This harrowing read should be a staple on anyone's reading list. Bryan Mark Rigg presents a detailed and disturbing account of the death and destruction caused by the Japanese Army under the ruler Hirohito. Spanning from 1927 to 1945, Rigg gives us an insight into Japanese culture and the affect this had on the actions of their military during World War 2.

Packed full of information this book is not something to be read quickly. To truly take in the extent of the Holocaust that Japan created throughout Asia, this is definitely a book to be read slowly and in parts. It would be wrong for me to say I loved or enjoyed this book but it will certainly be something that will stay with me forever. I went into this book very naive, not knowing much about the murder and rape at the hands of the Japanese army. There was a lot of people, places and words that I did have to research away from reading to fully understand this.

Throughout the book Rigg often compares Japan during the Second World War to that of Nazi Germany. I thought this was a shocking way to help the reader truly get to grips the sheer atrocities that were carried out.

Packed with deep research and disturbing pictures, there really is not much else to say apart from everybody should read this!

Japan’s Holocaust by military historian Bryan Mark Rigg is a meticulous examination of Japan’s wartime atrocities across Asia and the Pacific. Rigg argues that infamous events like the Rape of Nanking epitomized the brutal expansionist agenda of Japan’s empire. In this comprehensive review, he exposes the symbiotic relationship between the monarchy, government, military, and religion, particularly the complicity of Shintoists and Zen Buddhists, in fostering fanaticism.

This history is a relentless chronicle of horror, documenting the widespread reports of rape, torture and executions that followed Japanese military victories. What distinguishes this work is its emphasis on lesser-known histories beyond the more widely publicised events in Hong Kong and Singapore. As Rigg aptly notes, “The scale of Japan’s campaigns extended far beyond these well-known names already explored, and hundreds of places experienced the brutal wrath of its military forces.”

The provocative title, employing the term ‘holocaust,’ is defended within the opening pages, signalling the gravity of the subject matter. Throughout the text, he supports this choice by sharing numerous quotes that show how Japan’s political and military systems espoused notions of racial superiority, leading to systematic attempts to eradicate local cultures and languages in the wake of each conquest. Japan’s Holocaust serves as an indispensable record of the atrocities perpetrated by Japan across the region. Its unsettling revelations challenge conventional narratives and compel readers to confront the full extent of wartime cruelty.

These stories unfold through a rich literature review, delving into various facets of the Japanese empire and spotlighting key figures of the era. While primarily a history book, Rigg deftly interweaves moral considerations, issuing impassioned calls to action against abuses of power, war crimes, and genocide. Evident throughout is the author’s background, particularly in his meticulous attention to detail regarding the U.S. Marines and his fervent appeals to fellow Americans regarding ethical conduct. His analysis of orders, duty, and training methods offers invaluable insights, particularly in dissecting the actions – often hypocritical – of Japanese leadership towards the war’s conclusion. Of particular note is Rigg’s discussion on the alternative courses of action which were available to Japanese leaders, particularly in the war’s twilight. Here, he confidently reviews contradictory leadership decisions, and shows how they precipitated further suffering and civilian deaths, including the tragic episodes of mass suicides.

Amidst the overarching narrative of Japan’s egregious transgressions, readers may find themselves somewhat unexpectedly immersed in discussions ranging from the founding fathers to the nuances of freedom of speech. Although I enjoyed his insights into how militaries operate, I felt the text lost focus towards the end where Rigg announces “another mission” to challenge readers to think about their beliefs and actions. This expands into a discussion of ISIS, the Taliban, Gaza under Hamas, and the occupied regions of Ukraine under Russian forces. This felt like a new thesis being added in at the tail end of the book, and I would have preferred a deeper critical analysis of why Japan’s actions should be considered a “holocaust.”

