for months. And when the coast was clear, he pulled out a metal wire which he had smuggled in from the bathhouse and started to pick the lock.This was originally the metal support ring that was wrapped around the bathing buckets inmates use to wash themselves. His hands were stiff from the wintry cold but after a few minutes of picking, he had success, and his cell door swung open. But he wasn't out of the woods yet because there were more locked doors ahead.He knew he only had a few minutes left before the guards would return, and so he wasted no time attempting to pick his way through the remaining security doors. Now fortunately for him, he was able to make it out of the facility. But, the bad news was that he was only halfway to freedom. You see, he was still well within the search perimeter, which meant at any moment the alarm could go off and he'd still be caught.At 5:45 a.m. the guards returned, peering into his cell and this is what they saw, Shiratori sound asleep in his futon bed. But of course, what they didn't realize was that they were looking at something else, a pile of loose floorboards underneath his duvet designed to trick them.It wasn't until the next morning that they finally discovered the truth, and the alarm was sounded. But by then Shiratori was long gone. Now he had escaped.But things aren't always as they seem. In fact, for Yoshie Shiratori, aka the Prison Break Magician, this was only the beginning.Three days later he was caught trying to steal supplies from a hospital and just like that, he was back in the slammer.But this time for his escape attempt he was sentenced to life in prison. He would never be with his family again - his wife and his daughter. And all the months of planning had led to just three days of freedom, and now it seemed he'd be locked up for a very long time.Six years later, in 1942, in the midst of the Second World War, Shiratori found himself transferred to Akita Prison in Akita City. There the guards treated him even worse than in Aomori they had heard aboutShiratori's previous escape and were determined to make an example out of him they wanted to make sure he would never escape again.Along with the usual beatings, he was forced to partake in extreme manual labor, made to sleep on the hard concrete floor in the severe winter cold, and placed into solitary confinement for extended periods of time.Now, this was a specially-made solitary confinement cell that was very small and had a very high ceiling, with the walls covered with copper sheets so smooth that it was impossible to grip.In addition, there was almost no sunlight even in the daytime, with the only window light coming from a small sealed skylight high above.................................................
In the closing days of WWII, the Soviet Union attacked and occupied Japanese-controlled northern China, then called Manchuria. Immediately, misery and death from cold, hunger, disease, and brutality descended on the Japanese civilians at the hands of the Soviet Army and revenge-seeking mobs and bandits. Nearly 2,500 Japanese, mostly the elderly and children, died daily. Three courageous Japanese men embarked on a secret mission and escaped to Japan to eventually bring about an end to the Manchurian nightmare. In a riveting story, a son of the leader of the three courageous men narrates to readers a compelling tale of the rescue and repatriation of nearly 1.7 million abandoned non-combatant Japanese that began almost a year after Japan's surrender. The book describes the indispensable part that General Douglas MacArthur played in the repatriation and discloses the role played by the Catholic Church in Manchuria and Japan in assisting the three men to achieve success. The heroics of the three men have not been fully recognized, even in Japan, because they took on the mission of rescue as private citizens, without the consent or knowledge of the then-utterly helpless Japanese government.
In the closing days of WWII, the Soviet Union attacked and occupied Japanese-controlled northern China, then called Manchuria. Immediately, misery and death from cold, hunger, disease, and brutality descended on the Japanese civilians at the hands of the Soviet Army and revenge-seeking mobs and bandits. Nearly 2,500 Japanese, mostly the elderly and children, died daily. Three courageous Japanese men embarked on a secret mission and escaped to Japan to eventually bring about an end to the Manchurian nightmare. In a riveting story, a son of the leader of the three courageous men narrates to readers a compelling tale of the rescue and repatriation of nearly 1.7 million abandoned non-combatant Japanese that began almost a year after Japan's surrender. The book describes the indispensable part that General Douglas MacArthur played in the repatriation and discloses the role played by the Catholic Church in Manchuria and Japan in assisting the three men to achieve success. The heroics of the three men have not been fully recognized, even in Japan, because they took on the mission of rescue as private citizens, without the consent or knowledge of the then-utterly helpless Japanese government.
