The Japan Society Review

By Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney This moving history presents diaries and correspondence left by members of the tokkotai and other Japanese student soldiers who perished during the war. Outside of Japan, these kamikaze pilots were considered unbridled fanatics and chauvinists who willingly sacrificed their lives for the emperor. But the writings explored here by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney clearly and eloquently speak otherwise. A significant number of the kamikaze were university students who were drafted and forced to volunteer for this desperate military operation. Such young men were the intellectual elite of modern Japan: steeped in the classics and major works of philosophy, they took Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” as their motto. And in their diaries and correspondence, as Ohnuki-Tierney shows, these student soldiers wrote long and often heartbreaking soliloquies in which they poured out their anguish and fear, expressed profound ambivalence toward the war, and articulated thoughtful opposition to their nation’s imperialism. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Oka Yoshitake, edited by Shinohara Hajime and Mitani Taiichiro (Japanese) Readers may like to receive a brief notice (rather belatedly, I fear) of an interesting and insightful work. It is the London Diary of the Japanese academic, Oka Yoshitake (1902-1990) who became after the war one of the most eminent professors of Japanese political history at the University of Tokyo. As an assistant at that university, he spent the years 1936-7 on sabbatical in Britain, based in London. He wrote substantial diary entries daily and these were dutifully assembled by two of his successors after his death. Review by Ian Nish

By Tadashi Yamamoto and Charles Morrison, et. al. This book assesses the importance of enhanced ASEAN-Japan cooperation as a step toward a greater East Asian regional community. Fifteen international relations experts from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and Japan, as well as China, South Korea, and the United States, review the history and current status of this bilateral relationship and propose how it can be strengthened. Review by Tomohiko Taniguchi

By Sadao Asada Drawing on previously unused Japanese records from the three naval conferences of the 1920s—the Washington Conference of 1921-22, the Geneva Conference of 1927, and the London Conference of 1930—the author examines the strategic dilemma facing the Japanese navy during the 1920s and 1930s against the background of advancing weapon technology and increasing doubt about the relevance of battleships. He also analyzes the decisions that led to war with the United States—namely, the 1936 withdrawal from naval treaties, the conclusion of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, and the armed advance into south Indochina in July 1941—in the context of bureaucratic struggles between the army and navy to gain supremacy. Review by Ian Nish

By Sukehiro Hirakawa Professor Hirakawa in a postscript (page 544) emphasises the importance "for Westerners to study not only the life and thought of the Orient but also to study those of the Occident from the Oriental points of view." This book is a significant contribution to this task. It is written in good clear English and demonstrates the width of the author's knowledge and cultural understanding. For anyone interested in Japanese literature and Japan's relations with the rest of the world this book contains much of interest as well as insights into a wide range of historical as well as cultural issues. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Motomi Oguchi and Joseph Cali In this book, renowned garden designer Motomi Oguchi offers the reader a step-by-step, practical approach to creating Japanese gardens, drawn from a wealth of experience that covers thirty years and encompasses the design of more than 400 gardens. The author uses real examples from gardens he has designed, constructed, and photographed to illustrate his key points, approaching each work from the perspective of the home or building owner. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Arata Isozaki, Tadao Ando and Terunobu Fujimori The tea house is one of Japans most original buildingsa very small, very simple space consisting of tatami mat, tokonoma (the alcove where wall scrolls are hung and flower arrangements placed), ro (the sunken stove where tea is heated) and nijiriguchi (the half door through which guests enter) . For generations, Japanese architects have embraced the challenge of the tea house despite severe formal constraints. Now, this beautiful and fascinating volume takes the traditional tea house and turns it on its head. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Peter Pagnamenta and Momoko Williams The central focus of this well written, moving and excellently researched book is the decades-long relationship between a British Army officer, Captain Arthur Hart Synnot, and a Japanese woman, Masa Suzuki, spanning the early 1900s up to the 1940s. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Andrew Cobbing and Masataro Itami Through a detailed reconstruction of Kawada's life and career, this book provides a remarkable case study of a single life impacting on developments in the Meiji period. The biography also takes us through different epochs. Not least, it contains the rare account of an East-West love story which unfolds through eighty-nine letters, all of which are transcribed and republished here. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Christopher Patten Hong Kong's last British governor recounts his experiences helping foster democracy there and forecasts the economic future of Asia. Review by Sean Curtin