The strongest chapters stayed within the realm of military history, rather than when Rigg ventured out towards psychology and criminology. For example, he examined the societal context, contending that factors such as childhood neglect, punishment, deprivation, and the prevalence of absentee fathers likely contributed to the propensity for Japanese men to engage in acts of rape. In his analysis, he references Understanding Sexuality by Hass & Hass (1993) to share the developmental backgrounds of rapists. However, While reading this section, the actual meaning of “absentee fathers” was unclear to me as Rigg did not specify whether ‘absentee fathers’ meant that the fathers of wartime fighting males were required to be elsewhere during their childhood, or if there were high rates of single motherhood. Those with an interest in perpetrator studies will appreciate this attempt to look beyond the usual explanations of indoctrination, poor command structures and ethnic enmity for why Japan was so cruel to its neighbours, yet a broader array of pertinent sources would have been preferable to provide a more comprehensive understanding. In examining these sections, one significant drawback becomes apparent: the arguments hinge on a rather sparse selection of sources, all within a narrow scope. Additionally, certain psychological references, though valuable, do not directly address Japan and hail from potentially out-dated publications.

While Rigg demonstrates sensitivity and nuance in his treatment of certain subjects, particularly the plight of rape victims, his analysis into the role Japanese women played in wartime atrocities spark unease and scepticism. Women can absolutely be fanatics and perpetrators, but I found some of his explanation for how women were related to the war crimes to be tenuous, or at least, poorly explored. For example, when describing the relationships between Japanese military men and their women he wrote:

“Yes, they had Japanese mistresses, visited prostitutes, and raped countless “Comfort Women” and Asian civilians throughout their garrison and combat operations. But apparently, their wives back in Japan enjoyed committing adultery just as much as them since a governmental Police Bureau report documented “widespread adultery by wives of soldiers away at the front.” Monogamy and loyalty within marriage was not something Japanese men or women seemed to honor although they then, as now, give it much lip service…However, at least their wives were not raping and slaughtering the people they were having affairs with (these adulterers were Japanese citizens after all), so in the scale of morality, their cheating wives were living more morally upright lives.”

His juxtaposition of the reported adultery with the brutalities committed in the empire’s occupied territories raises eyebrows. The reader struggles to follow along with this line of reasoning, as elsewhere in the text he describes how little power Japanese women had in society, and cites one case where a fifteen-year-old girl was “pimped out” to a nobleman so that her brother could rise professionally. He further blames the actions of the Japanese military on their women by asking “How in the world did the grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and mothers of these men interact with them during their formative years to create a collective group who willingly, and frequently, enjoyed violating women wherever they were stationed.” Like the author, I too wondered about the “relationships these soldiers had with their own daughters, sisters, aunts, or mothers.” We might wonder how these women endured having a husband return with venereal diseases and a predilection for violence, while also being held in a legally and financially inferior position.

Moreover, Rigg’s portrayal of Japanese civilians as complicit in wartime atrocities overlooks crucial nuances, failing to account for dissenting voices and opposition movements within Japanese society. The absence of discussion on the persecution of civilians by the Kempeitai is unfortunate, leaving readers questioning the completeness of his analysis. He frequently disparages the Japanese people by comparing them to good Germans who resisted, without mentioning the Japanese Communist Party members who were already imprisoned for their opposition to the Sino-Japanese war or the targeting of other groups, such as dissident students . This may leave the reader under the impression that all of Japan was aware of, and fully supportive of, the military’s atrocities abroad. Conversely, he acknowledges that “People who claimed Hirohito was evil/not a god in 1940 Japan got their heads cut off.” Rigg’s ambitious attempt to delve into the psyche of Japanese society during World War II ultimately leaves readers with more questions than answers.

In conclusion, Japan’s Holocaust stands as a strong literature review that offers a comprehensive examination of Japan’s military campaigns during World War II. Despite its thoroughness, the book occasionally falters, particularly in its weaker sections that rely heavily on previously published English-language literature, leaving readers yearning for more transparency regarding the methodology and sources. Furthermore, the author’s personal background looms large in the closing chapters, at times overshadowing the historical narrative with exhortations to his fellow Americans and reflections on the direction of the nation. While the book admirably covers a wide array of topics, from military tactics to sociological dynamics, it occasionally veers off course, attempting to be all-encompassing to its own detriment. Nonetheless, Japan’s Holocaust serves as an invaluable resource for those seeking a wide-ranging overview of Japan’s wartime operations.