Escape to Japanese Captivity by Captain Mick Jennings,Margery Jennings Pdf
Mick and Margery Jennings's comfortable life in Singapore ended with the Japanese invasion in late 1941. Margery was captured in Sumatra after HMV Mata Hari, the ship taking her and other families to safety in Australia, was bombed. Mick left Singapore after the surrender in February 1942 when he and other soldiers commandeered a junk and sailed to Sumatra. After crossing the island, he and Bombardier Jackson set sail for Australia in a seventeen-foot dinghy. After an appalling ordeal at sea he too was captured and, having recovered in hospital, was incarcerated on Sumatra until moved to Changi Goal in May 1945. Despite not being far apart, Mick and Margery never saw each other again, although they managed to exchange a few letters. Tragically Margery died of deprivation and exhaustion in May 1945, shortly before VJ day, while Mick miraculously survived. Based on personal accounts and Margery’s secret diary, this outstanding book describes in graphic detail their attempted escapes and horrific imprisonments. Above all it is a moving testimony to the couple’s courage, resilience and ingenuity.
While there have been many fine books covering the appalling experiences and great courage of the many thousands of POWscaptured by the victorious Japanese during late 1941 and early 1942, escape accounts are much rarer. This is due in large part tothe fact that only a comparatively small number of brave souls attempted to escape to freedom rather than suffer brutality,starvation and very possibly death as POWs. However, as Never Surrender vividly describes, there were a significant number who took this desperate course. Escapersfaced challenges far more daunting than those in German hands. They were Westerners in an alien, hostile environment; the terrain and climate were extreme; disease was rife; their physical condition was weak; there was every chance of starvation andbetrayal and, if captured, they faced, at best, the harshest punishment and, at worst, execution. The author draws on escapeattempts from Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Borneo and China by officers and men of the British, Commonwealth andUS armed forces. As this superbly researched and uplifting book reveals, few escapers found freedom but all are inspiring examples of outstandingand, indeed, desperate courage. The stories told within these pages demonstrate the best and worst of human spirit.
Author : Christopher Alan Bayly,Timothy Norman Harper Publisher : Harvard University Press Page : 614 pages File Size : 45,8 Mb Release : 2005 Category : History ISBN : 067401748X
Forgotten Armies by Christopher Alan Bayly,Timothy Norman Harper Pdf
In the early stages of the Second World War, the vast crescent of British-ruled territories stretching from India to Singapore appeared as a massive Allied asset. It provided scores of soldiers and great quantities of raw materials and helped present a seemingly impregnable global defense against the Axis. Yet, within a few weeks in 1941-42, a Japanese invasion had destroyed all this, sweeping suddenly and decisively through south and southeast Asia to the Indian frontier, and provoking the extraordinary revolutionary struggles which would mark the beginning of the end of British dominion in the East and the rise of today's Asian world. More than a military history, this gripping account of groundbreaking battles and guerrilla campaigns creates a panoramic view of British Asia as it was ravaged by warfare, nationalist insurgency, disease, and famine. It breathes life into the armies of soldiers, civilians, laborers, businessmen, comfort women, doctors, and nurses who confronted the daily brutalities of a combat zone which extended from metropolitan cities to remote jungles, from tropical plantations to the Himalayas. Drawing upon a vast range of Indian, Burmese, Chinese, and Malay as well as British, American, and Japanese voices, the authors make vivid one of the central dramas of the twentieth century: the birth of modern south and southeast Asia and the death of British rule.
In recent years Japan's cuisine, or washoku, has been eclipsing that of France as the world's most desirable food. UNESCO recognized washoku as an intangible cultural treasure in 2013 and Tokyo boasts more Michelin-starred restaurants than Paris and New York combined. International enthusiasm for Japanese food is not limited to haute cuisine; it also encompasses comfort foods like ramen, which has reached cult status in the U.S. and many world capitals. Together with anime, pop music, fashion, and cute goods, cuisine is part of the "Cool Japan" brand that promotes the country as a new kind of cultural superpower. This collection of essays offers original insights into many different aspects of Japanese culinary history and practice, from the evolution and characteristics of particular foodstuffs to their representation in literature and film, to the role of foods in individual, regional, and national identity. It features contributions by both noted Japan specialists and experts in food history. The authors collectively pose the question "what is washoku?" What culinary values are imposed or implied by this term? Which elements of Japanese cuisine are most visible in the global gourmet landscape and why? Essays from a variety of disciplinary perspectives interrogate how foodways have come to represent aspects of a "unique" Japanese identity and are infused with official and unofficial ideologies. They reveal how Japanese culinary values and choices, past and present, reflect beliefs about gender, class, and race; how they are represented in mass media; and how they are interpreted by state and non-state actors, at home and abroad. They examine the thoughts, actions, and motives of those who produce, consume, promote, and represent Japanese foods.
