Showa Shi (昭和史), roughly translated to The History of the
Showa Period was written by Kazutoshi Handō (半藤一利). This work comes in two parts in a total of four volumes, covering
the period between 1926 and 1989. This review is only on the first volume in
the first part, spanning 1926 to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The edition I
read was Chinese translation by 林錚顗, a history graduate from the Department of History in the National
Taiwan University and the Tokyo University.
The trouble
with reading a translated book, besides having things lost (or gained) in
translation, is that it is unclear how authentic the book is in its translated
form. When one finds an impressively written sentence or phrase, he cannot tell
if this was written by the original writer or was just well translated because the language that it has been translated into happened to have
more appropriate words or idioms that can be used conveniently. In this review I shall assume that everything
was translated as the original author intended.
This volume
focusing on the period between 1926 and 1941 tries to address this question –
what led to Japan’s involvement in the Second World War? The author started his
narrative with the incident in 1928 where the Japanese Kwantung Army murdered
Zhang Zuolin (張作霖) by placing a bomb on the train
track on which Zhang’s carriage was travelling. Starting his narrative with
this event is not just chronologically sensible, it is also the harbinger of a
central theme in the book: the Japanese military is rouge and the civilian
government is not able to control it. This, together with other factors, eventually led Japan into the tragedy of the Second World War ending in its
defeat and destruction.
The circumstances that landed Japan in its final state in 1945 can be understood through the interplay between the external environment and the emerging political philosophies that was eventually embraced by the country. The author
carefully described the external environment and situations of that time, the
most important of which included the Russo-Japanese War, the Great Depression, and
Japan’s desire to be elevated to the status of a major international power. Against
this backdrop, the author developed his arguments amid the complexities and
intrigues that existed among the various power players, the army, the navy, the
civilian parliament, and the advisors to the Emperor. Not only were the
relationships among these players complex, within each there were also
different factions subscribing to different philosophies, doctrines, and
perspectives. Slowly however one of the factions within the army gained the
upper hand sometimes through assassinations, other times through coercion. Eventually no one appeared to be able to control the army's field commanders, a situation epitomised by the graphic description of the Marco Polo Incident (pg 188). In the end a certain momentum was gathered and things gained a life of
their own.
The style
of the author is not one that I’m familiar with. Not having read enough, I don’t
know if this is generally how Japanese historical accounts are written or it is
just this author. But the prose is a mix of academic, personal, and poetic. For
example, his account and analysis of the Nanjing incident is fair and well
considered, admitting to the occurrence of the atrocities committed by Japanese
soldiers, even apologising over it, but arguing with facts why the number
300,000 estimated at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East is a
gross over-estimation (I do not intend to get into an argument over the
accuracy of these numbers here.) Yet he would pepper his book with “Isn’t it so?” as if speaking directly to the readers. In addition, he could get into
trivialities like why a certain politician has a particular nickname (pg 77). At other times he would include conversations between the actors as if he was quoting them verbatim. And then
there would be flashes of brilliance, the most impressive of which is the way
he described the end of the Young Officers’ Revolt (226 Incident).
可是，计划就在大高少尉与中侨中尉拔枪相向、四目相对之时结束了。。。(pg 164 - 二二六事件)
But the plan ended the moment Second Lieutenant Otaka and Infantry Lieutenant Nakahashi pointed their guns at each other, staring into each other’s eyes…
There is
one issue that I have so far avoided, the author’s attitude towards the role of Emperor
Hirohito. In this there is no doubt, the author went out of his way to absolve
the Emperor of any responsibilities. The Emperor is either not informed of what had happened, misled by the military, or had his hands tied. This was clear from
the start of the book when the author explained how the early events determined
the limits of the Emperor’s power. The author made extensive reference to the Emperor's
own biographical account 《昭和天王独白录》to gain insights into the Emperor’s thoughts. I wonder why I cannot find
a translation of such an important record whether in Chinese or English.
(Find this book at Goodreads)