I received a free digital copy of “ Japan’s Holocaust” through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
“ Japan’s Holocaust” is not an easy book to read, though it should be read by anyone who needs yet another example of the depths to which mankind can descend in the grasp for power. I understand that some Jewish scholars have stated that the term “ Holocaust” should be reserved to the mass killing of Jews by the Nazis in World War Two, but even those horrors are not as bad as those which the Japanese carried out on the subjugated, captive populations under their control. Everywhere they conquered, the Japanese committed wholesale rape,slaughter, torture and ethnic cleaning.
Author Mark Rigg has copiously researched this book. Footnotes citing evidence from survivor testimony, trial transcripts, phots and even film testify. That is enough to condemn the militarist Japanese. Not even the emperor, especially not the emperor is untainted, Hirohito, often presented as a mild scholar a puppet controlled by the warlord I shown to have approved and cheered on the horrible “ medical” experimentation that killed untold thousands of subject peoples and POWs . The fact cry out: a nation that appeared headed by a porcelain royalty was a fanatical, bestial , ravenous death cult. So much so that even the Nazi’s were appalled.
An important conclusion drawn by the author is that the religion of an compliant Emperor, of the code os the Samuri, of Bushido pride in never having lost a war and fighting to the last drop of blood, came to force the conclusion that invasion of the Home islands would mean several more years of all out war against an enemy that would use poison chemical and biological weapons and every other weapon of war rather than surrender..
As noted: the descriptions of atrocities, accurate as they are will stay in your mind as nightmares.
Note that at first I that the author was overdoing the use of footnotes and quotes, but I came to see the necessity of through documentation to tell a story that no critic could obfuscate.

Firstly I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers of "Japan's Holocaust" by Bryan Mark Rigg for allowing me to read an advance copy.

The author provides great details of Japan's war crimes during the course of the Sino-Japanese and Second World Wars. He has obviously spent much time on research for which he should be commended.

I have read many WW2 histories. I don't recall ever reading an author comparing how contrite one axis nation is in comparison to another. It came across to this reader as if the behaviours of either Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan could be bought off by the construction of a couple of museums' and the payment of reparations.

Mr Rigg choose to mention to the US War Crime conducted in the Vietnamese village of Ma Lai when describing the inhuman behaviour of Japanese troops. Interestingly he failed to say that the leader of the US war crime served only three and a half years of house arrest for the murder of between 300 and 500 civilians and a number of rapes, including the rape of children. Mr Rigg queries why some Japanese war criminals weren't executed after the war. Perhaps he should also ask the question as to why the US failed to execute it's own war criminals.

I was also concerned that Mr Rigg appears to support the US declaring war on Russia over that countries illegal occupation and invasion of parts of Ukraine.

Due to the subject matter this was never going to be an easy book to read. Unfortunately Mr Rigg's writing style makes the book even harder.

Bryan Mark Rigg (https://bryanmarkrigg.com) has authored more than half a dozen books. Japan’s Holocaust: History of Imperial Japan’s Mass Murder and Rape During World War II was published earlier this month. It is the 24th book I completed reading in 2024.

Due to scenes of violence and mature situations, I categorize this book as R.

The book attempts to document the most significant instances of atrocities perpetrated by Japan’s military forces during WWII. It begins with events in 1927 and continues to the end of the war. In every location occupied by the forces of Imperial Japan, the local population was subjected to rape, murder, and economic exploitation.

The book begins with a look at the rise in power of the Japanese military. The ideals of the Japanese were close to those of the Nazis in Germany, eventually resulting in the pact between the two countries. The enlisted soldiers of the Japanese military were treated harshly. That, and their view of themselves as the master race, justified their treatment of subjugated people.

The author focuses on the military’s actions in Nanking, Singapore, the Philippines, Guam, Siam, and Hong Kong. He also examines the many women who were compelled to serve as ‘comfort women’, the biological & chemical experimentation units, and Japan’s involvement in the drug trade.

