This acclaimed work is an extraordinary collection of letters written by a wide cross-section of Japanese citizens to one of Japan's leading newspapers, expressing their personal reminiscences and opinions of the Pacific war. Senso provides the general reader and the specialist with moving, disturbing, startling insights on a subject deliberately swept under the rug, both by Japan's citizenry and its government. It is an invaluable index of Japanese public opinion about the war. For this new and expanded edition, the editor and translator have gone back to the original letters and incorporated new material on reassessing the war. All the letters from the previous edition are included, along with additional letters that provide expanded representation of the original collection and new insights on rethinking the war experience.

This book is based on four visits to China between 1971 and 1989 by Honda Katsuichi, an investigative journalist for Asahi Shimbun. His aim is to show in pitiless detail the horrors of the Japanese Army's seizure and capture of Nanjing in December 1937. Unvarnished accounts of the testimony - Chinese victims and Japanese perpetrators - to the rape and slaughter are juxtaposed with public relations announcements of the Japanese Army as printed in various Japanese newspapers of the time. The bland announcements of triumphant victories stand in bitter contrast to the atrocities that actually took place on the scene. The story unfolds with horrible detail as we watch the triumphant progress of the Japanese army whose troops were bent on rape and killing in the so-called "heat of battle." Yet by recalling the testimony of Japanese soldiers and reporters who were on the scene, as well as reproducing dispatches by Japanese Army authorities at the time, Honda makes it clear that the atrocities were part of a studied effort directed by the Japanese high command to impress the Chinese people with the power of its army and the folly of resistance to it - the estimate of 300,000 killed in these "military operations" is no exaggeratoin. Honda has worked with other Japanese journalists and scholars who have attempted to reveal the truth of the Nanjing massacre, provoked by the efforts of right-wing Japanese, including, sadly, many government officials, to whitewash the whole incident, even to the point of contending that a "massacre" never happened. This gripping account of the atrocities and cover-up joins other exposes - Chinese and now German - in keeping alive the memory of this shameful event.

This book is based on four visits to China between 1971 and 1989 by Honda Katsuichi, an investigative journalist for Asahi Shimbun. His aim is to show in pitiless detail the horrors of the Japanese Army's march to and seizure and capture of Nanjing in December 1937. Unvarnished accounts of the testimony -- of Chinese victims and Japanese perpetrators -- to the rape and slaughter are juxtaposed with public relations announcements of the Japanese Army as printed in various Japanese newspapers of the time. The bland announcements of triumphant victories stand in bitter contrast to the atrocities that actually took place on the scene.

The story unfolds with horrible detail as we watch the progress of the Japanese army whose troops were bent on rape and killing in the so-called "heat of battle." Yet by recalling the testimony of Japanese soldiers and reporters who were on the scene, as well as reproducing dispatches by Japanese Army authorities at the time, Honda makes it clear that the atrocities were part of a studied effort directed by the Japanese high command to impress the Chinese people with the power of its army and the folly of resistance. The estimate of at least 100,000 killed in these "military operations" is no exaggeration. The Chinese side of the story is based on the author's interviews with dozens of survivors.

Honda, along with other Japanese journalists and scholars, aims to reveal the truth of the Nanjing massacre, provoked by the efforts of right-wing Japanese, including, sadly, many government officials, to whitewash the whole incident, even to the point of contending that a "massacre" never happened. This gripping account of the atrocities and cover-up joins otherrecent exposes in keeping alive the memory of this shameful event.

Published in 1964, Silk and Insight (Kinu to Meisatsu), is one of the last works of Yukio Mishima to be translated into English. Besides being a good novel, as one would expect from Mishima, it stands as an excellent piece of social commentary on the transformation of Japanese business from the old paternalism to a new world where labor unions were as active as any other institution in changing their image.

One of Mishima's early novels and highly significant as a contribution to Japan's postwar literature and politics, Silk and Insight is based on the strike -- often described as the most significant in the history of Japan's postwar labor movement -- which took place at Omi Kenshi, a silk thread and fabric manufacturer not far from Kyoto. While Mishima has populated the book with interesting and thoroughly believable fictional characters, the events he narrates faithfully reflect the tensions of that period and give a unique picture of the strife upon which Japan's later successful management/labor relations were built.

An important contribution to Japan's postwar literature and politics, this early work by Yukio Mishima, one of twentieth-century Japan's greatest novelists, is based on the strike which took place in the mid-1950s at Omi Kenshi, a silk manufacturer not far from Kyoto. Mishima's characters are fascinating and thoroughly believable, and the events described faithfully reflect the management/labor tensions of that period.

Superbly translated by Hiro Sato, this is one of the last works of Mishima to be translated into English. It remains a fascinating work of literature and an excellent piece of social commentary on the transformation of Japanese business from the old paternalism -- which was by no means all that benevolent -- to a new world where labor unions were as active as any social institution in enhancing their image

This acclaimed work is an extraordinary collection of letters written by a wide cross-section of Japanese citizens to one of Japan's leading newspapers, expressing their personal reminiscences and opinions of the Pacific war. "SENSO" provides the general reader and the specialist with moving, disturbing, startling insights on a subject deliberately swept under the rug, both by Japan's citizenry and its government. It is an invaluable index of Japanese public opinion about the war.

Japan today is caught up in chronic economic crisis, its financial system wracked by record-breaking bankruptcies and its companies hobbled by bad balance sheets, overproduction, and weak consumer demand. In turn, Japan's faltering fortunes have sent shock waves across Asia, triggering the collapse of economies in South Korea, Thailand, and other Asian countries that followed its model for rapid growth and development. While a growing chorus of Japanese politicians, business leaders, and economic analysts blame the current troubles on the misguided policies of Japan's Ministry of Finance, the root of Japan's malaise lies more fundamentally in the contradictory relationship that first made it an economic powerhouse: the combination of businesses that aggressively compete for profits in the best tradition of free enterprise with a government bureaucracy that controls the economy with a heavy thicket of regulation and guidance. And so far, despite ringing declarations of reform, the entrenched bureaucracy shows little willingness -- or ability -- to make the significant reforms that Japan (and its Asian economic disciples) needs to recover. In this book, a cross-section of Japanese, American, and European journalists and authorities in the business, political, and economic sectors examine the problems caused by over-regulation, and offer solutions for reshaping the Japanese marketplace. In Part One, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Vice Minister of Finance Eisuke Sakakibara, and some of America's and Japan's leading experts on the Japanese economy map out the long road to regulatory reform. They analyze the postwar origins of today's bureaucracy, current attitudes toward regulation among politicians and the public, and the changes in both policymaking and mind set that must occur to achieve true reform. Part Two focuses on the effects of over-regulation, using illuminating case studies involving Japan's financial system, insurance markets, non-profit industries, and regulatory agencies. It is time, as Japanese politician Ichiro Ozawa once famously put it, for Japan to become a "normal country." This book not only underlines the critical nature of the problem, but explains how it can be solved.

"Senso comes as close to anything I have seen to solving the mystery of obsessive Japanese reticence, even among themselves, about their war experience. ... Reading Gibney's English-language version of Senso convinces me of what I have long suspected: that the Japanese buried memories of the war not so they could live with outsiders but so they could live with one another". -- The Australian