Japanese point of view of the Pacific in WWII

[theletch1]

I've always been fascinated with the war in the Pacific during WWII. Perhaps because I always wanted to be a Marine as a kid and the Marine Corps involvement in the island hopping campaign caught my interest. Recently, I've gotten back in to reading about that particular theater of the war. I just finished "Iwo Jima" and just started "Guadalcanal". Both books give some insight into the Japanese outlook on the battles in particular and the war in general. Do any of you know of books that would give me a more specific Japanese viewpoint on their time leading up to and during WWII? I don't read Japanese so they'll have to be in English.

 

[grydth]

Two superb books, very available..... Samurai by Saburo Sakai, a top Japanese Zero pilot, and Japanese Destroyer Captain by tameichi Hara.

Very brave, very insightful men.

 

[theletch1]

I think I've read Samurai before but it's always worth a re-read. It may not be the same book I'm thinking of as Barnes and Noble has a publish date of 2001 and it was long before that that I read the book I'm thinking of.
As for JDC I'll definetly have to pick it up soon as I'm done with Guandalcanal. The book Iwo Jima by Richard F. Newcomb provided some good insight from General Kuribayashi's point of view and it got me wondering what other angles I've been missing all these years.

 

[grydth]

It is more lack of sources than you missing anything.

Fact is, there were not many Japanese survivors at all from a number of key battles... the combat especially between Marines and Japanese was of extreme ferocity, certainly the equal of encounters between Soviet Guards and Waffen SS on the Eastern Front.

Even Japanese shipwreck survivors would resist rescue, as would wounded soldiers. It wasn't a one sided attitude. My (USA) father once rode his fighter almost into the ocean before his engine restarted. I asked why he hadn't bailed out at a higher altitude and he told me that dying in a crash was much better than being taken prisoner by the Japanese.

My father was right - no living Allied POW was found in Rabaul at war's end.