I enjoyed the 14.5 hours I spent reading this 627-page WWII-era history. This was an informative book. There was little in it I had not heard about before, but the book went into much more detail. It also presented atrocity information in one place. The book was a little dry and challenging to read. It is very academic, with 1563 footnotes. The author repeatedly points out the reluctance of the Japanese government to acknowledge the atrocities committed. I like the chosen cover art. I give this book a rating of 3.8 (rounded to 4) out of 5.

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Bryan Mark Rigg delivers a well-researched and well-written account of the war crimes perpetrated by the Imperial Japanese during World War II. He also points the finger directly at Emperor Hirohito and the high command for being aware of, and doing nothing, to stop the near-constant rape and murder of civilians and enemy POWs in occupied territory, or those captured in battle. Rigg also is accusatory of General Kuribayashi, the defending commander of Iwo Jima, for his role in criminal activities, and of those by whom he commanded. Directly linking Japanese culture, religion, racism, and fascism of the 1930s and 40s to a recipe for disaster, the Japanese were hell bent on a course that led to the firebombing of Japan and the dropping of the atomic bombs to end the war., even after several Imperial military leaders desired to ignore unconditional surrender and fight to the bitter end. While being lauded for finally accepting the terms of surrender, the Emperor escaped all charges of war crimes, often committed in his name.

The author does a great job of listing the appalling atrocities, from the Rape of Nanking, the Rape of Singapore, and especially describing the repulsive Unit 731, a group of Japanese scientists and doctors who performed grisly medical and biological experiments on Chinese civilians and Allied POWs. The result is a sickening but important read on how a nation can devolve into an extreme cult of death, highlighted also by the kamikaze and banzai charges during various battles, especially at Okinawa. The reader is also given a glimpse into the extremely misguided hero worship that goes on at the infamous Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, and how veterans and Japanese civilians continue to pray to and revere their ancestors, many of whom had blood on their hands both literally and figuratively during the course of the war.

Rigg makes the case that current Japanese leaders still refuse to take any responsibility for what the World War II generation wrought upon the world. Virtually ignoring the crimes committed by their countrymen in the war, the Japanese have not faced up to the harsh truths of the countless atrocities nor appear to own up or apologize for them, unlike the German people after the collapse of Hitler's regime. I was quite surprised when Rigg mentioned by name two Japanese students helping him conduct research that had entered into a conversation about whether they would have participated in the rape and murder of civilians during the war. and both agreed they would have, proving his entire thesis in a chilling fashion. This is an important work into the mind of not only the Imperial Japanese of the war, but of the current Japanese today.

During the period 1927-1945, the Imperial Japanese Army murdered 30 million civilians and prisoners of war. That's 5 times more than the number of Jews murdered by Hitler. Yet few in the west know about these atrocities. That's what this work sets about correcting. Whilst there are excellent works which chronicle some of these atrocities individually, what this book does is compile summaries of them all together into one volume. The benefit of this is that these atrocities are seen to be the modus operandi of the Imperial Japanese Army rather than being able to be dismissed as one-off aberrations. There are over 1500 footnotes and a 100 pages of references.

The book is ordered by geography so that we trace the steps of the Imperial Japanese Army as it rapes, murders and destroys its way through Korea, Manchuria, China then onto Hong Kong and beyond. As the materials is ordered in this way, the same villains keep cropping up as being "in charge" of the soldiers. This does however mean that there's some repetition of details about these commanders which could have been edited out

There are a few photos in the work. These are not for the faint hearted as they show women who have been raped then murdered then mutilated. There's also a pit of murdered babies. The evil narrated here is such that language breaks down. There are no words.

Throughout the book, Germany and Japan are compared both in terms of their atrocities committed during WW2 and their reactions afterwards. Apparently, during the 1930s, even the Nazis were sickened by the Japanese behaviour in China. Whilst the Nazis perpetrated their evil for a "reason" (exterminating Jews) and kept detailed records of their "progress", the Imperial Japanese Army kept few records, slaughtering, raping, mutilating and laughing as they went simply because they could. Since WW2, the Germans have made serious efforts to face up to Nazism; the Japanese have not. Consider that there are Nazi hunters still tracking down those involved and bring them to justice; nothing like this has happened in Japan. There are museums and memorials in Germany to mark what they did; the Japanese have no museums to document and instead erect statues of their war criminals. One politician even tried to claim that the Rape of Nanjing was a fiction - imagine the outcry if a German politician said that Auschwitz was a fiction?!

In an attempt to understand how this evil could come about, the book looks at the ideologies floating around in Japan and notes their racism and fanaticism. The roots of Japanese racism can be traced back even farther than this work goes: during the Tokugawa era (c.1600-c.1860), Japan had castes and so the Japanese were "racist" towards those of a lower caste status. The racist behaviour the Imperial Japanese Army displayed was simply this idea writ large towards anyone who wasn't ethnically Japanese.

As this work is a polemic, sometimes the case is overstated, particularly in the concluding chapters about dictatorships and America's role as the world's policeman - the US "adventures" in Iraq are not mentioned, nor are their "adventures" in Afghanistan. Much as I applaud the sentiment that we should liberate all those under oppressive, murderous regimes, this isn't always going to be feasible. There's also scepticism towards Chiune Sugihara, the only Japanese to be recognised as one of the "righteous" by the Israel, for his work in rescuing Jews from Hitler. Surely the book's argument would be strengthened by lauding one of the few Japanese to show a shred of compassion in comparison to the murderous thugs of the Imperial Japanese Army?

A sobering read both in terms of the evil perpetrated and the lack of remorse/repentance shown by Japan to date. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This masterpiece took me on a riveting journey through the dark chapters of Imperial Japan's mass atrocities from 1927 to 1945. Meticulously researched across eighteen facilities in five nations, the book seamlessly combines recent scholarship and new primary research. The result is an eye-opening exploration that reveals Japan claimed a staggering minimum of thirty million lives, surpassing even Hitler's Nazi Germany in brutality.

The author skillfully weaves together accounts of mass murder and sexual crimes during Japan's military expansions in Asia and the Pacific. What sets this book apart is how it is a first of a kind, as even though there’s been a few books (in English at least) about Japanese war crimes, there’s still a lot of new information still being exposed. So, this book does a very good job at shedding light on the magnitude of Japan's atrocities that often remain overlooked or unknown in existing publications. The author sensitively navigates through sensitive subjects, presenting a comprehensive picture of the horrors unleashed by Emperor Hirohito's legions.

Emperor Hirohito, far from being unaware, is exposed as not only knowledgeable about the atrocities but implicated in ordering them. "Japan's Holocaust" uncovers shocking details, revealing that these heinous acts were not isolated events, such as the infamous Rape of Nanking, but rather indicative of Japan's behavior throughout its campaigns.

The author delves into the disturbing reality that mass murder, rape, and economic exploitation were Japan's modus operandi during this period. In contrast to Germany's post-World War II efforts to atone for its crimes, the book underscores Japan's disgraceful lack of reparations and education about its wartime past.

In the face of this historical exposé, "Japan's Holocaust" stands as a testament to the author's dedication to unraveling the truth, offering readers an engrossing blend of meticulous research, unique insights, and a critical examination of Japan's wartime legacy. This book is a must-read for those seeking a profound understanding of a dark chapter in history often overlooked.

This was an ambitious work. The author boldly states that this will be the definitive work of Japan's atrocities during the time period of 1925 to 1945.

Lets be clear, this was NOT as in depth as The Holocaust (about the Jewish Holocaust) by Martin Gilbert.

This was more of a synopsis of battles, atrocities, murder, massacre, and evil that the Japanese visited upon people that they invaded, captured, or just found in the sea.

Overall its a great overview and the author points out other books, research that a person could get a more indepth look at specific examples.

One of the problems that I had with the book, is the chapter on the Japanese soldiers committing suicide. I wondered why the author was including this in the "holocaust". The author compared Nazi Germany's holocaust to that of Japans holocaust, yet no researcher that I know of, would include the suicides of Nazi's in the Jewish holocaust.
I know that the author would argue that the state of Japan, was cult like, blind obedience, would FORCE the soldiers to suicide.
Would it? Should we include these deaths in the 'holocaust'?
I say no. The soldiers committed suicide. They chose death over living.
Even today, the author argues that Japan worships their war dead, even the suicides....so the Japanese would not include them in a 'holocaust'.
It was a weird chapter in the book and made me question why it was included.

Overall, I think that this book provides a synopsis of some very horrible/evil things that the Japanese did during that 20 years.

For more indepth look of Japan's cruelty, see the books Rape of Nanking, Unit 731, and what the author mentions in this book.

Japan’s Holocaust by Bryan Mark Rigg provides a forensic account of the atrocities committed by Japan during WWII. There is no need to detail the too-numerous accounts presented in this book, safe to say – they are horrific.

The author presents reasons for these atrocities. Japanese society was racist, militaristic and they possessed an absolute devotion to Emperor Hirohito. This belief in their Emperor was total, his line was said to have over 2,000 years of unbroken lineage to the Sun God. The author also describes the violent culture behind such practices as ritualistic suicide and attritional warfare. The Imperial Japanese Army was obsessed with degrading anyone who did not share their beliefs. Atrocities against civilians, POWS and rape against women and children were the norm. The Rape of Nanking being the most notorious.

I was astonished by the never ending and unbelievably brutal violence, both in scale and type, committed against defenceless, innocent people protected by international law. The number of references cited by the author was very high, 1564 in total. In my view it was unbelievable Hirohito escaped the death penalty during the Japanese war crime trials. He lived until 1989, as Emperor and he even opened the 1964 Tokyo Olympics!

The author presents an argument to suggest the dropping of the two atom bombs by the USAF saved many lives, as terrible as those weapons are the death toll would have been significantly more if the Allies would have had to invade Japan and its Islands. The Japanese belief in attritional warfare, their unwillingness to surrender and the practice of suicide (troops and their own citizens) when defeat is imminent, would have made sure of that.

There is a massive message here – we must call out, act on and be aware of the absurdity and danger of all forms of fundamentalism.

Hirohito fits comfortably in the same company as Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong.

Excellent book..

Bryan Mark Rigg's "Japan's Holocaust" is a bit of a conundrum. This is a historian who initially wrote about "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers" and has recently seemingly altered his interests, focus, and research toward the Pacific Theater of Operations. There's no doubt that he's gone through a large amount of primary and secondary source material in putting this volume together (over 1500 footnotes) but the structure/organization, central argument(s), and polemical detours often take away from what could have possibly been an excellent single volume look at Japan's war effort against the various civilian populations that fell under their occupation.

In effect, Rigg has a few agendas he is routinely pushing throughout this monograph. First is that the atomic bombs should have been used and this is in response to the fact that, second, the Japanese were perpetrating their own version of the 'Holocaust' throughout their occupied territories. This is somewhat simplistic and reductionist but, giving the author the benefit of the doubt, readers will be presented with a history of Japan and Japanese war crimes that encompass over 300 pages. The narrative is not necessarily based on a chronology of Japanese actions in the Pacific and it's more that the chapters are broken up thematically, so there is a fair amount of repetition when it comes to Japanese crimes and the author's condemnation.

Unfortunately, when reducing the history of the Pacific Theater of Operations to just Japanese war crimes this volume begins to read like a voyeuristic look at the basest acts humanity is capable of, ranging from mass rape, to mass suicide, cannibalism, and grotesque torture of human bodies before and after death. When just reading through Iris Chang's "Rape of Nanking" is a soul-crushing task, this book multiples that to the Nth degree. Every page is a new horror and every chapter reaches another level of depravity and debauchery. This is a volume that cannot but haunt readers and while I can appreciate wanting your audience to understand what occupied populations and prisoners of war endured, I'm not sure that an encyclopedic discussion (akin to "The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry," which chronicles the Holocaust on Soviet territory from primary sources) will accomplish much without the required academic commentary.

Which brings us to one of the significant weaknesses, in my opinion, of this work. There is simply not enough context for the amount of information presented. Going through the crimes of a perpetrator on the scale of Japan from the late 1920s through 1945 is simply not enough. While Rigg's does offer some contextual discussion about why Japanese soldiers and officers might have ignored orders, rules of war, and insisted on allowing wanton destruction, rape, and murder more often than not it is generally applied rather than based on specific situations or events and that can become problematic all too quickly.

Finally, while it is undoubtedly true that Germany has done a better job of reconciling with its past than Japan, Rigg's is either unaware or chooses to ignore the numerous obstacles that were put in the way of that reconciliation throughout the Cold War period, nor does he comment on the myth of the Wehrmacht with Clean Hands, which was only addressed in the 1990s and not without criticism. While there is much to admire in how Germany today approaches its past, that should not obscure the resistance many put up to recognizing the crimes of the Third Reich when it comes to the Holocaust and its occupation policies throughout Eastern and Western Europe.

In the end, this is a book I would only recommend to those already familiar with the Second World War and the Pacific Theater, otherwise, the author's polemical style and at times subjective commentary limits the utility of this work.

I have completed my read of "Japan's Holocaust: History of Japan's Mass Murder and Rape During World War II," written by Bryan Mark Rigg and being published by the Print Hill Press imprint of Knox Press (who have graciously provided me with the ARC from which I am working). Candidly, I am somewhat disappointed. This is a massive subject worthy of a rigorous and highly detailed work similar to some of those published on the Jewish Holocaust in Europe. The subject matter, however, makes it difficult to achieve the kind of rigor and detail I would like to see because of the very different nature of the killing and, significantly, sexual exploitation, which occurred wherever the Japanese armed forces were deployed. The vast distances and highly isolated and densely populated locales which served as a backdrop to the horrifying behavior of the Imperial forces make any comprehensive approach very challenging. This is to say nothing of the fact that to this day Japan has managed to evade much of the responsibility for its crimes unlike the Third Reich. The value in this volume is that it keeps its subject matter alive and focuses attention on it in a way that contrasts sharply with traditional military histories of the Pacific War almost all of which make note of Japanese misbehavior and then simply dismiss it as some kind of unfortunate anomaly rooted in the vagaries of Japanese History since Japan was first exposed to the West. Most texts simply give a wink and a nod to things like the massive and pervasive abuse of women and extreme brutality by highly and rigidly disciplined units of the Imperial armed forces. There is a conundrum here in that everyone aware of the history of Japan's military and militarism is aware that its armed forces were extremely well disciplined (except when they weren't). The key distinction between the Holocaust in the East and the Holocaust in the West (as perpetrated by Hitler's Germany) lies, I think, in the highly systematic German approach to things (including the massive and characteristically thorough documentation of what they were doing) and the consistent Japanese approach which was rooted in denial at every level and seems far more systemic than systematic. In some ways that is even more horrifying than it first sounds. For while it is the rare chronicler of German war crimes and the Holocaust who fails to point out the contrast it represents with many strands of popular culture; in the case of Imperial Japan, the author is quick to point out the deep cultural roots of the Japanese approach to war and its victims, roots which served to inoculate Japanese soldiers from conventional morality and concerns for their victims. Remember, in a characteristically pragmatic way, MacArthur and the American elites agreed to ignore Hirohito's role (a very real one) in beginning the war and determining the way in which Japans forces comported themselves amongst captive populations in the interests of "getting on with things and putting this unpleasantness behind us in all of our interests." The book points the way to further investigation while barely scratching the surface of what the author, correctly I believe, has identified as a human tragedy with long term consequences an order of magnitude greater than those in the better known and documented fate of those people the Nazis chose to persecute in Europe. Much remains to be done here.

This has always been a hyper-fixation of mine and I am always excited to read about this side of WW2 that no one talks about. This book actually had some new information in it for me as well as some other things I already new about but it is written in a way that someone who was new to the subject could get right into it and not be lost.